Kinda late, but better late than never

Sorry this update has taken so long to go out.  Since I haven't updated in a while, the post will be a long one, but I'll try to add a lot of fun details to make it more interesting.  :)

Travel to Vienna:

On Saturday, July 31st my parents and sisters took me down to the airport to see me off.  I was SO thankful they were there.  It was great to have my sisters there in order to carry ALL the luggage (4 checked bags, 2 carry-on bags).  Just kidding!  Sara and Amy helped keep my mind off the sadness that comes from leaving home.  They joked and laughed with me the entire time while driving down and waiting to check in all the luggage.  Thankfully I was at the weight that the airline required me to be under.  After checking in we met up with the Johnstones (another family going to work at the school) and spent some time chatting before heading off to security.  The good byes were difficult, but God definitely took care of me by providing others to fly with me to Vienna.

At the airport saying good-bye

Waiting to leave LAX with Justin Johnstone

My flight from LAX to London was rather uneventful.  I had a WONDERFUL window seat near the back of the plane with only one person next to me.  My seat-mate (a younger guy from Hungary) was very nice and we were able to chat a bit during meal times.  I talked about going to teach at a Christian school and he told me that he had just left Hawaii after a work conference on satellites.  One negative part of the flight is that I had a very difficult time sleeping on the plane (out of the 10 1/2 hour trip I might have slept for 45 minutes).  After arriving in London we (the Johnstones and I) sat around the airport for a few hours and eventually met up with the Overby family (another family headed for school).  I don't remember much about the flight from London to Vienna since I slept the ENTIRE 2 1/2 hours.  The one advantage to this flight is being able to sit in the emergency row.  Gotta love the leg room!

Once we arrived in Vienna the lack of sleep really started to affect me.  My brain seemed to stop functioning and simple things (such as remembering names) were no longer possible.  Upon departing the plane we (all 9 of us) made our way to the customs line.  Thankfully everyone had their paperwork and all of us were allowed into the country!

Once we were allowed in it was time to grab our luggage.  Don't know if you remember, but I brought 4 large bags and 2 carry on bags.  Thankfully European airports don't believe in charging people $5 to borrow a trolley, so all I needed to do is put an American quarter into a trolley cart and I was able to place ALL of the luggage on top (sadly I don't have a picture of this amazing feat, but there is a picture of my friend Rebecca's trolley-mine had more stuff).

Rebecca with a luggage covered trolley

After all our luggage had been accounted for (over 35 pieces) the nine of us headed out of the airport and into the welcoming arms of our welcoming committee (4 crazy guys who dressed up in some very interesting outfits...the pictures will say it all).

Thomas in his monkey suit (or is it a bear costume...I can't remember)

Who can it be...I have NO idea :)

Joe Overby and Brian

Once we were picked up from the airport the guys took us to see the school and meet some of the staff.  Sadly the rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but after many hours of traveling I was finally able to get some dinner, gnocchi, and sleep at my "buddy's" house (Nicki's flat).

More to come in the next post...

Special thanks to Michael Johnstone for letting me "borrow" some of his pictures