Finally Time to Say Goodbye

Last week, I traveled to Salzburg and Vienna to enjoy the Austrian way of life one last time for the next months. I just walked through the cities and enjoyed the sights, coffee and dinner. On Wednesday I had the last party with my friends. Florian had his guitar with him and we sang Austrian songs. We spent the end of the evening at Rox. Thank you my friends for coming!

Goodbye Austria! (© Peter Holler)
Goodbye Austria! (© Peter Holler)

So I am in Atlanta with a bulk of luggage, a lot of pictures from Austria and a head full of nice memories from my homecountry and time with my friends!

I am from Austria! (© Peter Holler)
I am from Austria! (© Peter Holler)

Header photo © Peter Holler

Cycling from Passau to Linz

Today, we finally cycled from Passau to Linz. We planned it for a long time, but every time something has cropped up. Elli and I took the train REX 1728 at 07:12am from Linz to Passau. We arrived back in Linz at about 6pm. The tour was about 100km. Cycling time was about 5 hours – we did a lot breaks for lunch, ice-cream and cake. It was a nice trip! Here are the pictures!

Back in Linz!

Vienna Sightseeing Tour

Rooftop Lounge
Rooftop Lounge

On Thursday my grandfather and I went to Vienna for sightseeing. Particularly, we were interested in the guided tour at the Hofburg Vienna Imperial Palace, which was offered because of the 50 year anniversary of the congress center. The tour was stunning because it took us to parts of the palace which are normally closed to the general public. Another chance to see nearly the same would be the Wiener Kaffeesiederball which of course would give you a much more festive impression of the former imperial place. At a much different price point and without stories though… Further, we climbed the 343 stairs up the south tower of St. Stephen’s Cathedral which rewarded us with great view especially over the first district. After that we had brief stops, mainly for photos at the Votivkirche, Burg Theater, Parliament and Schönbrunn Imperial Palace. The weather was very much in the photographers favor! Blue skies. No clouds. Here are the pictures!

Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Imperial Palace
Hofburg Imperial Palace
Schönbrunn Imperial Palace
Schönbrunn Imperial Palace

Credit Transfer, Scholarship and Visa

The last few days a lot of work for my exchange program was completed. On Tuesday last week I got notified that I will receive full credit for all GBS (Goizueta Business School) Emory courses making them transferrable to my curriculum. Having that prerequisite completed, I applied for the exchange scholarship right away. On Monday morning, not even after a week, I got an email that my application was accepted. They handled it quite promptly!

My appointment at the consular section of the US embassy was last Friday. They took all my ten fingerprints! Today I got my passport with the visa returned. It’s looking stylish! 😉 I also purchased a translation of my driving license.

The last major thing is to find an apartment. Work in progress…

Cycling Around Lake Neusiedl

Last Saturday we (nearly) cycled around Lake Neusiedl. We took the train from Vienna South Train Station to Neusiedl am See, where we started our bike tour. In Illmitz we had a break for lunch. Afterwards we took the ferry to Mörbisch am See. Unfortunately, it started to rain heavily. So we stopped cycling already in Purbach and took the train for the last kilometers.

Guys cycling around Lake Neusiedl

This was our tour: Neusiedl am See -> Weiden am See -> Podersdorf am See -> Illmitz -> Mörbisch am See (by ferry) -> Rust -> Oggau am Neusiedlersee -> Donnerskirchen -> Purbach am Neusiedlersee -> Neusiedl am See (by train)