Dear Blog Readers,

I am currently sitting in my new dorm room, in Innsbruck, Austria! This morning I made the journey from Reichenau, in the very east, to Innsbruck, which is on the very west side of the country. The train ride was a total of six hours, and I crossed the entire country!

       Since leaving Cape Breton, I have spent a week going between both sets of grandparents, visiting, eat- which seems to happen a lot while visiting- and catching up. I also got to spend a lot of time with my cousins and aunts and uncles, which is something I really enjoy because I so rarely get to see all of my family, so building relationships is done very deliberately. I also got to go on some nice mountain walks, and I helped my whole one side of the family make apple juice!

They found an old apple pressing machine in the barn, fixed it up, collected all the apples from the trees and made fresh apple juice by the litre! It is delicious!

I had a good week with my family, so it was hard to leave that comfort and familiarity and venture out of my own.

I got quite nervous on the train about making the right stops, and then as I was getting settled in my dorm, I again got nervous about meeting so many people. I usually don't get nervous about travelling, but I do sometimes get anxious when meeting new people because I am prone to talking myself down- so instead of encouraging myself, I start to doubt everything. So while I was settling into my room today, I felt very alone.

But then my room mate- a Korean student- arrived! I laughed to myself when I saw her, because of the way God works. I felt like I was at home in Kamloops working with FOCUS club! :)

Her English skills are really good, but her German is less than basic. So we are able to communicate really well, and we have talked quite a bit... and I'll probably help her with her german!

The dorm has all the basics, and thats it. But it'll do it's job, I'm sure of it. It will also become cozier and more lived in as time passes, I'm sure as well. 

Tomorrow I start orientation as an International Student! It seems like the roles have switched for me! I am so used to befriending international students, and now it's the other way around!

Things are starting a little bit rough, but I'm sure that as I see the city, and get to know more people, I'll become more comfortable here.

God has a plan, as he does in all things. I know he does.

Have a good night everyone!

Christi

                                                      Just wandering through the Alps...

 My very bare dorm room. They said we weren't allowed to stick things on the wall using         tape, so I used reinforcements.

           

                                     The view of Innsbruck from my top-floor dorm window!