Day 3 Mariazell!

It is hard to believe that each day gets crazier than the last but it's true. Today we spend the day in Mariazell. Mariazell is a small village in the Austrian Alps that is one of the largest pilgrimmage sites in Europe. There is a very nice Basilica here with a statue of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus that was carried to the area in 1157. The statue was believed to perform miracles. As a result many Europeans travel to the area and leave belongings here as a tribute to Mary. Unfortunately because we are in the Alps, it started to snow, so we were not able to walk to the main town area. Instead we made a 45 minute walk through the mountainous region to get to the main town square. This turned out to be very comical because many of the students here are not from northern states and cannot walk in snow. Many people fell walking down the hillsides which provided a good laugh, but no one was hurt. After returning from the trip we had a special group of Austrian folk dancers come in and treat us to a nice show. 

It seems odd to go to a school where they facilitate drinking. As the drinking age is 16 in Austria, all of the students on the trip are of legal drinking age. Because of this during the dancing group, they also brought some Honey Schnaps. Many people liked it but I discovered I'm not a huge fan of any kind of schnaps. Tomorrow it looks like it wont be much different than today, but I feel that I won't walk to town again. It was fun but the main attraction was the Basilica, which I have seen. Maybe in the spring I will make it back to Mariazell and see the countryside when it is not covered in snow.

All in all I'm having a great time and I will attempt to upload pictures when I have more time, perhaps not when I'm settled into my apartment in Jahngasse (that's the name of the street). Until then Auf Weidersehen!