What a great weekend!

Saturday night, I went out with the some of the girls on the team to celebrate Dianna’s birthday! We had a blast! I attached a hilarious little video taken while we were at Conny's apartment at the end of this post. The story is this: we were trying to get Jelena (who is from Bosnia) to speak in an American accent, but she had no idea what she should say. One of the American girls, Jenna (who is from Ohio), recommended that she repeat the phrase, “I’m from Ohio”. So, of course, all of the European girls had to try it :) After Jelena's fabulous attempt, Dianna, Niki, Conny, and then Svenja tested it out. My favorite is Niki, who definitely sounds like she’s speaking with an Asian accent or something haha. Of course, Sven’s American accent is perfect since she went to school at the U of Pacific in the US for four years :) Watch it!

After hanging out at Conny’s apartment for a while, we went out looking for a place to go dancing. Lesson learned: trains and subways definitely take off on time and they don’t mess around. Once those doors close, there is no getting out. We were running to try to switch trains and Jelena was ahead of the rest of us. As soon as she got inside, the doors closed. Oooops. Yep, she was the only one quick enough to get on. Thank goodness (or maybe it wasn’t a good thing) the rest of us were in heels and couldn’t run fast enough to make it. Oh man, I can still see her, face and hands pressed against the window, sad little look on her face, yelling for us as the train pulled away. HAHAHA! It was pretty funny. Luckily, we were able to meet up with her at the next station and we all had a good laugh about it. We also had some good laughs when Jelena kept telling strangers that she was from Ohio haha. I think she might need to work on that accent a tiny bit more before that’s believable though ;) Well, we ended up going to a bar/club to go dancing. I must admit, that was the first time that I've even been to a club like that, so it was all pretty foreign to me. I was grateful that the style of dancing here isn't dirty at all. Actually (don't laugh when I say this), it was almost like a dance party back at the Y, exceeeept for the presence of alcohol everywhere. I mean, I'm from Vegas, so alcohol isn't a new concept to me by any means, but that was my first experience where my friends all drank as well. They only had a drink or two, so it’s not like they drank a lot and I have absolutely no problems with them drinking, but it was just weird for me. I just felt a little uncomfortable with the environment and ridiculously out of place. Hanging out and dancing with the girls was a complete party though! I had a super fun night and am so grateful that all the girls are so cool, welcoming, and fun to be around :)

Today it was reaffirmed to me that Sundays really are the BEST days of the week. I was a little nervous about trying to navigate through Vienna solo this morning to get to church for the first time out here, but boy am I glad I did. Perhaps it was due to such a stark contrast between the dance club a few hours prior, and then being in sacrament meeting today, but the moment I sat down in the building, I was utterly overwhelmed by a sense of peace, love, and security. That ward in Vienna literally felt like home at that moment. I have never really felt that with such intensity before and it was incredible. THAT was exactly where I was supposed to be this morning. It's almost impossible for me to comprehend that I could be halfway across the globe, attend church in a foreign city, not know a single soul, yet feel like I was surrounded by family. The church is true no matter where you are. I am so grateful for that knowledge. I already love the ward so much. Everyone was so kind and happy to have me there. There are even a few young single adults and couples my age from the States! How lucky is that?? I am amazed by this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ and am so indescribably grateful for it in my life.

Here’s a picture of Böcklinstraße, the street that the church is on. I love Europe.

Here's the promised vid. SO FUNNY!!!