I'm in Austria!!!!

Hopefully I can get pictures up soon, but this will have to do for now (although I am so nauseous that I can barely see the screen right now so we'll see what this entry ends up like....and my laptop is still broken).

Right from check-in Whitney and I had a funny flight. My bag ended up weighing 57 pounds--a.k.a. too much for check in. Luckily, though, Whitney's bag only weighed 43 pounds and so as we waited to check in with our passports we unzipped my bag and stuffed the heaviest things into hers. Our trick worked and by the time they tagged our bags, hers weighed 50 and mine weighed 49. As we boarded the plane to Detroit the pilot came out and announced that there was no more overhead space and we would have to check our carry-ons....great :(

We made our connection in Detroit and before too long were enjoying complimentary airplane past and chicken and a movie for connection 2 or 3. About 2 hours into our London flight we hit turbulence and I really thought I was going to lose my dinner. I never knew how strange it would be not having a set time. Jet lag is mean. We weren't in the United States, not in Europe, but still awake in the middle of the night and extremely sick. Sleeping on a plane is absolutely impossible. As of right now I have only slept a little over 6 HOURS SINCE SUNDAY NIGHT! Everything is super hazy.

Watching the sun rise and set in the same seven hours was incredible. The earth is so beautiful!

We landed in London (feeling like quite the accomplished international travelers) and started out to make connection 3 of 3. Austrian Air is a funny airline. They have vibrant green carpet and flight attendants in red polyester dresses with thick red tights and red loafers. The pilot gave his entire plane pep talk in German (...and then English) and Whitney and I just stared at each other wondering what we'd signed up for. This connection was definitely the hardest because I had never been sicker of flying in my life. My stomach was reeling, dreading what was coming, and we hadn't even taken off yet.

Two hours later we landed in Vienna and I am so glad that I will never have to step onboard a plane for 3 1/2 more months! ..........and then we went to get our luggage.......and they were MIA. Luckily, Austrian Air found that all four of our bags were still in London and they are being shipped over as I type.

A rep from the institute was waiting for us and took us to the hotel. Whitney and I walked around the city for about two hours and even bought a treat from the bakery across the street. (funny experience to be written about later) The city is so beautiful and intricate. The streets are really narrow and I sometimes didn't think the bus we were on would make it around the corner.

Currently I am nauseous beyond belief and doing everything possible to stay awake. Jet lag is a mean, mean, mean, mean thing! Hopefully a good night's rest will get me working on Vienna time.