Innsbruck - May 9th

I fell asleep for a little while, but when I woke up, I suddenly realised I was surrounded by mountains. Seeing the Alps reminded me of home (or even more of Banff) and how much I missed the mountains and camping.

I was staying with an AIESECer named Benjamin (Benni). Benni picked me up at the train station and we went to his house to unpack and have dinner. It was literally like walking through the streets of Banff as the city of Innsbruck was surrounded by the Alps. Everyone that lives here is a skier as well. That night, Benni and I went to a student party, held by a student political party campaigning for Student Union Office (they’re very democratic in Austria compared to the individual SU campaigns back in Calgary). I met my first Austrian people ever, including this nice girl names Hanna. I was the first Canadian she has ever met and I really enjoyed talking to her. Hanna didn’t have class the next day until 18:00, so we proposed to meet tomorrow and she can show me around. It was a good party though =)

The next day, I should be at the first game (Germany vs. Denmark) at noon, but I figured I could miss that game and spend more time exploring the city and meeting up a Hanna. The gods were looking out for Connie, and mine and Benni’s mobile died. I had to e-mail Hanna and proposed to meet her at 13:00 at the Golden Roof (I had her e-mail, Benni had her #, but his phone died so he didn’t have it) and hope that she read it in time. I spent the morning with Benni exploring the city. The old part of Innsbruck was very old and historic (i.e. Touristy). The central landmark is the Golden Roof, which is an old building with a golden roof. I actually didn’t catch the history about it since I was exploring the city on my own. I went to this large palace which is also a museum but I didn’t go into it since I didn’t want to pay the admission fee. The highlight of my exploration was St. Jacob’s Cathedral. It was incredibly beautiful and picturesque.

I found a nice Austrian restaurant and had the special of Veal Schnitzel with Potatoes and a bowl of soup. At 13:00, I hope and prayed to see if the fates were kind to me and Hanna would appear. She didn’t =( (later I got her e-mail and she slept in so she couldn’t meet me)

I proceeded to the Ice hockey Arena