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This was at a summer home of a church ruler who liked to play games on his guests. So he hid water fountains in different parts of his gardens. It's a water park. We had several students go and sit down on those seats. They were soaked. It was so funny. This was just outside of Salzburg.

Crematorium, Gaschamber and entrance to camp.

These are the steps and the rock quarry that concentration camp prisoners had to climb every day with heavy rocks on their backs.

These are some of the monuments at the concentration camp.

These are scenes from Mauhausen Concentration Camp. It was a very sober morning.

So I have been trapsing around Vienna now for nearly a month. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and there is so much to see here. They have tons of museums and many different programs in the Arts that happen. The few pictures that i was able to post and actually some of them are sideways, sorry, are from a concentration camp called Mauthausen. It was the first concentration camp and was the last to be liberated. It was a wonderful experience to be able to actually see what you learn about in history.

Life is different here, of course. They eat much, much less and their style is very European. I am not sure you would know that unless you've been here. The lady that I stay with is very nice and feeds us more often than she has to. Some students aren't getting fed very well at all. I feel lucky and her food is really good. I am staying with another student from BYU. Her name is Emily Egan. She is getting married in August. We have a lot of fun. We went to a temple trip recently to Freiberg and it was fun to spend some time with some of the Viennese youth. It also helped my German. Let me tell you, German and Austrian youth dances are very different from Stake dances in the USA. They always are paired up...always. Even if the song is fast, they just couple dance faster. It was kind of weird, but we being American just danced when we wanted to dance...by ourselves in a circle (typical). Well, it's been fun. I'm excited for this Tuesday when we go to Venice. Gondolas here I come!

In the beginning...

Well, two days until my great Vienna adventures and I am pumped. I'm getting my bags ready, making sure I have everything I need, and breathing. I'm so excited.