Klagenfurt

On a very snowy day in February 2012, after being awake for 24 hours and traveling as a 20-year-old by myself halfway across the world, I arrived in the one gate Klagenfurt airport. My friend Corina who had previously studied abroad in OKC picked me up and we made our way to a little bakery. Overwhelmed does not begin to describe how I was feeling. I was surrounded by a foreign language being spoken all around me, I took the bus for the first time, and the colors and architecture were so different. I will forever be grateful that Corina became my roommate at OCU and was there to pick me up and be my guide for the next 6 months. Visiting her parents and their farm on the weekends was one of the highlights of my time in Austria. 

Returning to a place I called home 5 years later was crazy. I saw the 85 bus - the bus line that ran by my apartment building and that I chased many times. I saw the main plaza in the city center - the historic building I noticed had been painted a slightly different shade. "Yes, actually" Corina commented when I pointed out the paint job. Things were very much the same, but 20-year-old me was very different than the 'adult' I have become. It was a nice coming home feeling walking the cobblestone of Klagenfurt's beautiful city center.

Having dinner with Corina's parents was the craziest feeling. This was always such a special time for me when I lived in Austria and definitely was extra special being back. Her dad said to me "you came five years ago, now you're here, come back in 5 years with your husband and another 5 years with little kinder". Who knows what my life will look like, but I can only hope to continue visiting Austria and my favorite people there.

This restaurant was a favorite of mine while in Austria. I probably only ate out in Klagenfurt a dozen times in the 6 months I was there, but I ate here a handful! Vinegar potato salad, a dark beer, and a kind of European chicken fried chicken are my staples.

Corina and I returned to the same coffee shop we first visited 5 years previously. I was reminded how much I missed her, how much I missed small town Austria, and how much I missed Austrian desserts.

I couldn't help but notice that they added a "Cafe Angelina" across from the train station since I lived there...