First day

So I woke up Tuesday morning even earlier than I normally wanted to. My alarm was set for 8:00 and I woke up at 6:30, laid in bed for an hour then got up. I used all of that day to get ready to go to Vienna. Actually for a couple hours right after getting up I got a gift ready for Miss Hayley Burch. I wanted to give her something before I left for 3 months. After that I packed some, and then I drove my little Toyota to Midvale. Now, when I got this car (it was free by the way, from a guy that I met about 2 weeks earlier) it shook when you went over 35 mph. I didn't know why but when I turned really sharp it also clicked. Well, I had to get to Midvale to pick up 2 fiddles that my mom had dropped off for tune-up/repairs. I drove 50 on I-15 and as I was leaving the fiddle place my left front tire blew out.
My very first thought was to be upset but I then realized that it isn't that bad, then almost immediately I thought, "you know, I could have been going down the interstate and I may have died. I'm glad that just happened." Plus it happened in the parking lot of a Discount Tire store. How convenient.
I got the tire replaced, and my tires rotated (it cost a grand total of 50 bucks) and took off down the street. Santa Vaca! My car drives like a dream now. It was all because the balance was off and that made the whole car shake. It is now a really fine automobile. I'm glad I got it for free. So the day before I leave my car works well. But I proceeded to continue my preparations.
My biggest fear was that I would have no camera. I was worried that I would be here in one of the most amazing historical cities in the world and not be able to document it. So I bought a camera at 1:30 in the morning at walmart. It is a really awesome camera. It's a kodak and it has 12x optical zoom with a lot of other nice features. It was cheap too because it is a little bigger than most people want. It only cost me 130 bucks. Sweet deal.
Well, I didn't go to bed that night (as you can tell by the fact that I was buying a camera at 1:30 am. I had to be out of the house at about 5:15-5:30.

Hayley gave me a ride. Hayley is a wonderful and extremely generous example of a girlfriend.

She gave me a ride at 5:30 in the morning when she had class at 9:00. I can't think of anyone I would rather be with than her. Alas, I am in Europe and torn.

Well, I flew from SLC to JFK and arrived at VIE this morning at 8:30. It was fun and the plane rides were good. A little loud but it didn't bother me much...at all. I have just been sitting here at the Austro-amerikan Institute since we got in. I was lucky enough to fly in with Dr. McFarland who knows Vienna like the back of his hand. I'm happy to be here and I hope that all goes well...and it will.