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Sunday, June 20, 2004

A VERY lazy Sunday Afternoon

Hello Everyone,

Today is Sunday here in my corner of the world, which happens to be Austria at the moment. Everything is closed, not to mention that the weather is still depressing. So, I've basically stayed home all day, trying to get over this nasty little cold. I mean, I sound like I have a smoker's cough.

I have stayed in bed for the most part, reading my Young Miss magazine in German and watching TV in German. I am also studying a little for my TEFL course which is in a week from tommorow. There are so many grammatical terms that I have to remember. I mean, I know how to speak English, but I don't know how to explain the grammar to others. I have abosolutely NO idea what the course will be like in Barcelona.

My aunt made struedel for lunch today with vegetables and meat. It was almost like a pot pie, but better. Then, of course I had to have some chocolate after. Yum.

I am also slowly deciding what I will really need to take to Spain with me. I have to leave over half of my shit here. There is a lot of stuff that I wanna take. It's kinda depressing because I spent some money buying stuff for the trip. And now, I am not even gonna use most of it. The only thing I can do is just deal with it I guess.

Wanna know what else ? I also found a roundtrip plane ticket from San Jose, CA to Barcelona, Spain for $702. When I check months ago, the price was $1,200. I could have stayed at home longer and made more money. But looking back, I am glad I came to Europe early. I think I was ready to get out if the US for a while. My car broke down, and I would have had a very hard time getting to work. Not only that, but now that I have been here a little while, I am getting over jet lag. It has been hard to sleep this past week, but I am getting used to it.

Thankfully the shops are open again tommorow so I can go into the city and do a little shopping. Yay ! I have to buy a cable for my camera among other things.

Okay, thats enough for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Since our time is 9 hours ahead of the US, my weekend is almost gone.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

More Austrian Updates

Hello Everyone,

Well, I finally purchased my tickets to Barcelona. It costed me a buttload of money, but at least I got it out of the way. I am just happy that I am gonna finally go to Spain. I should me leaving on Saturday.

 I also learned that I am only allowed to bring one piece of luggage that weighs less than 20 kilos (40 lbs). I was shocked because I brought 2 heavy pieces of luggage with me. Now I have to leave a lot of stuff behind here in Austria. That's gonna be interesting.

Today the weather sucked for the most part. The sun did peak through the clouds once or twice for a few minutes. It was grey outside for the rest of the day. Despite the weather, I still had a nice day. I went with my aunt and cousin into the city and looked around. I got to see a lot of traditional Austrian customs and listen to traditional Austrian music. Did I mention that I ate some traditional food normally served on the Alps ? I had a fried flower. It tastes a little like licorice, and it can also be used for syrup to make drinks. My grandma makes awesome drinks with these flowers. I think it is called Holunder.  I also got to walk around the city a little, which I love. The buildings are beautiful. Almost everything is old and elegant.

My aunt also made a nice dinner for us. The food here has been wonderful. Too bad I am trying to watch my weight. We had bread, salad, eggs and various meats. Good stuff. I am offered food often here and it is so hard to resist. At home I had to buy my own food. Here it is free and offered to me on a regular basis. Gotta love that.

My cousin also invited me to go with him to see a concert in the city. It was a relatively small concert, but it was good. There were about four bands playing, but I only stuck around for 2 of them. They played some rock and roll, and I liked it. It's too bad that I am still not over my cold that I caught on my way over here. The cigarette smoke at the concert didn't help me either.

Now I am back home here on the internet. I spend a lot of time on the computer. But that should change when I am in Spain. I will have no time on my hands.

Well my lovelies, that is all for today. I hope to post pictures of this trip soon. I left the little cable that allows me to download pics onto my computer at home. I was in such a hurry to move out that I thought it was a printer cable. Oh well.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Just Sitting and Waiting

Hello there my lovelies...................

I was gonna write some more stuff yesterday, but oh well. I guess I got a little lazy. The weather was so beautiful yesterday. It was sunny and hot, and the sun was out till about 10pm. I got to watch my cousin play in an orchestra yesterday evening in a beautiful garden.

Today is another story, however. It is cold, rainy and very cloudy.

I also forgot to mention that two days ago I had a nice little encounter with a little birdie. My aunt and I were sitting at a cafe and just talking after we had enjoyed our pastries. (Might I add that those fruit cakes were simply delicious). Anyways a little bird flies onto my plate and starts picking at the crumbs and whipped cream. It was making little pecking sounds against the fork and the plate with its beak. It was so cute !!!! It flew away for a couple of seconds, but later returned for seconds. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so I couldn't capture it. But it was the cutest thing I've seen in a while.

What else ?? I just really wanna get to Spain but purchasing the tickets is proving to be a real pain in the ASS.  When I went back to the travel agency yesterday it turns out that the prices for my ticket increased again. A round trip ticket from Linz, Austria to Barcelona, Spain is $389 Euro. It was about $240 Euro the day before, and tickets are rapidly selling out.

I was told to wait because my uncle might be able to help me find one for a cheaper price. Who knows, maybe he can actually get it for a cheaper price. Maybe he can't. But all I know is that if I don't purchase it today, I lose the reservation that I made yesterday, which is the cheapest price I know of.

I also spoke to the lady at my school in Spain to see how I could extend my stay in Spain for longer than 3 months. She gave me e-mail addresses of people that I could ask. I am still waiting for their responses. Basically, I am very anxious right now. I just don't know how things are going to turn out for me. I am just here patiently waiting at the moment.

I have traveled to Austria alone before and I can get by just fine here. That's because I have family here and have spoken the language here before. Spain is another story. I have never been there, and I have no family over there. I am a little nervous about going there all by myself.

Well that's all for now. I am currently enjoying my time being lazy right now. Things should be getting a lot busier when my course starts soon.

 

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Annoyances and Problems

Hello Everyone,

I am still getting over that nasty little cold that I magically seemed to catch on the plane over here. I am also in the process of buying my plane ticket to Barcelona.

I got a huge dose of reality yesterday when I called the US embassy. I learned that I cannnot stay longer than 3 months in Spain, and my stay in Spain began when I arrived in Austria because it is a part of the European Union. I am very nervous and frustrated right now. I really do not wanna go home so soon. I really thought that I would be able to stay longer. I have nothing back home. No car and no place to live. I wanna scream.

I also learned that there are baggage restrictions on the plane over there so it seems like I will be leaving a lot of my stuff here at my aunt's house. I don't know what the hell I am gonna do.

I guess I am just gonna have to see how things are gonna play out for me.

 

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

My First Day in Europe :)

Hello Everyone :)

Well, I made it to Europe safely. It was a very long journey but I am finally here in Austria. I will be going to the travel office soon to make arrangements for Spain.

I am very tired from the trip. I didn't sleep at all the night before, and I barely slept on the plane. I also somehow magically got sick overnight so I left the plane with a sore throat and headace.

At first I thought that my luggage got lost and I was scared. Luckily it came out at the last minute. I have 2 very large luggage bags and it was so hard to lug them around. I was so embarrased to be seen. Luckily people were very nice and helped me carry the bag. I don't know what I would've done if no one helped me.

I am at my aunt's house and I just got back from having some ice cream with my cousin. I will be taking pictures soon because the view here is beautiful. I also am practicing my German with my family here and it's nice to know that I didn't lose it all.

Well that is all for now. I hope to relax for the next couple of weeks. Bye:)