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Day 29
Monday 30 Aug
1710
I'm sitting on the train at the moment going from Vienna to Graz. There's this goofy looking austrian sitting oposite me and he wont stop smiling at me. He's wearing a denim shirt and has the dorkiest looking hat on half cocked to the side, obviously putting on a hat straight was too much. He has a rediculous grin plastered to his face just below his big austrian moustache and i'm pretty sure he's fantasizing about me.
The country side here is beautiful. The train is bounded by huge mountains and wherever there's no trees the grass is green and think. We just went through a skiing area too. Of course there's no snow at the moment but the scenery is still fantastic as what will be white ski slopes are covered in thick green grass.
After struggling out of bed this morning I packed and by the time a got everything together I was running a little late. I got to the airport after a tram ride, then a bus then a train with pleanty of time to spare. I sat around feeling sorry for myself until my plane left at 1130.
I was starving and was banking on a feed on the flight. This turned out to be frivolous however and there was only food available to buy, not wanting to get ripped off I skipped the food and slept with an aching stomach for the whole flight. I got a good couple of hours and was feeling exponentially better when I got into Austria.
Getting from the airport to the train station was just a 15 minute bus ride, yet the train ate up the last of my cash. I went to grab the 100 Euros from the visa travel card i'd grabbed at the airport and was welcomed by a single 100 Euro note. This wouldn't be too much of a problem in Aus yet buying a 2.7Eu juice on the train wasn't going to happen and I had to walk all the way upto the other end of the train to get some change from the conductors. The juice was worth it too. It sure hit the spot!!
2000
The ttrain ride was a bit of a struggle, I didn't want to fall asleep coz I was worried about missing my stop. So I sat there trying every method possible to stay awake and was caught in a daze when we finally got to the station and I almost missed it.
Cornelia, the girl whose been dumped last minute with finding my accomodation met me at the station. We sat down while I had a coffee and chatted about nnot much, the language barrier wasn't bad but it prevented free flowing conversation so there were lots of kind of awkward silences.
We parted and I jumped on the number 6 to go out to the place where i'm staying. Tobi, my host, didn't even give me an address. He just said to catch the tram to the last stop and cross the street to the house with the 2 apple trees and a walnut tree, and to cruise round the back. He said he wont be here but there's usually someone here.
This place is a crack up. Its tiny and it smells like its about to fall over. I think theres 5 people who usually live here. I'm staying in the room of one of the housemates whose not here. The bed is low and is covered in cliché mock tie die dooner cover, and theres a hammock on one side. I'm pretty sure she's an artist as the corner of the room is full of paint brushes and the walls are littered with little sculpture things. Its a really funky room, much more then I expected..
Its a student house and there's only 2 people here at the moment. One guy, max, showed me around and I think we're going to a bar later, a Cuban place for c*** tails and cigars, but I dunno. I feel dead to the world, so I probably wont go, at one point he said, "I dont think we have a key for you, but we usually dont lock the door anyway so this shouldn't be a problem. The other guy I met is a crack up too, peter. He studied music and now he just plays, he doesn't speak much English but they both seem pretty layed back.
2030
I just had a shower. Haha. it's just a shower head on a hose connected to the hot water system that they hang from a hook on a cable that runs over the bath. This place is a crack up. I have to duck to walk between rooms, there's little trinkets everywhere. It epitomizes a hippie shack.
The guys just said to help myself to what ever food I want so I've grabbed some carrots and some bread for tea. The bread is awesome, although I was alittle hesitant at first. It looked like someone had cut halfway through and then just teared a piece off, but it could have just as easily been the result of a mouse going at it.
Max grabbed some pizza for tea last night so befor I hit the sack I went down and helped him and peter finish it off. It was an awesome pizza, one mozerella and one tuna. After that it was not long after when I was into bed.
Day 30
Monday 31 Aug
1800
I woke up really anxious this morning after 10 hours of solid, solid sleep. Following that I sat on my computer for a good 2 hours replying emails that i'd promised i'd do properly once I got to Austria. The time difference here is good, Its good waking up in the morning with a heap of emails.
Breakfast was interesting. I couldn't find milk or bowls so I just grabbed the cereal i'd taken from the bus tour put it in a take away food container and poured water on it. Couldn't even taste the difference.
I left home and went and jumped on the tram. I was still feeling sleepy and i've found that sometimes being in a whole different country and not knowing anyone is quite nerve racking and I really was super anxious. Although its a little uncomfortable its good, you can sort of channel it into some energy, and use it to force yourself to get out there and get things sorted so you can get back into your comfort zone. I was also feeling disgusted in the amount of weight i'd put on, it's not really much it's more probably just guilt for not having done any real exercise in almost a week.
Once in town I headed towards the Tourist information centre. I walked past it 3 times, just bracketing my way into it as it wasn't signed well at all. I grabbed some brochures and went and sat in a cafe and ordered a 2.6 Eu ($5AUD) cuppachino. I started reading and the coffee came, It really settled my nerves, maybe i'm addicted to coffee...? I dunno.
I've lost the cable for my camera so that was first on the priorities for the day. I found a camera store in the centre of town, but they couldn't help me, they did point me in the direction of a mall, they gave me the bus number as it was too far to walk, the walk apparently would have taken 20 minutes. I walked.
They couldn't help me either so I walked back to the town centre. On the way I almost got hit by a car. I had my head stuck in the map and took it out as I stepped into a car space beside a road. A car had just pulled in to try and park and I saw it a bit too late but luckily he jumped on the brakes to avert the impeding collision. I just waved and put on my best dumb-aussie-tourist-sorry grin, a smile which I'm becoming increasingly profficiant in.
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