Being Homeless in Vienna

So Erik and I are finally on our European adventure!

Before heading off for a few weeks away from Wales, I spent a pretty quiet Christmas in Bangor. The flat and most of the students had left a few days before the holiday, and I had a couple of days to hang out and get some homework finished. I slept a ton and actually finished one of my three papers, so at least the holiday was not wasted. I go to talk to my whole family on Christmas day, and then it was time for packing!

How do you pack for a two week adventure in cold countries where the only game plan is hang out with Erik? Such a difficult task! I did manage to get everything packed up though, and my train was out of Bangor around 8pm on Monday. Traveling to London for the first time, by myself, turned into quite an adventure as well. But I made it to the Gatwick airport around 3am after three trains, a bus and so much confusion. My plane took off at 7:30am and Erik was waiting in Vienna for me!

My first day here was amazing. I got to meet a few friends from Erik`s semester over here, and we got to do some good exploring as well. Vienna is beautiful, and even though I don´t speak any German, I love it here! We got to drink delicious coffee, explore the university and we ended the night in a cool club downtown. Throw in some Chinese noodle take away and it was a fantastic day! But like the old people we are, we were back at the flat we were staying the night in and were in bed before 10.

To explain the title of this post, we didn´t book hostels or anything for our four days in Vienna. The theory was that Erik has friends and we can sleep just about everywhere. So far so good! We often don´t know where we will be spending the night until the same afternoon, but that just adds to the adventure. The first night we stayed in one of the student dorms, in the flat of one of Erik´s friend. We slept in the kitchen on the floor above his friend´s flat because they had bigger houses. Thankfully most of the students are gone for the holidays, so we didn´t disturb anyone by being there! Going to bed so early though, after so much traveling for everyone, really messed up our sleeping patterns. We were both awake around 4, and so decided to go get breakfast. Chocolate milk and pastries? Yes please! The public transportation here is so awesome, and we can get around so easilz, even so early in the morning. After breakfast we were tired again, so it was back to bed for a little bit until we were woken up by the cleaning lady... awkward! I´m sure she knew we shouldn´t have been sleeping in the kitchen!

We spent today walking around the city. I got to see the historical parts of Vienna, and also all the places the students see everyday. It´s so interesting to see what other study abroad students get to see and do everyday. It makes their stories so much better! Tonight we were going to sleep at Christina´s apartment, but she is a nanny and the family is a bit crazy. Us staying would have involved some sneaking into the place, and besides that, it doesn´t have much heat. Seeing as we don´t have pillows or blankets, we decided against that. My coat makes an excellent blanket, but it´s only so warm! So we are staying at the Central study abroad office instead. They have couches and heat and we have turned this place into our own little apartment; complete with beer and music. We are having a chill night tonight, working on essays and keeping warm. Tomorrow will be another busy day of exploring and adventuring around Vienna. We may just hop on the subway and see where we end up, that sounds pretty fun. ha ha.

We will spend New Year´s here, celebrating with everyone in City Center. Then we are off to Munich for a few days. After Munich, it´s one day in Berlin and four days in Amsterdam. From there we fly back into Liverpool and catch a flight back to Bangor, where we will spend some time recovering from almost two full weeks of travelling! This is an awesome adventure, and I´m loving every minute of it so far. Vienna has been beautiful, and I know that we have so much more to see. Also, I´m getting pretty good at living out of a suitecase with only my coat for a blanket and pillow. And typing on German keyboards, which are slightly out of order from what I´m used to! :)

Well, I should probably get going now. Erik ran back to the flat to pick up some stuff he forgot this morning, and if I am not working on my essay when he gets back, he has threatened to punch me so I bleed. We wouldn´t want that, so Ill just work on the paper!

And so it begins...

Well, it's getting down towards the end of the semester now. This brings papers, revision for exams, Christmas and everyone leaving. We all knew this week and these last few days were coming, we just didn't think it would be here so soon. This semester has just flown by, and it seems like only yesterday our study abroad group were meeting up for the first time in the Manchester airport, spending that first night together at Hatters, and being invited on our first pub crawl. It seems so crazy to think that everyone is leaving this week. Brandon left Monday, and everyone else is going either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It's weird to think of myself in Bangor next semester without these eight wonderful people who made my first semester so awesome!

We were out at Paddy's a few nights ago, just having a few drinks and enjoying a night out. Lucy started crying and everything just went downhill from there. It was like a chain reaction, and everyone was losing it. We stood there for the longest time, singing karaoke, crying and hugging. It was one of the best nights we have had, but it made my heart super sad. I think that putting everyone on a train at some point this weekend will break my heart. Tomorrow will be a rough day for us, I think. We are meeting Tecwyn at Uno for a few drinks in the evening. This will be the real last time that we are all together as a group. I think many tears will be shed, and many memories recounted of our three months in Bangor. 

I'm starting a list of all the places in Bangor where I have cried, and so far it stands at Paddy's and Uno. I know this list will grow immensely these next few days though... It's hard to put into words just how much everyone from the Fall semester means to me and I suck at goodbyes anyway. I am so excited though for my Christmas adventures and for next semester, I just don't want this one to end.

My Christmas adventures begin on Friday though! Friday, the flat and I are going to see Tron in Llandudno, Saturday I will pick Liberty up at the train station for our week of epic adventures, and the 27th I will be on a train to the London airport. From London I am flying to Vienna to meet up with Erik for a two week tour around Europe. Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam and Dublin. Sounds like a good Christmas vacation to me! Then it will be back to Bangor to meet the new American students and take my one exam.  I'm not really looking forward to sitting that exam, it means I will actually have to do some studying on my European excursion, but I guess that's ok. ha ha. 

Last night was a good night out though... we started at Uno as a flat just having a few drinks and playing some pool. I'm absolutely terrible at pool, but I hope I'm getting better. I'll practice over break and blow everyone away by my mad skills next term. :) Anyway, after Uno, Jack, Lewis, Kalli and I headed down to Paddy's for a bit. We ended up staying there and enjoying some drinks before moving on to Rascals. From there, I went to the electronics party with Jack and Lewis. They do electronic engineering, and apparently their course was having a party. It was a really fun time, and we ended up getting home sometime around 2:30. I was having a bit of a rough night, and I actually ended up falling asleep in my bathroom for a bit, oops... but it's all good. One of those nights I'll always remember! Today was a day of recovery and homework. I have 2 essays and journals for Tecwyn that I need to get done for Friday, so I'm crossing my fingers that motivation to get them finished comes to me... hopefully. Then tonight we headed to Molly's flat for a goodbye party. Such a good time. Even on nights when we just stay in and hang out, I feel like we have so much fun and these are the times we make the best memories! Tomorrow is back to Paddy's for pound a pint and more crying, I'm assuming. ha ha.