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Published: September 23rd 2008
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Huh??
Welcome to Europe. Servus.
The last two days here have been pretty low-key, but I suppose I'll catch you up on them, since I know how you all hang on my every word .
Yesterday I had my final exam for DetuschIntensiv, but only the written portion. I was the first one done yet again. I'd like to clarify that I was always the first one done in my German class at UVM, and typically TIED with some dirty hippie in Italian class--don't ask, it's a joke with my friend Meg.
Anyways, I finished that and we got out of class early. I grabbed a nice breakfast of two Kitkat bars, and then headed back to my place. I tried to register for classes but wasn't allowed, and figured out I would be able to starting tomorrow, the 24th. After that, I headed out to do some errands. One of my friends at school requested a postcard and a Kinderegg, so I sent that on its way, and then went on the quest to buy some sneakers. I've been doing so much walking since I've gotten here that my shoes are already starting to look pretty sorry. I figure having a second pair to switch between can't do much harm. Apparently I'm a freak for Europe, though. First my humongous head didn't fit in a hat at Aufsteirern, and then yesterday I stopped at a pretty big shoe store by the Hauptplatz. I found a cheap pair of shoes for 20 euro, and asked the lady if she had them in a size 45 . She stared at me and then sort of laughed, and asked me if I was serious. She said she only had shoes there up to size 41. Sweet. I finally found a sports store, though, and got a pair of Adidas, nothin' too special. Not too bad.
Last night I went out to dinner at Chi-Chi's, a Mexican restaurant here, with Meghan and Elizabeth. After that, we went to one of Graz's most famous pubs to meet up with Orla and her boyfriend who's here from Ireland, Diarmuit . Pretty low-key night, overall.
Today, since I didn't have class, I slept in until 11, which was beautiful. I woke up, relaxed a bit, and then decided to attempt one of my biggest undertakings since I've gotten here: a haircut. I'd found a small place yesterday in Lendplatz, which is about 15 minutes from where I live, that was pretty cheap. I went in and asked the lady working at the counter if I needed an appointment. She stared at me for a minute, smiled, and said, "Yes, you need 'an appointment'" and used a word I hadn't heard yet. Another woman laughed and repeated the word, and I figured out I'd of course used the wrong word. The appointment I'd used referred to somebody's level in a business or something, as in like, "the appointment of such and such to CEO." Fantastic.
I ended up getting an appointment for an hour later, and when I came back punctually, the woman working was shocked I was on time. Steve and Lisa have rubbed off on me after all these years. While I waited for the haircutter to finish up with her previous client, I spied 101 Dalmatians. I started to read it just to practice a little bit of Deutsch, and got quite the funny look from everybody in the place. It was entertaining. Then came the hard part. I sat down in the chair and she asked me what I wanted to have done. I started to explain and she seemed to understand, and things were underway and it was fine. There was no small-talk, which I was thankful for, 'cause she had a really heavy Austrian accent, until...
Her: "So, how should I style it?"
Me: "I'm sorry?"
Her: "Well, you HAVE to get it styled, it's what everybody here does."
Me: "Oh, no thank you. It's fine like this."
Her: "No, you're getting it styled. I'm the haircutter, I know what looks good."
Me: "Really, don't worry about it."
Her: "You're in Europe, it's what we do, so you have to, too."
Me: "No, I don't."
Her: "Yes, you DO."
Needless to say, now I have a mohawk. Niiiice. Some of my friends actually said it looked pretty good, and compared to some of the people you see on the streets here, it's pretty tame, she could've done a lot worse, but it's still pretty humorous to see, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it.
That's about it, though. Low-key night tonight, have my oral exam tomorrow for DeutschIntensiv, and then off for a week . Trying to decide with my friends what we want to do, but not much has been decided. It's Dietlinde's birthday tomorrow, so we're throwing her a little surprise thing both for her birthday and as a thank you for letting us stay in her apartment in Vienna. Hopefully she doesn't read this...
Bis bald!
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Mom
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Try smiling! It looks like a mug shot...not bad though!