The Calm Before the Storm...May in Wien

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A breath of change came over Vienna and the exchange lifestyle in May. The weather became pleasant to scorching, I actually had class, and the buzz came around the preparations for Euro 2008.
In order to join in the festivities of Euro 2008 we organised a sweep where we would all get a team. I was lucky enough to pull out Niederland (Netherlands) and only time will tell just how lucky I was. All advertisements around the city involved football. Flags were hanging from cars and every product you would buy (especially Ottakringer) somehow involved the Austrian National Team. It was too hard not to get excited about the championships. The thought of the massive fanzone being built in front of the Rathaus was the biggest excitement with the opportunity to watch all the games with 40,000 other fans for free.

With the change in weather came the change in our drinking habits. We began drinking not in our room but the fire escape outside our window. This fire escape soon took the name 'Club Waterhouse' due to buckets of water being thrown on us from the 8th and 3rd floor. It also became very fashionable to take some beers down to Museums Quartier and enjoy sitting in the purple booths in the sunshine. At night time the popular hangout became Paddy O'Briens which is the most bland bar in Vienna but it offers Red Bull and Vodka in a bucket which was the only drawcard. We also took up playing mini-golf once or twice a week where we were allowed to take our own beer in which made it a lot of fun.

Matt Jacobs also left us in May but is send-off was a major night to remember. The pre-drinks began with dinner in the kitchen. This soon turned into the guitar coming into the kitchen along with forty other people. We sang Hurricane, Gloria, and Don't Look Back in Anger until midnight when we were kicked out of the kitchen by the ratman. This then turned to us all going to Paddy O'Briens for some buckets. Matt made the major mistake of leaving me in charge of the camera as he ended up with a lot of movies interviewing everyone, even the security, about crabbing in Australia. After myself and Kiwi James Dixon suce up the last of the vodka in the bucket, James then opted for a shot of rum followed by a vomit in the bucket. The night once again turned into a morning with a final beer in sunlight out the front of Flex.

May also brought along the famous Mojito Madness party in Haus Erasmus. Organised last year it brought 250 guests and 5 police fines, the organisers were hoping for similar results this year. The cost was 5 euros all you can drink mojitos and beer. I took advantage of this by getting there at opening time and grabbing a seat by the bar. I think I had drunk my 5 euros worth within the first 10 minutes and the night ended very messy but with a nice profit for the organisers.

Another change in May was the fact that I actually had to go to University. I completed two intensive courses during May which both turned out to be very interactive and fun. The thought of no more University in June the Euro 2008 has me saying, goodbye May and bring on June!

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