Hostel-ity

Oh, the hostel... We got here and it was okay, and it's still okay, but culture shock doesn't even begin to cover it. It turns out you can, in fact, fit five girls, five full suitcases, six beds, six lockers, a shower, a sink, a toilet, and a trash can all into a phone booth. So far so good as we're all still standing almost two weeks in. Something else to note: European showers and windows operate quite differently than in the US. As it turns out, if your giant window tips in at you, you are not actually about to die, fear not. Also, make sure you keep the shower curtain IN and UNDER the 2 inch lip surrounding the drain. Failure to do this will result in flooding of room, destroyal of electronics, and sacrificing of towels. I bet you could've figured that out, but I thought I'd save you the trouble.

Also, if we were all smart, we'd charge 6 euros to do a load of laundry in our houses. We'd make a mint. That's what the hostel does and they seem to be doing pretty well. Also: get used to starch, it comes built into the detergent.

We have two really adorable, round little Austrian ladies that make the breakfast every morning. They really didn't appreciate our lack of German skills in the beginning, but now when you bring them your used coffee cup they smile really really big and say, "THANK YOU! GOOD MORNING!" Their enthusiasm is deeply appreciated.

We also have a very nice sunroom, where we all use the free wi-fi instead of paying 4 euros an hour to use the house machines. Sometimes the internet doesn't work, and it gives me nervous breakdowns, which I think is totally understandable since this is my only link to you lovely people.

I guess the best way to some all of that up is well, life is vat you make it.

Gay Pari!

Okay, so all I had was a five hour layover in the Paris airport, but the ladies' restroom, the mini sandwich and my spaceous seat in the D concourse were all pretty Bon Jour if you ask me. What was not gay at all was the five euro bottle of water that I bought. It made my mouth taste furry. It is a known fact however, that Montanans are water snobs, and anything that wasn't just freshly dripped off of a glacier tastes like mud to us, so my opinion could be biased. The layover itself was pretty decent, until we all bought the water and instantly got crabby. Luckily I slept the entire rest of the way there, interrupted only by a lovely French stewardess, offering me yet another miniature sandwich, which apparently the French hold quite dear, as I experienced no normal sized sandwiches throughout the duration of my stay in their lovely airport.

Leavin' on a Jetplane- the most Overused Facebook Status in the History of Man Kind.

I guess technically we left on a bus-plane, but who can really keep track at 2:30 in the morning? No one, that's who. The idea was that we were supposed to all go to sleep on the bus and wake up on Vienna time, and granted, I can't speak for everyone else who can't roll up in a ball, hit their fiancee in the face repeatedly and sleep like a rock on a moving object, but for those of us who can, the bus ride was GREAT.

The plane ride was even better. I don't think any of us (being in economy seats...) were expecting a full hot meal of chicken with mashed potatoes and chives, cous cous and smoked salmon, brownies, brandy and champagne. That was most certainly a pleasant surprise. We got nicely tipsy on free booze, and then watched a whole bunch of free movies. I suffered through Shutter Island, and then forced Matt to suffer through New Moon. I then resumed my routine of fiancee hitting and rolling up in a ball and slept all the way there.

Catching up...

Hi there Y'all!
While I realize I'm starting this a bit late, I finally have two full hours of nothing to sit with a box of grapes in varying states of gross due to lack of cold storage, and a 2.7 Euro bottle of "Wasser mit Gas" from our vending machine to start this blog. It started out as a class requirement for two of the classes I'm taking while I'm here, but I figure it's a pretty decent way to keep up with those of you at home, and if you have to suffer through some art criticism and concert reviews while we're at it, so be it, you'll still love me anyway! I also anticipate talking alot about food, so be looking forward to that as we all know how much I like to eat (I have a really entertaining story about Matt and I and a couple of pizzas I'll share later...). You'll notice that there will be a bunch of posts happening on one specific day. It's because I'm a slacker, and I started this in a notebook first, but I promise everything you read after today will be completely, 100% firsthand! From Mozart to Bratwurst, and from Schnitzel to Strauss, prepare yourself for a Weiner of a time!