Well, the past week or so has been filled with ups and downs. The bed bugs situation has been such a mess. Stina and I slept out on the floor of the family room for 5 days after they sprayed the room with insecticides. It’s been hard because I haven’t been able to get much sleep out there, sleeping next to the kitchen that 25 people share with lights on and loud noises and people coming and leaving at all hours of the night. I’ve had so many people tell me that I look tired, I want to tell them to stop saying that, it’s not a complement! Haha… But honestly, 48 bites later, I’ve truly been asking God, “What are You trying to teach me from this?” and I think that it’s definitely good for me. Getting out of your comfort zone makes you stronger. It’s helped me remember to put things in perspective, and think about how many people in the world don’t even have a shelter to live in, or blankets or a bed. There are many, many people in the world who would love to get to sleep in my bed, bed bugs and all. If bed bugs are the worst of my problems, I am a very lucky girl!
Friday was the end of the Intensive German course. I am so glad it’s over! German is so hard to learn. Albert Einstein even said that it was a dead language, because people die before they can learn it! Gosh I wish it were easier to pick up on, but I’m working on it. I won’t find out my grade for the class til next week. Monday, regular classes start. I’m still working on choosing classes. The way that the courses are set up is much different from home! We’ll see what I end up in.
Saturday, we took a day trip to a castle! I’ll post a picture at the bottom. It was beautiful! We brought food and backpacks with us, and hiked through some awesome trails, up to the peak where the view of the city was amazing. We went in the castle, and it’s so crazy to imagine what might have taken place there. Knights and horses and fighting and the whole deal. There’s still a flag on the top of the castle, proudly proclaiming their land. We ate lunch at the top of the castle, overlooking the town below. It was really neat.
Sunday was Stina’s birthday. In the morning, we went to Mount Schlossberg and drank coffee/tea/hot chocolate. In the afternoon, we went to Mount Schoekel. We took a tram there, and then hiked toward the top. I’m not sure how high we made it, but it was beautiful. The weather was weird. It was sunny but snowing, and sometimes warm sometimes cold. Parts of the mountain were covered in snow and other parts weren’t. We climbed up some really steep rocks because we got off the trails, and it was so cool! We teamed up, and held each other’s feet to make safe holds as we climbed. So fun! I’ll post a picture of the landscape we saw below. I felt like I was on top of the world! When we got home, we made dinner for Stina, and a big group of us ate together. We had vegetables and beans and potatoes, and then Robert made traditional Austrian dessert crepes. There was mandarin orange filling, pomegranate honey filling, nutella, vanilla ice cream, and homemade baked chocolate sauce on top. They were so, so good!! Robert was so sweet to make them! I want them for my birthday! Anyway, we lit candles, sang Happy Birthday to Stina, and enjoyed our time together. Our friend Four, from China, came over, and it was great to see her! It was a great day.
Monday, we had a chill day, and ran some errands. I went for a 10 mile mountain trail run- so fun! It was actually very refueling (pun intended). I’m with people all the time, which is great, but definitely enjoy my little bit of alone time when I run! It’s nice to just turn on my iPod and take a deep breath and get away from people sometimes- hahaa. Melissa (my roommate) had been traveling for the month of February, and came back last night. She’s very sweet, I like her a lot. She’s very outdoorsy. We’re hoping to hike and raft and camp and stuff when it gets a little warmer. She was here last semester too, so she knows the ropes. Good stuff.
This morning was a little rough. I slept by myself outside in the family room because of the bed bugs, and was woken up by Christina (mean Russian manager of the dorms; AKA Cruella Deville) and the cleaning lady, who has also been very mean about the whole bed bugs extravaganza. I’m half asleep, not wearing a bra, laying there, being yelled at in German. Christina was speaking some English to me, and told me that it was selfish of me to be sleeping in the family room, because I could spread the bugs to other people. If I would just stay in my room the bugs wouldn’t spread. She told me to stop just thinking of myself, and think of everyone else. They told me that I had until 10:00 to have all my stuff cleaned and put in my room. Eventually, other people heard the yelling, and my friend Robert came over to help defend me. They were arguing in German, and clearly talking about me. It was so awkward. Anyway, I went in my room and had a little cry session. It was needed. But then I got myself together and felt better. Sometimes you need a few tears after the cleaning lady yells at you in a language you can’t understand.
So I spent the next 6 hours cleaning the room. We vacuumed the bed, mattress, under the bed, floors, cleaned everything with soap and cleaner, put all my clothes away, and reorganized the whole room. It took forever, but it’s so nice to be back in the room! Tonight will be my first night sleeping in the bed again- I’m pretty nervous! If I wake up with new bites, I seriously might fly home. Hahaa.
We’re planning a trip to Budapest on Thursday maybe. If we go, it will be Thursday through Saturday or Sunday. We’re in the process of figuring out the details of the trip. Hungary is cheap, YAY! But our plans always seem to change, so who knows where we’ll end up! Alrighty, that’s all for now. Time to go rub baking soda paste all over my itchy bed bug bites, and hit the hay! Good night from Graz xoxo
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