Step One: Move In

I am finally starting to feel like things are going right here in Salzburg.  My poor parents and Emily, who had to deal with all of my drama for the past seven weeks or so.  Seriously.  Every day there was a new crisis.  I can’t even describe the rollercoaster that was Summer 213, but I’m so glad they all had my back and encouraged me, even if they didn’t want me to leave.  That’s the worst part.  Maybe if my support system sucked, then I would have no problem saying goodbye, taking off, and forgetting that a world apart from Austria exists.  Alas, I have the best family in the world, which includes Emily, of course.

This means that saying goodbye at the airport was a bitch and there’s no other descriptive word I can find that better sums up the situation.  I learned that in one of my writing classes filled with Johnston students.  Apparently things haven’t changed since we were all 15, using cusswords still makes you look cool, especially in a college paper.  Dually noted.  So there I was in the bitchy airport with my bitchy suitcases and my bitch-like boarding pass.  I’d been there a thousand times before, but not having a return date amplified reality in a not-so-cool way.  Even my brother had dragged himself out of bed at 5 am and joined my entourage that morning.  Thank god he was there, too.  I’m hugging my parents and Emily, crying, trying to think of anything I can say to make it not seem like I’m moving to a far away land forever, for all of our sake’s, and then there’s Gordon, saying, “Hey, is that leftover pasta in the fridge yours?”  Um, yes.  That’s mine.  “Well, can I have it?”  In light of the current situation….sure, I guess you can have it. Then, I was gone.  Not really that quickly.  Still had to go through security, constantly looking back to watch them all standing there.  And at one point I looked back and they weren’t there anymore.  So obviously I went and stood in line at Starbucks and cried the whole time, giving people a good show. 

Then a hundred hours later (give or take) I was landing in Salzburg.  I come out of the Arrivals section with all my suitcases and look around, tired as ever, and there stood Kevin, with a bouquet of flowers and a smile of relief on his face.  That smile soon faded when he saw all of the baggage I came with.  (Laugh, everyone, I am trying to work on my puns so that Kevin will agree to get me a kitten.  It’s a deal we’ve come up with in the past few years, and I’m not sure he knows it exists.  He hates cats, I hate puns.  Compromise.) He, as Austrian culture instructs, drove us up a mountain for lunch and we had pumpkin soup and beer and pretzels.  He wanted to eat my pretzel because I was eating it too slowly.  It was good to know things hadn’t changed. 

Just as I left it...

Later we got back to my apartment and I finally got to see where I would be living for the next year.  I do have to say: it’s nice.  The building I’m living in is only student apartments, specifically music students (how did I end up here?), and it was all remodeled in 2008.  Wood floors, nice and new appliances, very clean…and the perk, a studio apartment.  No more having to deal with a roommate, though most of mine have been awesome.  The few that haven’t been ruined it for everyone!  Having your own space is pretty nice, regardless.  Another added perk is that my room is two floors above all of the practice rooms for the music students, so when my windows are open, I can hear them practicing all day.  People come from all over the world to study in Mozart’s hometown, so you can bet all of these students are amazing.  Not that I would know the difference.  I could sit by my window and listen all day though, so they must be kind of good.

Moving in still..

Out of my window...mountains in the distance!

Red kitchen! Just in case I spill wine I guess..

My bedroom!

Kevin and I spent all weekend together, which was nice after virtually 9 months apart.  We went to Ikea for some apartment necessities and I laugh looking back on the several times one of us would snap at the other and then we’d kind of look at each other and smile because we both get irritable when in a huge store like that with too many things all around and too many people.  It was nice to depart into fresh air once more.  He helped me unpack all of my things and get settled into my apartment, which was important for me to feel like it was home, not just a room I was staying in.  Slowly the reality sank in that I was there to stay.

Pizza picnic on Kevin's bedroom floor

On Sunday evening I got to meet Eva, who was a director of the Salzburg Program when Kevin was a student.  Jim and Eva, Jim and Eva—that’s all I heard about when I was on campus in Redlands as a freshman and someone was talking about Salzburg.  I did have the pleasure of meeting Jim last April, but this was the first time I was able to meet the much-adored Eva.  She was in town giving a lecture to the students on Monday, but we had a little welcome dinner on Sunday night which included Kevin, Eva, Bill and Carolyn (current directors), and Colette (current program assistant).  We had dinner at Salzburg’s esteemed brewery, the Stieglbräu.  It was nice spending time with them all and getting to know Kevin’s co-workers a little more.  They have definitely been very welcoming to me since I’ve been here, which I appreciate.  And Eva was quite the firecracker, which I can definitely appreciate. 

Two nights later I was invited to take part in the Italian dinner that was meant to send off the Salzburg group on their 10-day trip through Italy.  I can’t tell you how strange it was to be on the other side of the whole thing.  Three years ago I was a student in their shoes, blissfully excited about all the new experiences, people, places.  And then there I was, sitting at the teacher’s table at dinner and wondering how in the hell I even got back here.  There were many Italian wines to taste, all sorts of strange, “cultural” foods, including octopus and rabbit! I tried a small bite of each, but mostly stuck with the wine.  I mean pasta.  And after the very traditional 4 course Italian meal, someone turned on the music, and all of the students started dancing and having a good time, as if they didn’t have to leave at 6 am the next morning for Florence and as if they’d already all packed.  The best part is that Kevin can’t stop his dancing feet.  He just can’t.  So I got the pleasure of seeing all the students faces as they cracked up at him and then immediately turned to see what my reaction to his behavior was…what do you think drew me in, ladies? “How do you deal with that all the time?” I was asked.  You don’t.  You just let it happen and hope nothing ends up broken. 

I will never tire of this

I feel a little in limbo right now because I don’t have much to do.  My first full week was full of rushing around, setting up a bank account, figuring out things at the university, trying to figure out how to legally get a job, etc.  But now I have it all figured out and I can’t do much more until I’m an official student and resident, which won’t happen for another two weeks or so.  For those of you who don’t know (understandable because my plan changed so many times) (that damn rollercoaster) I am beginning a Master’s program on October 18^th in Intercultural Studies.  It’s kind of like a continuing studies program because we have 14 block classes throughout the year. They are one or two weekends per month on a Friday night and all day Saturday.  There will be 25 students in my program, no idea about ages, nationalities, etc.  But hopefully they don’t suck.  That’s all I can say.  Two of the weekends will even be in English, so there will be a small reprieve for me.  The rest of the classes will be in German.  I think my German skills are about to get rocked.

It has been a slow two weeks getting back into it, but it’s definitely coming back and the Austrian accent is getting easier to understand day by day.  At first it just sounds like a bunch of gobble-dee-gook, as my parents might say, but then it sinks in and I can respond within a normal amount of time, without seeming slow.  I give it a month or two before I’m better than ever. That’s exciting.

I’m currently finishing a book I started before I left home, and I hate it. I thought I would like it, as it was recommended by a good friend, but it seriously sucks.  I don’t know why I’m still reading it, I want to quit, but I can’t.  I just feel like it has to get better at some point and like something in the end is going to make me realize it was great all along (not likely), but until I finish it, I can’t start reading any other books in German, which is what I’d rather be doing to prepare for the semester/my life.  Have any of you read the book about the 100-year-old man who jumps out of his window etc. etc.?  You’ll be happier if you don’t.  Anyway, I have to go finish it.  Terrible book.