The past couple of weeks have been quite strange. Today I finished my placement, and having only one class today meant that the whole thing seemed a bit anti-climatic. Nevertheless, I took advantage of the extra few hours and have spent the day closing my bank account, paying my last month's rent (I have to pay a full month's rent despite moving out on the 3rd of June, something to look out for if you're with the OeAD.) and trying to work out what I still need to do. Still, despite being quite organised I did find myself somewhat hyped up last night - a bit like back in September, apart from the fact that I know what I'm moving on to.
Despite finishing my time in both schools and my leaving party last friday (in Charlie P's of course with various erasmus friends and friends from halls, though it felt like Ellis and Caroline should have been there as well)it only really hit me yesterday that I was actually going. This sudden realisation was brought about by the reminder email for my flight home on wednesday - thank you BA! I found myself thinking about my time here overall but I think I'll write about that next week, once I'm back home and have gained a bit of perspective on the whole thing.
So the leaving party last week was really good; Sarah, Juho and I went to Sly and Arny for some farewell pizza and cocktails. They've been my closest friends here since everyone from first semester left and it was good to do something together. Juho gave me a German guide book to Finland as a leaving present, which I thought was really sweet and will definitely encourage me to go and visit him there! I got some really sweet cards from my Austrian friends in halls as well which is nice.
As well as the leaving party, our entire corridor decided to head out en-masse to 'the best ice-cream parlour in Vienna' (according to Anna, a German girl I live with) This involved changing u-bahn stations and traveling to the end of the U1 line (Reumannplatz) where we found Tichy. It seriously did not disappoint, and if the weather is good while my mum is here (which it's forecast not to be) then we'll definitely have to make a stop there - in fact, even if it's raining I don't think I'll be able to resist!
Last Thursday was also a holiday and since it fell on a Thursday they stretch it over to the weekend. In German, this is called a 'Bruecketag' but in Austria it's a 'Fenstertag' - I'm not entirely sure why... the German makes more sense, what with it bridging the gap to the weekend, I don't know where windows comes in to that. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and headed to Baden and 'Austria's largest beach', which turns out to actually just be some sand plonked beside an outdoor swimming pool. The Strandbad is amazing though and so much fun! Baden will always be one of my favourite places in Austria, I really could live there.
So today I'm off to Prague until Sunday to visit my dad who moved there earlier this month. I'm really looking forward to seeing him and spending some time together in Prague, which has definitely become one of my favourite cities! On monday, my mum arrives and we'll try and pack in a few things before I head off - though the majority of my plans seem to involve eating or drinking in 'insert name of restaurant/cafe/bar here' for the last time'. At least she'll be fully acquinted with Ottakringer and Schnitzel by the time we head home on wednesday (as well as pizza, cocktails, ice-cream and oriental breakfasts!).
Until next time (the last time!)
Tschuss!
