Friday, September 12 2008, ~22.00
It’s a few minutes past 7 am and I am sitting in Linz. The first night was horrible due to a huge mistake by the people that were to handle my accommodation upon my arrival. They gave me the keys to a double room with no kitchen, a shared bathroom (with some asshole that I haven’t met yet) and they expect me to live and study here. The whole situation becomes even more bizarre when I look at the marketing fliers and the information they provided us with before we even came here. They promised Internet connection, kitchens and single rooms with private WC and bathroom. I tried to complain, with the help of some Austrian students, but the moron behind the counter wasn’t too keen on helping me out. The only answer the idiot could give was that a change was impossible at that time, I would have to wait until Monday. Great.
It really pissed me off because the whole trip had gone perfectly well with no delays and smooth transports. The city of Vienna was beautiful (the little I got to see from it) and Linz seems like a cozy place, not far away from other interesting places in Europe.
I am hoping to solve this matter as soon as possible and to have them cut my rent
(maybe even compensate me financially). The room is dirty and it smells really bad because of indoor smoking. I didn’t want to use my own sheets in that bed because if I would, the stench of cigarettes would probably never leave. I am going to have to deal with this room for another three nights.
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Saturday, September 13, 09.30
I’ve had breakfast and it was OK, nothing more. I think I can deal with it for a year. I also took that shower I was talking about and I feel much better now. I’ll probably pass out later in the afternoon, I practically had no sleep last night. The bed has no sheets (I brought my own), but it really smells awful in here. I don’t want my sheets fucked up by this dirty bed.
I found a computer with internet access 30 minutes ago and I paid a little to log on into my inbox. I found the room reservation document, the room confirmation and an e-mail from one of the responsible people at the international office. I was right, they fucked up and not me. It says that we both have reserved one single room respectively. The manager and his turkeyneck secretary show up on Monday morning and they gave me a hard time last night for calling them and reminding them of their incapability and lousiness. The fuckers didn’t understand that I, after an eight-hour trip, was exhausted and that I (with my deal and deposit) expected what I was entitled to. I won’t let this incident pass unnoticed. I am supposed to report about my studies to people back home and I will make sure to pull the right strings so that this hotel (or whatever the fuck it is) gets some bad publicity. This is totally unacceptable.
Enough. I have two nights left in this shithole, and hopefully they’ll hand me my right room on Monday.
Today we’re going out to explore the city a little bit. We need to purchase some stuff for our stay here (I have to wait, I don’t even have a kitchen and a refrigerator at the moment).
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Saturday, September 13, 13.09
I came home a while ago after some shopping and a late lunch. We went to buy some dairies, bread and fruit. After that we were really hungry and the smell of pizza lured us into a Turkish place with Italian ambitions. What a terrible idea that was.
I was looking at the menu and I felt that I wanted something with vegetables. I ordered the Pizza Gemüse (Pizza with Vegetables). The image on the menu (I fall into this trap every time) illustrated a juicy pizza with fresh vegetables. I got a dry one with a little cheese and a lot of broccoli. The broccolis never appeared on the image and the vegetables from the image never appeared on my pizza. Now I know at least one place to avoid next time I’m hungry.
I’m tired but bored at the same time. Classes begin on Tuesday, and I am more or less a prisoner in this hotel until my room is rearranged. We are going out in an hour or so, just to take a walk, see more of the city and probably buy important stuff we might need. We were talking about getting a second hand refrigerator because people obviously enjoy stealing food at this place (surprise?).
Anyway, we saw some funny things downtown. A few nuns, a titty-wagon and funnylooking people. I couldn't take shots at all of them but I managed to catch the nuns and the pornotruck.
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Sunday, September 14, 15.39
It’s a rainy, cold and sleepy Sunday in Austria. I woke up pretty late, had a light breakfast and prepared myself for a public tour on the tram. We caught the tram sometime around 12 and we came home sometime around 15.00. We went to the both ends of the line to see how the city looks like outside the core (which is the only thing we had seen before our trip). It was nice and cozy at one end, but completely different at the other end where the university is located. It looked like some old eastern bloc city with only gray houses and no signs of joy whatsoever. We saw another porno club called Moulin Rougue and it looked very much like the original!
Yesterday afternoon we had no clue what to do. We sat and talked about various uninteresting things and we tried to make time go faster. Both of us are looking forward for the studies to begin so that we can focus on something instead of chasing something that occupies our minds. We are in the same situation today, and we don’t really know what to do for the last hours of this day. We have to get up early in the morning tomorrow, so going out is not on our agenda. We went out both the night we arrived but also last night with a Dutchman and a Norwegian guy. It’s really nice to meet people from other countries and to make new friends.
Tomorrow I’ll hopefully get the problem regarding my room reservation solved (I am really really really hoping that it will be fixed!!!). We are going to be picked up tomorrow morning for an introduction to our new campus and course enrollment.
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