Friday night at the Julius Raab Heim

After one week in Linz I am now settling down in my second crib during my short stay down here. In a few weeks I might be moving in to my third crib. We'll see about that. I've learned one thing down here, and that is to not take anything for granted, even if someone makes a promise. I am so used to the open and honest people of Sweden, and now I have to adapt and recalibrate myself in order to become accustomed to drunk personnel behind desks and counters. Yesterday I was promised a new room in a little more than two weeks. I woke up early in the morning just to call and check one last time if I was to get the new room. A few hours later some administrator at the dorm tells me that I might not be able to move in the new room in two weeks. This was said to me 35 minutes after I had cancelled my stay at the other place. I returned my key and I am waiting to receive my deposit back. For some reason I don't feel that things will happen smoothly. Nothing has this far.

So now I'm sitting in my new room at the Julius Raab Heim. It is cold, the light is not very nice and the other guys are out partying. The refrigerator is empty, and I have a feeling that the few things that I had bought for myself will be gone pretty soon. This time I can't call the embassy and complain though.

Anyway, there is no saucepan, no pots or any dishes whatsoever in the shared kitchen. I wonder how the fuckers who live here have been surviving without these things.

I have had the time and opportunity to make some new friends down here. I am still waiting for my German skills to improve. I find it hard to speak but I understand almost everything I hear and read. The Austrian accent is one exception though. I can barely understand a word.

The American and Canadian exchange students have been the easiest ones to communicate with. They have all been very friendly and kind. There are a few scandinavian exchange students here as well. We're only three (maybe four in a few days) swedish exchange students, but there are more finnish students. Most of them speak swedish perfectly well and some of them understand swedish. Two norweigan students are here but no danish students have been seen yet. The scandinavian students around have all been pretty nice.

Tomorrow I will have to go to the city centre, buy some plates etc. Hopefully we'll be able to go to IKEA.

Thank you for reading.