(no subject)
So I managed to make it through the day. First and foremost, my watch was an hour off, to take an hour off of everything I've said since I got here, pretty much. It's about 5:30 in the evening, now. I managed to find Jake this morning at about 8 (which I thought was nine) and we left with one other person to find our classes. We “got lost” by which I mean we knew where we were, but we were going to the wrong building. We managed to get there all right in the end.
Today was pretty short. They basically just told us that they were going to have classes for us (Surprise?) and then we had to take a short “placement interview”, which was actually very ineffective, I think. We had to have one short conversation with them, wherein they asked us mundane questions: “What's your name,” “What's your major,” and “Where are you from?” Then they had us have an “argument.” Jake and I had to argue about buying on the internet. I felt really stupid because I couldn't think of many good reasons *not* to buy on the internet, but whatever. I just rambled on about security flaws and called it good.
After classes, Jake and I went with Ana, who lives on our floor and is from Budapest, and Rebecca, whom we met while we were lost (she was lost, too) and who is English but has lived in France for seven years, and we wandered downtown. Mostly, I got to learn how to get downtown, which is pretty important, I think. It's about as far away as it was while I was in France, so I'm sure I'll be there a lot.
We then took a bus to City Park, which is a mall here in Graz. Jake and I bought some necessities (I have a pillow now! And a towel!) and then we just headed back towards the dorm. Here, we both took the time to put some of our things away. I actually put away all of my clothes and emptied out the suitcases. I feel kind of like the room is mine, now, even if it's completely undecorated. Then napping occurred. I slept for somewhere around two hours, but I had a problem with some sort of bug or something. I got eaten alive... tons and tons of bites itching all the time. It woke me up more than once, and I have lots of bites, but I never actually saw what was doing it. It's still out there...somewhere...waiting for its next victim.
Jake and I took a little jaunt after having a tiny bite to eat (I had part of a roll of bread. I'm really not sure why I'm not hungrier) and found internet on campus. I don't get internet on my computer in the room until after I fill out some random paperwork thing, and one of the things I need is my matriculation number. Now that I think about it, I may have that in an email somewhere, so I should check that next time I'm online. Anyway, I finally got an email out to tell people like my parents that I'm not dead, and I got to chat with Maggie for a moment, too, so I feel a little better and less alone now.
Then Jake wanted to go to a little cafe and drink beer or whatever, so I went and sat with him for well over an hour-pretty much until it got dark. Just as we were heading back, we ran into Rebecca again, who was waiting with her Austrian 'buddy' for her 'buddy's' other 'buddy,' who happens to live in the same dorm as Jake and Ana and I (but not Rebecca). Jake decided to go with them, but I'm still jet-lagged and told them that I probably won't be up much longer. I mean, it's already after 8, which is two hours later than I managed last night, so I feel like I'm doing pretty good.
Hrm... I had a few other things to talk about at some point. I think I'll talk about the communal kitchen for now. The kitchen is pretty small, considering that it's 15 rooms, so probably 20 people. There are four sinks, two stoves, and two ovens. I don't think there's a microwave, but I haven't looked since I moved floors, so there may be one here and not on the floor above. Anyway, the thing I'm confused about is dishes. There are some dishes in the kitchen, and some spices and things like that. However, they are very haphazardly placed in the cabinets and whatnot.
Now, I would generally take this to mean that these belong to individual people. However, there are very few people in the dorms right now, and certainly not enough people on our floor to be using as much random space as that. We also have dish-duty for a week at a time, because if any dishes are dirty in the sink when the janitors come by, they simply take them away. So I'm not really sure if I'm allowed to use the stuff in the kitchen, and I'm equally unsure if, when I use said items, I'm supposed to wash it myself or let the people whose week it is do it. It's very confusing, so Jake and I each bought a plate, a bowl, a fork, a spoon, and two cups, so that we didn't have to worry about that. Now, I just need to find out about the cookingware...
Also, as a warning, these will probably drop off 1)As I get used to being in Austria and so each day feels less like an adventure and worth spilling over and 2)now that I have a phone and internet again so that I can actually communicate with people, rather than writing in my journal as my only source of 'communication' with the outside world, however retroactive that communication eventually will be.
Still,
<3