Naomi in a nutshell

Today marks exactly 6 months since I’ve been back from exchange. Out of everything I brought back with me, my little green notebook is definitely the one thing that holds the most memories.

In this notebook, I wrote down directions on how to get to every single hostel in every single city I travelled to. A South African girl working in Italy jotted down directions on how to get to the best gelato place in Rome. A German guy on the train wrote down the names of some German bands he thought I might like. My Czech friend listed a full page-worth of sights to see and food to eat in Prague. Christine and I spent sunny days and windy days working on childish sketches on sights we saw. And on the very back pages, I kept a running list of my food expenses for the entire 5 months so that every croissant, box of cereal, and carton of milk was accounted for. 

I miss this, a lot!

Dear Vienna,

I’ll miss you. I’ll miss your pastries, Almdudlers, and kaiserschmarrns. I’ll miss your gorgeous architecture and awesome weather. I’ll miss your amazing transit network of U-bahns, buses and trams. I’ll miss how you have so many random festivals and events happening all the time. We’ve made some really good memories together, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

But now I’m home and I’ve realized I’ve missed it so much. My family, my friends, my BED!! It feels weird though, almost as though I’ve never left.

Officially finished all my classes at the WU! Let’s not think about the group report due at the end of July for now. 

I walked along the Neue Donau this afternoon and it was really nice. I wish I’d gone more often, but at least I got this last one in! Rushed home to finish packing before dinner, but some of my clothes are still a bit damp :( 

It doesn’t feel like this exchange is OVER! Sob. There will probably be an overly sentimental, tear-inducing blog post later on. I’ll try to keep it short and not be too much of a downer.

Soo… we were having a nice dinner at a restaurant by the university when Ochy’s purse got stolen. Now, I could go into great detail about what happened and etc. etc., but let’s dwell on the good things instead. 2 hilarious moments happened at the police station.

1) Ochy listing all the things that were in her purse: “and… umm.. lip balm…”

Policeman: “BOMB???!?!?!?!?!?!”

2) Widya on the phone with a friend: “Thomas, I’m sorry but I need your help. Can you phone or text or message Johannes and let him know that Ochy has been stolen.”

Me and Jeanette: “OCHY’S BEEN STOLEN?? NO - HER PURSE, NOT HER!!”

Widya: “Oh sorry! I mean her PURSE has been stolen.”

—> hysterical laughter.

This sucks though. We were peeking into all the garbage cans around that area in hopes he’d dumped her purse after taking her phones+cash, but no luck.

Ventured into a previous un-ventured part of the city today - Gasometer. There are four huge cylindrical buildings which used to be gas tanks but are now apartments on top, offices in the middle, and shopping/entertainment on the bottom.

Picture 1 is of the shopping section, picture 2 is of the outside of the buildings.

State Hall of the Austrian National Library - 

I agonized over which picture to put on here; a view of the library in general, a close up on a section of old books, an angled view of one of the numerous bookshelves? I finally settled with a section of the library in general because it gives you a good idea of just how stunning it really is. As well, you can have a virtual look here: http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/state_hall/statehall_virt1.htm

I want a library that’s stacked so high with books I would need a rolling ladder to access it all :)

P.S. Sorry for the bright blurs of light in the picture… I don’t have good photography skills or editing skills, haha.

This is a lemon bliss. And it tasted pretty close to what I would expect bliss to taste like :P So yes, it was THAT good!

We went to this cute little place called Orlando di Castello, located in the first district. Pricey, but worth it if you factor in the people, the atmosphere, and the food. When I’m back in Calgary, I’m going to make it a personal quest to find a good place for food like this. Usually pastries, tarts, cakes, etc. are all super sweet, super creamy, and super unappealing.

Just came back from Donauinselfest - a free music festival and Europe’s biggest open air event.

I went to check out Train (of ‘Hey, Soul Sister’ and ‘Drop of Jupiter’ fame), and he was really, really good! Sounded exactly the same live as on the radio, which was awesome. The only song he had trouble with was Hey, Soul Sister. The high notes were a little bit out of his reach for some reason… but overall it was excellent.

There are 2 things in this photo you should note: 

1. The mass of people shown on the two screens. It was crazy.
2. The umbrella - Train did a cover of Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and people started whipping out and opening their umbrellas; it was hilarious!

As my time in Vienna comes to a close, (5 days left!), I finally found it in me to splurge on an erdbeerkuchen. 100% satisfied and worth the wait :) And by splurge, I meant pay €2.10 hahahaha. It’s like 3 dollars for a little piece of cake! Or maybe I’m just cheap…

Aaaannndddd hello rain! But that will not stop our quest for kaiserschmarrn tonight, no way. Because kaiserschmarrn is my Austrian version of poutine, and we all know how much I love that particular dish of deliciousness.