Day 13 in Linz

Feb. 22 / Day 12

Last night I ended up just staying in like I originally planned. I had stuff I wanted to get done, but I didn’t do it. I really miss my calendars and white boards at my apartment in Georgia. I feel so unorganized and lost without them. I’m not even kidding right now. I feel like lists and calendars keep me on track. I’m going to have to start making to-do lists for the week and break it down for each day.
Today I went to German class and learned how to say a bunch of things that people might “like.” Saying things like, “I like to sleep, I like to work, I like to ride bikes, etc.” I’m going to have to make flash cards ASAP! I went to Mensa to eat lunch and had spaghetti. Then I went to my coordinator to turn in my list of classes I will be registering for. I will register tonight. I also need to check and see when I can register for Georgia Southern classes next semester. I think I have to wait until Monday at least though. I came home and ever since then I have been doing laundry. I wanted to go into Linz and go shopping with all my friends, but I don’t want to spend money on clothes and other things when I really don’t need yet. I needed to laundry first thing, so I did. I couldn’t read the settings for the dryer, but my clothes turned out fine. I only dried my jeans. They came out feeling damp still, but once they were out of the dryer for not even 30 seconds they were dry, and they wrinkled immediately! I hung all my shirts all around my room instead of drying them. It was less time consuming and expensive that way. After that, I took an hour nap!

Ana and I made dinner together. We had vegetables that were somewhat fried. They have the crunchy batter on the outside like chicken nuggets, but we broke it all up so it was just vegetables mixed with crunchy batter stuff and we cooked it n the stove. We also had soup. Ana made the soup with just water and a chicken soup seasoning block. I thought that was really good also. She thought it was very plain, but I don’t know, to me it was a nice change and a simple soup. The worst part is I burnt the tip of my tongue really bad, and now my taste buds all hurt!

I did some online homework and was distracted by Facebook for way too much of the night. Surprisingly, I was ready for bed right after 11:30, and I think I was asleep by midnight. So I got a full seven hours of sleep tonight!

If I Could Time Travel…

If I could time travel, there would be so many things I would do and places I would go. I think a lot of other people asked this question would say things like wanting to go back and spend time with someone before they passed away or stopping a terrible event like 9-11. Those were the first things that came to my mind actually, along with wanting to go back in time and travel the world before so many human hands and technology changed everything.

I would love to be able to see different cities in Europe from hundreds of years ago and check out all the differences. I feel like this would be a really hard task though, because there wasn’t transportation back then like there is now. It would take so long to be able to go to all the places that I would want to go to and see. It would be amazing though to see ancient cities, pieces of art, beaches, etc. before being altered by industries, construction and technology.

I would also love to be able to go back and hang out with dinosaurs! I understand that is probably very unrealistic, but if I could figure out a way for the dinosaurs to like me and be gentle, I would totally ride on their backs all over the place like horses.

I have thought about what I would go back to that happened in my lifetime to my family or me and what I would do differently to the situation, but I don’t think I would change anything that happened in my life. I am very lucky to have the life I have and do all the things I have done. If I changed anything that happened, even if it was something that didn’t seem like a big deal, for example, like my brother getting a job with the degree he earned from school instead of a regular job. He has never had a job with this degree, but if he did get one instead of moving back to our home town, he may have never had the children he has now. His twin daughters are my life, and I wouldn’t want anything to change them from being in my life.

I believe everything we do not only sets up the next move in our future, but other people’s as well.

Days 10 and 11

Feb. 20/ Day 10

This morning we took the tram into town to Hauplatz. This is the place we go to when we go to the bars. We were touring the Parliament here. There were pretty things inside, but nothing I found too exciting. I really liked the chandeliers in the rooms. There were some interesting mirrors in one of the rooms as well. There were six of them I think, and it looked like there was a crack or line going straight across the middle of all of them but one. Turns out these mirrors are so old, that back in the day mirrors that big couldn’t be produced. So what they would do was make one mirror and then make part of another and just stack them on top of each other and frame them to make one giant mirror. There was only one in the room that wasn’t like this; that one was redone somewhat recently because one of the old ones broke.

There was also a big grandfather clock in that room. This clock had 24 marks on it for each hour of the day and night. Apparently this kind of clock is extremely rare. The tour guide was telling us how after WWII (I think), Americans came over and they tried to take it back with them to America. They wanted it and were going to steal it or something, but they weren’t successful and the Europeans were able to keep it. Damn greedy Americans… We think we are entitled to anything we want! We also saw a cathedral inside this Parliament. It was so beautiful! Europeans put so much effort into making and keeping such beautiful cathedrals! It was huge, and there were even box seats for special people.

They served us sandwiches before we left, and it was by far the best food I have had since being here! There were about five different kinds, and I took two. One of the ones I had was a soft piece of bread with white cheese on it and a little dollop of some other kind of creamy cheese in the middle with half of a green grape. The other one I had was my favorite! It was bread with two types of salami on it, cheese, a dollop of the creamy cheese, and two little pickle slices. It was scrumdidiliumptious!

We went home and I changed all my U.S. dollars to Euros finally. I still don’t have my bank card though because it won’t be in for another couple of days. I put in like $750 and it turned out to be only about 550 Euros. It was so sad to see the number drop so much! I went to German class and we just practiced asking how are you , what is your name, where do you come from, where do you live, what is your phone number, what is your address, and that’s basically it. I wasn’t able to buy my ticket to go to Budapest today either. This was going to be a trip for all the exchange students for like 120 Euros I think. We would stay one night and get breakfast served and a tour. I didn’t really want to go as a big group though because I think if I just go with my friends, and we find a place to stay ourselves it will be cheaper. Then we can just explore the city on our own. But we were too late anyway. All the tickets are sold out and there’s a waiting list. I still don’t know if I should by the ski trip ticket either. It’s almost 300 Euros. That’s so much money for one weekend! It would be fun as a big group, and we stay two nights, get breakfast, and from 9-11 there’s free drinks for all of us. I think there will be a limit on that I’m sure. Everyone else thinks this is a good deal, but I honestly still think going on our own would be cheaper. Especially since that price doesn’t include rentals. I would probably only want to go one day too because I have only snowboarded once, so I know I will be tired and sore the next day and not get as much out of all the money I put in. We could just take a train ride simply one hour away and have just as fun of a time I think.

Tonight we got ready to go to a party at the school for Mardi Gras; it’s called the Carnival. We all rented or bought costumes from a shop today, and I got a few things to make me look like a hippy. We pre-gamed in our common kitchen and then all went to the school. I cannot believe my school has a bar on campus! This is a real bar just in one of the big rooms in the school buildings! It is called the LUI. I had white wine before we left, and it was terrible. I had one of the Canadian boys pick it up for me at the store, and an Austrian women recommended it to him and said it’s her favorite one. Either she likes terrible wine, or I just really like red wine a lot better! I had one beer at the bar, hung out took a lot of pictures with everyone dressed up, and played pool with Miro. I am so bad at pool when I’ve had a few drinks apparently. Miro and I left just after midnight to go make food, but most people stayed until around 2-3 a.m. Miro made his eggs with milk and flour added to it too. I’ve never seen this before, but it kind of makes since because it makes a lot more scrambled eggs that normal.

Feb. 21 / Day 11

I didn’t go on the city tour this morning like I was supposed to. I set the alarm for 8:30, but I decided to go back to bed because the tour wasn’t worth me waking up early. Luckily, everyone who went on the tour agreed with me later. They said they saw a Mardi Gras parade, but nothing else real exciting. I’m just going to explore the city with some friends another time.

I went to German class today from 2-5, and I was pretty flustered. We didn’t learn too much more, but I am so lost. I really need to buy flash cards so I can practice, so I think I will do that this week. I’m back in my room now and going through all the pictures from last night, and they are so ridiculous! It was a pretty fun night! Most people don’t want to party tonight… We all need rest! Since it’s the last night of the Carnival/Mardi Gras though, I think we are all going to Hauplatz from 9-11 tonight and check out all the costumes again. If I don’t go then I’m just going to relax, do laundry, practice German, work on my homework from Georgia Southern, or something like that.

As you can see, I didn’t do much today, and I probably won’t tonight either. We will find out later!

Lazy Sunday – Day 9

Feb. 19 / Day 9

I really didn’t do anything at all today. I didn’t go to bed until after 5 a.m… Again. So I woke up after 1 today, took a shower, ate some yogurt and cereal, and wrote my blogs. I am all caught up now on blog entries! We cleaned our room today also. Our cleaning lady only comes once every two weeks, besides the lady who comes every morning to empty our trash by our door. I know they wash our sheets every two weeks, but a cleaning lady came and washed the floors, bathroom and counters for my friend’s room the other day, so maybe I will have that next weekend too. Either way though, Ana and I bought cleaning stuff, and Ana mopped the floors and did the bathroom today. I don’t understand how dirty our place got in one week. It’s not messy at all, and it’s not like we have food or drinks spilt either. Really it’s just hair on the floors from doing our hair I guess. And the bathroom had so much dust in it. It makes no sense to me at all, but it’s disgusting so we had to clean it. I also washed all of the dishes in our tiny bathroom sink after I took them out of the box, and I found places in the room to store them. I sold some of the extra dishes we had and traded one of our bowls with a girl for two spoons. Now all we need are forks!

I tried figuring out all the classes I want to take this semester, but it’s so hard to figure out. Georgia Southern’s registration is way easier because the classes are always at the same time each week. Here, one class might meet Tuesday at one time, and then Wednesday at a different time, and it will be only a month long. Or a class will have different times of meeting every day for two weeks straight. So classes conflict with other ones so easily. Almost all my classes have some days where they are at the same time as each other. One of the classes I want to take is eight hours long and is one Friday and one Saturday, and that’s it for the entire semester. Just two days. It is so weird!

Tonight I went to our common kitchen for about a half hour to hang out with some people for Ana’s birthday today. I left though to write this, practice German a little because I need to desperately, and get to bed early. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Linz for the first time. I thought it made a lot more sense to have the tour like the first day we got here… Not a week later! But after that I have my German class to go to and then guess what I have planned? I’m sure it’s easy for you to guess. Yes, it is ANOTHER party. It’s like Mardi Gras party that the school hosts, and we all have to figure out costumes to wear. I knew that people in Europe liked to party, especially the students, but I mean the school is advertising and promoting this party even! It’s craziness!

I forgot to mention in my last blog that I was talking with my friend Miro, who is from Croatia, about us going there. He is an event planner and has his own company in Croatia doing events for concerts, club parties and stuff like that. He’s been doing this since he was 18, and now he is 25. He actually has an event he’s doing in the U.S. in August, and then he’s taking a couple weeks to travel some. I’m going to make him come to Georgia! He thinks that will be the last event he does though because it doesn’t make money like it used to in Croatia. He’s going to change his business though and start doing stuff with the U.S. Next weekend is one of the events though, and I think Ashley and I are going to go with him and stay at his parents’ house from Friday until Sunday. The bus ride is six hours there, and we will get in at like 1 a.m. I think. So we will either go out or just sleep. Then Saturday while Miro is doing business, Ashley and I are going to explore! Miro will schedule some time to take us around as well, and then we are going to the concert with him! Then Sunday afternoon we will head back here. I think it sounds like so much fun! He lives in Zagreb, Croatia. The pictures he showed me are so pretty, and he lives right in the heart of the city, next to the concert halls and schools and everything! Then I will make him take me to the city Paula up against the sea when it is better weather and prettier out. Plans for this weekend aren’t confirmed yet because the concert hall is supposed to shut down this week, and he might have to reschedule for a different hall. If this happens then the concert will be in mid-March. I’m hoping for this weekend though!

Well, now I’m going to make a to-do list, clean up my desk, and get ready to sleep. Goodnight!

Schlierbach and Steyr – Day 8

This post is really long because I did a lot today!

Feb. 18 / Day 8

Of course I only got five hours of sleep last night again. We went on an excursion today to two different cities nearby, Schlierbach and Steyr. We all road on a double decker bus for about 40 minutes to Schlierbach. It was so weird driving down these small and skinny city roads. I would look down and think we were about to scrape against the cars passing us, luckily the bus driver knew how to handle what he was driving! Schlierbach wasn’t as cold as Linz. It was a couple degrees warmer, but it was still about 8-9 degrees Celsius for most of the day. The building we were touring was called Stift Schierbach. I’m really not sure what this building is though because there were so many different components to it. The first thing we saw was all the glass painting inside. We had a tour guide for the building, and she explained how they do the glass painting. There were some beautiful pieces of glass in the rooms we looked at. I didn’t pay as much attention to the guide like I should have though, but that was because I was busy with other people just taking pictures!

The next section of the building we toured was the cheese production room. It wasn’t working today because it was the weekend, but we saw a lady preparing everything for the week. She was using test tubes and drawing up bacteria and all the weird things like that, that go into producing cheese. Apparently they also have awards every year for the best cheese made. I don’t know if this is a worldwide competition or what, but they have awards that are like the Grammys.

After the cheese section, we went into some big rooms that had amazing paintings and sculptures everywhere. It was just like I was back in Paris. There were stoned carvings of gods and angels all over coming out of the walls and pillars, and the ceiling was just giant paintings. They were so massive! It just really amazes me how there can be so much in one room! I don’t understand how they can carve and paint all those things. One of the rooms like this was a library. I think the guide said there were two thousand books in this room, and these books looked so cool. They were so old! Some of them looked fake because they were just so big, like the giant witch spell books you see in movies. The next room we went to was a cathedral in the building. Besides the ones in Paris of course, this was the coolest church I’ve ever seen. Just all the carved angels and art was so impressive. It really was beautiful.

So, after this we went to go do what I had been waiting for all morning… Cheese tasting! It was the main reason I came on this excursion, and I’m not even kidding. We got to try ten different cheeses that are produced at Stift Schlierbach. I liked almost all of them. There was only one that I absolutely did not like, and then maybe one or two more that I didn’t care for too much. I am positive I have never had any of these cheeses before, and some of them were made from goose milk!

After all of this we loaded back onto the bus and drove about a half hour to Steyr. When we arrived the first thing we got to do was all go explore on our own and get lunch. Ashley, Miro, Nick, Michael and I took off in search of food, and I really wanted to try a schnitzel or some other Austrian/German food, but the others wanted to eat the cheapest thing they could. McDonald’s would have been the cheapest, but I would put my foot down on that one. Instead, we went to a Chinese restaurant! Excluding Miro, we are so American it’s sad. I have four months still to eat all the German food I want though, and I will! By the way, it’s weird listening to Chinese people speak German.

After we all met back up from lunch, we went on a guided tour of this section of the city. The first thing we saw was a house that is older than the United States, but that isn’t uncommon in Europe obviously. This city is actually 1,032 years old. I think my favorite part of the city was the river. It was very shallow and perfectly clear and full of rocks, but the scenery all around the river was gorgeous. We saw this one building that had markings going up it with years written on. These markings were showing how high water levels got in that part of the city during all the floods. The worst flood was in something like 1200, and water levels were at 20 feet! One of the most devastating floods was recent actually, and it was in 2002 at 17.5 feet!

The only thing I bought here beside lunch was a croissant with chocolate in the middle. It tasted fantastic! I would have liked to buy some scarves or nice shirts or something, but I have come to realize that I won’t be able to really shop for European style clothes like I wanted to originally. Everything is too expensive here, especially since I’m using Euros instead of dollars, but still, people told me that a lot of Europeans even go to the U.S. to make big shopping trips because it’s so expensive here. I mean seriously, I can’t even send postcards because it costs $3.50 in U.S. dollars to send one post card here. Looks like I’ll be shopping in Georgia when I go back for spring break!

After we got home I wanted to take a nap so bad! Instead I showered again, ate and got ready to go out for the night. A bunch of us met in the common kitchen on my floor to pre-game. Quite a few people showed up, maybe like 20-30. After a while some of us were getting bored, so we decided to go to the tram and take a ride to the city center, Hauplatz. We wanted to go to the first bar we went to our first night here and get a drink before going to the club called “RememBAR.” This is the club that looks like it’s inside a shopping mall, which I think it really is. Miro, Victoria, Mitchell and I went to the bar and told everyone we would meet them at RememBAR at midnight. I got a Cosmopolitan there again, and it was really good, but it was so strong of lime flavor. The others had one beer each.

We went to RememBAR and checked our jackets. As we were walking in they were making us pay five Euros for cover charge because it was a special night, like celebrating Marti Gras. I didn’t have my money in my pocket, so I figured it was all in my coat that I checked, so Jackson paid for me. We were all dancing and having a great time taking lots of pictures! Miro and I ended up leaving at like 3:00, but everyone else stayed longer! I checked my pockets in my jacket and my money wasn’t there, so I’m pretty sure I dropped it at the first bar, and I thought it was about 50 Euros. The only reason I even had that much money on me was because people paid me earlier for the dishes I bought for all of us. Miro and I walked back to the bar to see if it was under the table we were sitting at, but of course it wasn’t there by that time. I started thinking about it today though, and I think I may have only brought 10 Euros with me, so I may have only lost five… I hope. We rode the tram back and were home by about 4 a.m. and made delicious sandwiches!

Days 5, 6 and 7 in Linz

Feb. 15 / Day 5

Today was my first day of my intensive German class. I was really happy that I knew how to count 1-20 in German already, but there was a lot I didn’t know and felt lost about. We learned how to say who we are and how old we are. As well as ask other people the same thing. We learned how to say family names, like mother, father, brother, etc. We played a few games trying to learn each other’s names, but I’m so terrible with names and faces! Class lasted from noon to 3 p.m. I ate in the cafeteria of the school after class with my Croatian friends. The cafeteria is called “mensa” in German. We went looking for plates and silverware after this, but we had no luck. The only things we found were too expensive. I’m pretty sure after that we just went back to our dorms.

Today is Nick’s 23rd birthday, so we have to celebrate! Most of the Americans got together to cook dinner before going out for the night. We made pasta, salad and bruchetta. We were going to drink wine, but someone accidentally bought a bottle that needed a cork screw, and none of us have one. So, I guess that bottle is being saved for another time! We had a great time hanging out and eating with our new little American family!

We got ready to go to the bars and met in the lobby of our dorm at 7:30 p.m. So, we went to the city center again where we have been going lately to drink. There were like 80 of us, so we split into 4 giant groups for this pub crawl, and we had an Austrian mentor from the school for each group to take us to the pubs. This was such a fun night! I had all my favorite people in my group! We had champagne, huge beers, some shots, more beers and another shot, and then we were all pretty gone! One of the guys we met at the bar was going to buy me a shot, so all my friends went with me to go with him to get it. We saw the guy pour it, and as he turned around he saw I was hanging out with one my Croatian guy friends. He practically threw the shot at me as if he was jealous! He shoved it into my hands and said, “You’re welcome,” and then he just walked away. It was the strangest thing ever. I love how we all go to the bars in such big groups! Everyone is always looking out for one another, and we always have so much fun!

Feb. 16 / Day 6

We didn’t have German class today, luckily. Some of my friends who have the advanced German class were supposed to be to class at 9 a.m. Needless to say, half the class didn’t attend that morning after the pub crawl. Ana and I made brunch today together. She cut up a bunch of potatoes and baked them. We need to buy some seasonings immediately. I thought I bought chicken nuggets my first night here, but I was wrong. I was wondering why when I would touch the bag it felt like I was squishing all the nuggets. Turns out these things were breaded like nuggets, but on the inside it was full of vegetables! They were really good, and I was very impressed! It made me feel healthier!

We had to go this training on campus at 3:30 called KUSSS training. This is the school’s website for registering for classes. I really should have been paying more attention during this, but I think I’ll be able to figure out how to work it when the time comes. After this, my American group went to some store to buy Austrian phones. We got them, and mine is all set up now. I bought the phone for 25 Euros and paid 20 more Euros to get minutes for the phone. It’s 20 Euros for two months of service, but if you use all your minutes or text messages, then you can just add money to it and get more. Like a pay as you go phone. I am able to send 1000 text messages with this 20 Euros, or 0.15 cents every minute of a phone call, international included. Now at least I have a phone to call home if I don’t have internet.

Tonight we are going to this club further into the city called A1. We took the tram, and I found out I can buy discount tickets because I am 21 years old. I have been paying four Euros each night we have to go into the city, and this whole time I could have just been paying two! I can’t wait til Monday when I will be able to buy my monthly student tram ticket for only 10 Euros. Then I can ride the tram unlimited for a month. On week days the tram closes between midnight and 4 a.m. So, we got to the club at midnight, and we were supposed to get in for free if we had our student cards with us. And ladies got 10 Euros worth or free drinks with their card also. We got in, and they made me pay five Euros. I was so mad! Some of the guys I was with were in a different line, and they didn’t have to pay. Some of my Croatian girl friends were in front of me and they didn’t have to pay either! I asked the girl who made me pay why I had to, and she said because I was too late. I looked at my phone and saw it was 12:06, but my friends directly in front of me got in free. That started my bad mood! The club was really cool, I mean it was two stories and had like eight bars in it, but I just wasn’t feeling it. All of us were already mad that we had to pay to get in, and we had to pay another Euro to check our coats. The drinks were so expensive I didn’t buy any! Only two of the guys with us bought anything. One Cosmopolitan was 17 Euros! That’s over 20 U.S. dollars! For one drink! I got that drink a few nights ago somewhere else, and it was only three Euros! If you have a club card for this place though it was half price, but that would still be expensive. We danced a little bit, but we were all pretty tired. There were go-go dancers that were practically naked and kept leaving like every 45 minutes to change outfits in different rooms. There were also guys on stilts running and jumping around. I have no clue how they didn’t fall on those! They were running around through hundreds of people!

We literally sat at a table for a couple hours and waited until about 3:15 a.m. to go get our coats and walk to the tram. Once we got there we waited another half hour until the tram got there to take us back to the dorms. It was really cold out and snowing lightly, but by then I think my body was numb, so I didn’t feel much of the cold. We finally got home after about a 30 minute tram ride, and I went to bed at 5 a.m. It was a long, not so great night.

Feb. 17 / Day 7

I woke up today at 10:30, with just a little over five hours of sleep. I went downstairs to the vending machine and got Ana and I coffee. The vending machines here dispense a little cup and fills itself up with whatever coffee you choose. So it’s fresh and actually really good! We made tortellini’s for lunch and then walked to campus. We were going to go get one of our papers signed so we could get that monthly discount tram ticket, but of course the office closes at 1 p.m. on Fridays, and we got there at 1:06. We walked to the bank to get our new cards and deposit our money, and I still need to change my dollars to Euros, but of course they closed at 1 as well. Apparently my bank is closes at 4 on Mondays and Tuesdays, 1 on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and they are closed entirely on Saturdays and Sundays. So I’m out of luck again!

We went to German class and learned how to say where we come from and where we live, as well as ask other people. We learned numbers 20-100 also. I’m having trouble remembering how to say everything we have learned so far except for the numbers, so that really sucks. I’ll study this weekend hopefully. After class we all went to the store to buy groceries for this weekend since everything in town is closed on Sundays. Ana and I found a 6-piece box set of dishes. There are three different sized plates, two sizes of bowls, and two sizes of cups, as well as cappuccino cups. So I decided we should buy this whole box set and just get six of us to split it all up and then we would each have to only pay 8.33 Euro, instead of me just spending 50. So far there are five of us in on the deal, so I bought it. Now we just need silverware… Desperately. Ana and I have been eating with only steak knives for the past week.

Tonight I just want to relax. Today is the birthday of Zac from South Africa, so we went up two floors up to the common kitchen to visit for a bit. I only stayed for about ten minutes though. I went to my friend Miro’s room instead to hang out and look at all his pictures of Croatia. These pictures are so gorgeous! I thought they were all fake or color enhanced, but they were unedited and gorgeous. The pictures he had of Paula, Croatia are by far the prettiest pictures of a place I have ever seen. Really, these photos should be in a magazine. I can’t wait to go there!

Tomorrow we are going on an excursion into the city at like 9 a.m. So I need my sleep, especially since I am going out tomorrow night for Ana’s birthday on Sunday!

Week Five Blog Comments

AUTHOR: Britni Ellison
BLOG: Love is in the air
LINK: http://ellison2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/love-is-in-the-air-d/#comment-54
COMMENT: I also think it is great when dad’s give their daughters gifts for Valentine’s Day. I don’t recall my dad ever sending me flowers for Valentine’s day to school, but my birthday is exactly one week before, and I have received flowers and other gifts at school from my parents for that. I loved it! It always made me feel extra special to have the delivered to me. I also love all the romantic stuff, but I agree, a book of poems when you’re so young would be really cheesy. I can imagine them all saying I love you in them too, and then you probably broke up not too long after, right? At least that’s how my relationships were when I was in middle school!

AUTHOR: Ali McConnell
BLOG: Valentine’s Day
LINK: http://alimcconnell.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/valentines-day/#comment-15
COMMENT: I agree that you shouldn’t make the day dreadful if you don’t have a significant other to spend the day/night with. It’s nice to be able to have, but it obviously doesn’t always work out like that. I’m in Austria right now, and last night a bunch of us single female exchange students got together and played games while drinking, and we had a great time just having a girl’s night. A guy actually walked past our room and saw all of us, so he came back about 10 minutes later with a bottle of red wine and a chocolate cake and just gave it to us and then left. He knows how to get on a girl’s good side!