ciao

I could probably insert a small army of cliches here about leaving on jet planes, crossing ponds or spreading my wings. I could, but then I would have to wipe the vomit off of my computer screen and that just seems unpleasant. No, I'm not going to wax poetic about the momentous journey ahead of me: I'm too sleepy. Today I packed 100lbs of stuff into 2 suitcases and a backpack the size of an 8 year old in the fetal position. It's hefty. I've strapped my international whale stuffie to the side (his name is Herman, he was born in Korea and has since been to both the US and Germany. He does not miss kimchi.) and am more or less ready to go.

My family, things and I will toss ourselves haphazardly into the car at 11.30 tomorrow afternoon and drive down to LAX. My flight to SFO leaves at 4.00, then it's onto Frankfurt and finally Graz. If you think I'm snoozy and incoherent now...JUST YOU WAIT, MY LITTLE CRUMPETS! After I arrive in Graz, two things are for certain:
1. I will let my parents know I'm alive.
2. I will go to my hotel and eat food.
That's it.  I may or may not be picked up by a friend. I will probably be moving into an apartment on Saturday. And that's all the information I have. So far the plan is to check out the apartment Friday the 7th and then if it's a okay,  I'll move my crap in Saturday (because I booked two nights at the hotel already.) and then on Monday the 10th I'll have a meeting with the landlord and deal with landlordy things. After that it'll be get my residence permit, register with the "local authorities," open a bank account, get room things and essentially settle in.

I'll have more or less 2 weeks to myself in my new lil' cityhome before Fulbright things start happening. We'll see how much trouble I can get into before then. (and by trouble I mean amusement. I'd rather not be the poster girl for "Locked Up Abroad.")

So with this hastily organized blog post, I bid you farewell! The next time I contact you, I'll either be in a boring airport terminal or in Austria! It's like Russian Roulette but not Russian and not with guns. So, actually, not at all like Russian Roulette in the slightest....

Bis später.