That's the current state of my mind right now, basically just stir fry. I'm sitting in our windowsill across from some guy on the terrace down outside who is smoking tobacco, and I am utterly refusing to study or to do anything of any worth.
I forgot in my last blog post to talk about Oktoberfest - how could I forget! It was such a 'big thing'! Basically it was five euro to go in and buy expensive food or beer for more euro. There was a live band and a ton of people, though I couldn't say for sure how many actual Austrians there were versus Franciscan students. I think there were more Franciscan students.
At first I wasn't really sure what to do, it was kind of awkward. Clare and I shared a pretzel and talked to John... after that we talked to some more people and got situated near the band. Neither Clare nor I have dirndls (that's the traditional Austrian dress), because we showed up to the dirndl rental late, so we were both just kind of dressed up, but it was really a weird experience to see all these guys wearing these suspenders with straps across the chest and weird flaps over the crotch (lederhosen) and women wearing these gingham and flowery dresses that, if the people had been older, would have looked really grandma-ish and rather silly.
Note about the Franciscan rental dirndls opposed to Austrian dirndls today - it looks like Franciscan got theirs from an earlier time period. Austrian dirndls have updated for the younger sector with much lower necklines that make more of a W than a V.
After the band started playing, some people got up and started dancing at the dance floor. These were all Franciscan students who don't know any Austrian dances, so I just sort of watched them. At one point a giant conga line of students ran by, led by David the LCI student, and somebody grabbed me basically by my collar and dragged me in.
I didn't pay for any beer, but Oktoberfest is very liberal with it - I sat down in front of an empty mug, and someone ran by, grabbed it and filled it up, and just gave it back to me.
Most of the fun I had involved just people watching, and also watching the band. One of the guys in the live band was incredibly sassy - he moved his his body back and forth to the music and laughed a lot and made great facial expressions. The music involved brass instruments, played partly by the singers who would sing and then play during interludes, a guitar that was the same model as Clare's, and on one occasion a bass guitar. I took a video, so when I have some more time and internet and I don't have to study, I'll upload it.
Tomorrow night I take off for Paris. We still don't have housing for Paris and we don't have housing for Fatima either, so Leslie is saying we might not really have many opportunities to shower... that's going to be fun, knowing my preference for staying as squeaky clean and non-greasy as possible....
Sleeping on a train will be interesting. I'm looking forward to a break from classes, but also I'm kind of nervous about the trip itself and about finding housing/the right trains. Also, I'm going to have to take some schoolwork with me to do, and I'm not excited about lugging around my large hiking backpack full of clothes, soap, and books.
Anyway, pictures and videos to come. I'll try to document exactly what happens in 10 day break so even if I don't make a blog post during that time, I can still be accurate when I come back.
Now to study!
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