24 October 2008: Vienna, Austria

I woke up this morning ready to leave. I'm not sure why, since obviously nothing had happened since the previous night when I went to sleep, but I just felt like it was time to go. And, if possible, before anyone woke up.

Graz was my likely next destination, as it was the highest-recommended college town in Austria, but I also wanted to go to Innsbruck. However, since I would have to hitch-hike there, on account of the trains being so expensive, I was a bit concerned about the feasibility-- Graz is very far in the south-east of Austria while Innsbruck is in the very western part.

What I discovered, though, was Salzburg, internationally famous because of "The Sound of Music," which didn't matter a bit to me, but also a college town-- the fourth-biggest, after Vienna, Graz, and Innsbruck. It is on the way to Innsbruck, too, so I figured it would be an easy hitch to get to both.

So I decided I would stay in Vienna for the weekend, after all. As simple as that.

But when Mo woke up and I told him my plan, he said that Salzburg was a bad choice and that Graz would be a MUCH better time. Well, I trusted his opinion, but by this point it was too late in the day to go to Graz. So, after much deliberation, I was right back where I began-- staying in Vienna for the weekend and then going to Graz, and Innsbruck after that.

(Spicy ramen noodles were lunch during this deliberation. They were delicious.)

When I finally left the flat that afternoon I went to the tourism information booth. Considering the mixed reviews I had been given about National Day, I was still a bit hestitant about staying all the way until Sunday-- since that would make a week and a half in Vienna-- if it wasn't going to be worth it. I asked the girl at the info desk about that weekend's festivities and she said National Day was "going to be lame," but also that it would "make a good story." That sounded about right, and I figured that was really all I needed. A good story.

I was sold.

Committed to staying, I walked a bit around the empirical grounds, checking out the scene. There were still, of course, the tanks and planes and armed soldiers. But even more encouraging were the two gigantic blow-up dolls, the kind with that wiggly arms that you see on the side of the road advertising a car-wash or a yard sale. Except these two dolls, with their wiggly arms blowing in the wind, were dressed in Austrian army uniforms. If I was looking for a sign that National Day was going to be a show, I think this was it. Unquestionably.

I went back to Ike's place to try once again to recoup my €4, but he still wasn't there. I couldn't believe I was making such a fuss over two coins, but a guy's gotta eat and €4 is food for about three meals-- twelve meals if I kept eating Ramen noodles. But it was looking like I wouldn't get it, after all.

Disappointed, I went back to Niko's flat where I had, you guessed it, Ramen noodles. The last pack. It was chow mein flavor, a big drop-off from the Spicy flavor, but I added some chili pepper. It's pretty incredible, really, what you'll do to make simply "edible" food "decent." Or somewhat decent.

Corina and some guy who I had seen before were watching "South Park," which Corina has nearly episode of on her laptop. You would never believe how much these people love that show, and I'm telling you we watched "The Dreidle Song" on youtube no less than ten times in three days. That's not an exaggeration. In English AND in German.

Mo and Corina and the other guy started watching youtube videos so I moved to Mo's room to take a nap for a bit, and when I came back they were still watching youtube. And not just the three of them but about four other friends who had shown up. They honestly have the videos on cycle, known by nickname, that they watch continuously. It's the funniest thing.

(I also, at this point, was beginning to recognize most of Mo and Niko's friends, and there were Austrian fist pumps and greetings for everyone. It was sort of like Tomi's friends, in that I recognized everyone after a few days, but everyone seemed a bit closer in this circle. With each other and with me.)

We watched youtube for a while longer and I feasted on peanuts-- I am positive that I had seriously eaten more peanuts at Mo's flat than in the entire rest of my life combined-- and then we went to a house party at Mo's friend's flat. It was the first house party I had been to on my trip, although it wasn't really a house party at all. It was sort of just people sitting around in circles and talking-- sitting because everyone needed an ashtray and there was one in the middle of every circle of people-- with barely-audible music and no dancing. It wasn't so much a house party as a get-together with chips and beer and chili. Although delicious chili.

I was a big hit, of course, as the only resident American-- an easy card to play, I'll admit, but one worth playing-- and Corina pretended to be my "American girlfriend," telling people she was from Michigan also. I'm not sure how or why anyone believed her, but they did. She was a hit too.

I was talking to this one particular girl for a while, sort of a poor man's Sarah Palin, and she said that we should get coffee the next day. I said sure, and asked her where we should meet. She said "well, just come back to my place tonight."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Republican vice-presidential nominee.

It was sort of casually agreed on, but the thing about Corina is that she had described herself as my American "girlfriend" rather than "friend," when simply being my friend would have sufficed. She was being particularly flirty on this night, but had a habit of backing off right in the knick of time-- sort of like Tomi and the girl at the reggae club in Pecs.

Corina told me that I should go back with Sarah in a not-serious-but-I-should-probably-say-this way-- trust me on this one-- but I said that I prefered her. She said something about her ex-boyfriend, although I didn't really hear what she was saying, and just as these things happen I ended up leaving with Sarah-- although, when I did, Corina had a definite didn't-mean-for-you-to-go look on her face. Trust me on this one, too.

And so I ended up going home with a poor man's Sarah Palin.

More importantly, though, since both Sarah and I have black hair and black glasses and were wearing a black shirt and jeans, it was like going home with my twin. And how could I say no to that?