mariluna.musings

So Hebert was away this weekend for a glacier climbing course(yes, he likes to be outside even in effing freezing conditions!) and I had the task of keeping myself as busy as possible. Not easily done in a city where you know exactly one person, and that person is not there. Luckily I found this amazing social networking site called Internations. It is kind of like a Facebook group specifically for expats.

He left on Thursday afternoon and that same evening I went out to a group dinner in the city center. I was nervous about getting lost and nervous about using the metro as well as nervous about meeting a bunch of strangers! But I really shouldn’t have been; it was great!

In a single evening I met people from all over. The Czech Republic, Isreal, Australia, France, Italy and Ghana were represented that evening at a Chinese restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised to meet so many expats living in Linz. Some members knew each other very well but several were newcomers like me. I had a lovely evening getting to know these fellow travelers and learned more about what the city of Linz has to offer. That same evening I was added to a Whatsap chat group for Linz expats and I left dinner feeling like I had a new network of friends to call up for coffee.

The next evening was a wine festival in Linz(several people in the Whatsapp group were raving about it). I had no plans to attend but it so happened that my evening plans to have dinner with a new friend in Linz fell through and I was already near the city center.  So with the help of google maps I made my way to the center of the Festival. Of course the people at the festival were ones I had never met and with over 80 wineries in booths through several blocks finding them was a bit of a challenge.

After some wandering and sipping I met with a whole new group of people that are part of the same organization. I’m usually not much for wine but it was very fun to be part of the buzzing excitement that the festival brought to the city. This evening I met several Germans, a couple from Turkey and even a couple from Missouri, USA. I left the festival with a good buzz and a fancy new wine glass.

On Saturday I had a heavy head from the previous evening and was not a very productive human until much later in the afternoon. Around 5pm I saw a Whatsap message from a familiar name(turned out to be a completely different Anna) for a board game night and even though I knew I had some online work, I thought it was a great idea to get out of the flat. So for the third day in a row I made my way downtown on the tram with Quiddler(a word game) and a packet of Manner Waffles( an Austrian waffer snack). I soon found myself in a charming little flat with four other girls my age.

Three of them were German and one was Austrian. We had wine and beer and spent the evening playing card games and memory games. Our host lived just one block from Landstrasse(the main strip of the city);  she was working on her phd in chemistry at the local university, two of them were in the city for work and one was just visiting from Germany. Though several times in the evening I had to guess what was being said(they spoke English well but often spoke German to one another) I was glad to have more exposure in a setting where I could ask questions. They were very interested in my story with Herbert and were very encouraging as I tentatively spoke German.

When the hour got close to 11 I asked how often the tram ran(the weekday tram runs until 12), and apparently the weekend tram runs every half hour through the entire night! I was ready to head home when one of the girls suggested dancing.I was in a T-shirt, some comfy pants and boots but they were certain it wouldn’t matter. So I put on my big rain jacket with Quiddler in one pocket and my wallet in the other and headed to the club!

I don’t know what shocked me more, people drinking outside on the streets or people smoking inside the bars. So a few tram stops and a short walk later we arrive to the best dance club ever! With three dance floors and no dress code I danced to electric music, the top 40s and the basement dance floor was a weird combination of oldies mixed with the kind of music you’d likely sing to more than dance to. We had an awesome time and I made some solid friends who I will definitely see again soon. And I made it home sometime before 5am.

I slept in Sunday and went to a European food festival in the beautiful city of Steyr. My friend Alvin picked me up and I was happy to see at least one car in Europe is automatic. And I was home before Herbert arrived, ready to tell him all about my crazy weekend! I don’t think he expected all the stories I had for him, while he endured freezing temperatures on the glacier I was clubbing in the city!

Probably the highlight of the weekend was when he arrived. He showered and unpacked his gear we made plans to see a movie in the city. Much to my surprise we bump into my Internation friends! What a weekend it was. Herbert was surprised and a bit impressed that after only two weeks I was bumping into friends in the city.

Sorry for the long post, it was a crazy eventful weekend. And I just got home last night from Ireland, cant wait to write the next post.