Carnival the G rated Mardi Gras

So, this weekend I rode an overnight trian into Venice Italy. The train trip was great free drinks as good people. I am beginning to believe that foreign exchange students is just another title for sexaholics. Very nice people, but it seems almost everyone has one specific thing on their mind. And the mass quantities of booze did nothing to alleviate the problem. So, we roll into Venice at about 9Am. I am tied, but not hung over, because I only drank a little. Everyone needs a shower and probably another hour or two of sleep. But we are here, so we sprint off the train the beautiful, scenic and FREEZING Italian city. For the next 12 and a hlaf hours we wander the city aimlessly going from one big group of people to the next.
The thing was, I expected crazyness, I expected alcohol and nudity and debauchery. But it was more like a bunch of tourists walkng around a city while everone tried to sell them the exact same items from different shops at slightlyhigher prices than they saw about 20 minutes ago. I walked into the central square where they had set up a huge stage. I was one of many many thousands of people, and the show was a small bank od trumpets and flags. I was amazed at the lack of showmanship. It really was a pretty lame show. I did however happen to come accross 2 of my fraternity brother who we making thier way throuhg the square. After a quice picture, we parted ways, as they were tired, and I was trying to find my group. I will try to post a picture or two, but it makes it hard when everything on the screen is in German....Maybe that worked, not sure.
Anyways, I got a sweet mask out of the deal, and I can now say I saw the beautiful city of Venice. Which would have been much more beautiful had it been warm, or simply not freezing.

In other news, my ghetto dorm is giving me a price reduction in thier rent, because they lied about the internet. Yay, but I would way rather live somewhere with both heat and internet. I would be willing to pay more for such amenities.

Ohh yeah, one of the girls on my floor is convined that all Americans are fat, and that we put dog meat in McDonalds. Aparently, the dogmeant is what makes us fat! I tried to explain to her that we have the FDA and that really dogmeat would probably be a lean meat and not very fattening, but she just ignored me. So, my point it, that thought there are lots of crazy Americans, there are almost just as many crazy Europeans.

A little more sense!

So, I think I am a little more on the ball today as I write. My last entry was the day or so after I arrived here in Austria and I was just a little bit stressed. My dorm was not what was promised, but I am working to rectify that, other than that things are better. I have made some good friends, and am learning to type on the mixed up keyboards here. So, Europe is not really about the customer service. That has been one of the biggest things I have noticed here, I wrote about it last time, but this time I think it will make more sense. I think here the power is belived to lay more in that of the shop owner, and not the customer. If someone is in a good mood, and you are nice, things will go pleasantly, but if not than it is going to suck to buy anything, or do anything. Also, I think people discriminate more here. They dislike Americans, and also I think to some degree my Turkish friends. Although, they are possible the most pleasant people I have ever met.

Also, as far as the german and austrian idea of being really efficient, I think the efficiency is supposed to lie in the individual. When you go somewhere you are supposed to know what you want, why you want it, and how to pay for it, at that moment. People don't bulshit around here. Also, everything is closed by seven PM. Except bars and restaurants.

On my floor, there are some really amazing people. I the mean age for the people living on my floor has to be at least 10 years older than I. Maybe more. But of the people there are some very nice and selfless women. The culture here is so strange, becasue sometimes everyone does not give a crap about you, the you meet some people and they are just super nice.

It is 8PM and I am tired, this is sad, things need to start happening at night, ahh well, this weekend I got to Carnivale in Venice, it should be a pretty damn good time.

Hmm, not sure if that worked.

So, all of the websites here are in german. SO, and thiought I published a blog yesterday, but I may have just accidentally erased it. So, here it is then. My second first blog from Vienna. The thing is here, that EVERYTHING is drastically different. And, I know everyone says that Germans and Austrians are really efficient and hard working....not so much my experience. It seems to me that NO ONE has it together here. everything is all over the place and does not make sense. Signing up for my classes here is the biggest chore ever. I had to spend like an hour running around the school today to get all checked in, and the only reason it took just an hour is becasue I have become really grood friends with two amazing Turks. Chem and Bashek(thre is another sylable in there somewhere, but after 5 minutes of coaching she decided I could not pronounce her name properly) are freaking sweet, and they speak fluent english, which makes my life much easier. Chem lives on my floor. They seems as confused by our new environment than I at some times, but they can speak some german and are more familiar with some adspects of the culture here. Other than that, I have made a lot of observations, but I am not sure what matters and what does not really. My first reaction to everything here was fear, everything was very menacing. But now, it is simply ambivalent. No one cares. I think I could probably get hit by a car in broad daylight, and everyone would stare, and maybe someone would call an ambulence. Also, they follow the rules to a T here. Almost no j-walking. Everyone minds their own business, and everything is at the upmost level of security. Except for my ghetto dorm, which looks just like the aopartment complex from A clockwork Orange. My room is like a closet, with paper thin walls, and they lied about having internet access. Fucking assholes. It is like, no one really intends to make good on thri promises. It goes along with the whole ambivalent you can rot in hell for all I care attitude. Things are hard, but I am adapting. I just hope that this extreme challenge starts getting more fun before much longer. Wish me luck, becasue I need it

As I live and breathe.

I will be leaving soon. And it makes me nervous, usually I can feel the future. I know pretty well what is going to be happeneing to me. Now, I do not know. It it unsettling.
But, as I walked into my house tonight, I was able to smell the amazing night air, it is windy, so there is a little red dirt, but it is wet, so it smells so much like spring. I love the smell fo spring. It is amazing. I am sad, because i do not know the smells of Vienna. I will miss that of Oklahoma. But, I suppose this sall be an amazing adventure. But it seems that I did not realize how wonderful my home was until I no longer really made it my home. I know that some day soon I shall be here again for awhile. I am not sure how to express my mixture of excitement and anxiety. It seems that the night has a strong ability to steal the excitement though. It is a perfect visual display of what I already feel, the unknown.

This I do not know.

So, I have been more and more beset with second thoughts about my chosen major. More correctly, my chosen life path. I know who I am, I know generally who I want to be. But do I know what I want to be. No. I know that I don't want to work in the regular business field. Even if that means not having the dream house, with the dream car. But I do know that I want to do something. I want a job where at the end of the day, I can smile upon what I have done. Maybe, I will creat, fix, or destroy. But I want to do. I have these impulses. Like, I want to be this or that, they are strong. Like they are the wind and I am the kite. I feel if I wanted to give into one I could and it would pick me up, and I would not have to look back. But how do I choose which direction to sail. North, South? A doctor, or a soldier. I have the capacity for both, and the desire for both. But which one? I take these impulses and I hold them. I let them linger in my mind, and I study them. I hope that by looking into them enough. Like looking into the bones as a bocor does, I will be able to devine something. Perhaps, I shall find my true desire. What shall I do with my life.
Unfortunatly, I have never believed much in voodoo. I think Vienna may be my last time out. My last lifeline in the game of who wants to be a millionair. Before I have to make my choice. What shall I do with the days of my youth?

This is a Lull, but it will not hurt you.

I think like everyone I have a thousand thoughts a day that I would like to persue more. Not that I believe that they are of any particular depth, or original and such and such. I simply would like to persue them to their natural end, follow them in their peculiar nature and watch and feel as they change into something new. Unfortunatly, this world is full of noise, and jobs, and shiny things that tend to distract. I think that is why Socrates said that working was such a horrible things. He also spoke about the world being in too much of a rush. I think what we live in today would be something close to a nightmare to him.
One of my freinds said he was trying to persue a more quite spirit the other day. I remember the two words, "quite spirit" and I thought. That would be really nice. To be more of a type B personality. To look at the big picture and not freak about stuff......Generaly I am an extreme extrovert, which ususally precludes being more type A. But lately I have been seeing the stresses of life in others faces and it just makes me feel stupid. Why worry about something I cannot fix until tomorrow. And, no...my life will not be over if this does not come through for me. It makes me wish that I could get all of the wisdom and sageness of old age at 21. Can you imagine how nice life would be if you could go through it knowing that in the end you are going to be placed in the earth, and freaking out about your test grade will simply make the time between now and then less enjoyable. Perhaps being more aware of our own mortality would simply sweeten the time we do have.
Sorry I am so morbid. I had to file the deceased medical folders at a cancer center doctors office. It was rough. Some of the people were only a little older than I am.
I am nervous but I want to get out of here. I need movement and action once again. I need to be somewhere and do something. This is a Lull.

Age Sucks!

So, pay no attention to the last post, I was just really depressed about a friend. But on another cheery note, my cat is really old and my mom keeps telling me the cat is dying. She is this cool puffball cat, that used to be a brawler with the other cats in the neighborhood. But now she is all old, and can't really walk without falliung over. It is really sad watching her, she will meow and be like. Hey, this sucks, make me feel better. And I am like, I am sorry. I will pet you, you are a cute kitty. Ehh, I would way way way rather die at middle age and not grow old and crap. Aright, whatever. Peace out!