I try my darndest to get the most out of my time here, but when I don’t have to be, I am not an early riser. During my first block of classes, I had no choice, but now that I’m in the second block of classes, for which I have a much more desirable schedule, I roll out of bed somewhere around 10:30 or 11. I spend some time on my make up and clothing, something I normally find a lot of joy in but can easily get ignored when you’re busy traveling. Around 11:30, I start the long, treacherous trek to my college. Regardless of if I have class, I still take the 25 minute walk, because there’s a free lunch waiting for me at noon. Is it worth the walk? Some would argue no, because it almost always smells and tastes weird -they once served me bloody chicken. But I am not one to turn down free food, so I make the effort. On days where I don’t have classes, the draw of lunch inspires me to get out of the dorm and appreciate the day, so I’m (kind of) grateful for the undercooked meat.
For the most part, my classes are in the afternoons. On Tuesdays, for example, I’ll have the Art of Propaganda from 1-3:30 and Art History from 4-6:30. Days like that can be somewhat draining simply because each individual class period is so long. I’ve very rarely had a class at Northeastern that lasts 2 and a half hours or more. I’ll admit that by the end I start to feel my brain falling out my ears, but for the first 2 hours or so, my classes are interesting and I usually feel quite engaged. I greatly favor this class schedule, at least for my time abroad, because it gives me more large, useable chunks of time to explore the city.
On a day like Tuesdays, I’ll probably head back to the dorm after my class. On other days with less classes, you might find me relaxing wth my classmates in the Salzburg College “library”, a room of comfy chairs and a few bookshelves that I think I’ve seen a student use once.
I’ll eventually arrive back at the dorm, where I’ll go to the caf for Florian’s cooking. Florian is the chef at the dorm and my favorite person in Austria (and quite possibly the world). My darling Florian has somehow managed to take a high school and college cafeteria and turn it into fine dining. I love him; I love his food. It’s a real love affair.
The evening can go in many directions. Some nights, I like to relax at home with a cool drink and some Netflix. Sometimes my friends and I will have a movie night, and sometimes we’ll go out for the evening. A popular destination is Pepe’s, a cocktail bar that makes the drinks with a wonderful overabundance of sugar.
I usually wrap up my day with a shower in the smallest shower I’ve ever seen, though I can’t really complain about that. The students living in host families usually have to keep their showers down to about three minutes. I can be more than happy with a cozy little shower, but do not try and take my ten minutes away from me!
