DAY ONE UPDATE: SORE ALL OVER

Hello friends. welcome to my bedroom. almost literally.

Today is my first official day living in Steyr. And it was a busy one.

My lovely buddy Andrea met me this morning at 10, and we went on a Steyr walking tour adventure together. She showed me how to get “downtown”, how to get to the university, the grocery store, etc. We walked all around for about 2.5 hours. We also stopped for some drinks along the way. She helped me buy and carry some groceries home, which was super nice and very helpful.

Follow along our adventure!

 

We started by walking to the University, which is about 5 minutes away from the flat where I live, so that is very convenient. It is pretty small, but looks very nice.

After the University we had to cross the river and went to the central part of the city. Just outside the center is a big mall that we walked through as well.

Steyr is known for being the convergence of 2 different rivers. The University boarders this convergence and it is really pretty to look at. It’s also pretty calming, the sound of moving water. And I LOVE the red roofs. They’re really beautiful.

The grocery store was really big. And confusing. I’ve never really shopped in a country that didn’t have english labels, so this was kind of overwhelming. Andrea was amazing and helped me find some things to get. And then she helped me carry it home, like the doll that she is. She showed me a hidden garden place that she likes to visit in the spring/summer. We’re pretty much best friends now.

Say hello to Andrea everybody!

Today was a lot of walking, and a lot of waling uphill and stairs. My muscles are a little sore, not gonna lie. And my feet hurt a little. This was a bad time to break my toe because SOMEHOW I BROKE A TOE AND IT HURTS SO MUCH.

It feels weird being in a place that doesn’t speak english – I haven’t done that in a while, and it can be kind of scary. Especially in a small place like this, many people are not super fluent. In bigger cities like Vienna, it is more touristy, and therefore more common to speak english. But here, not so much. Hopefully my German class will help a little. Grocery shopping is hard because you don’t know what anything is! So I ended up buying lots of fruits/vegetables because those are things that are familiar. Ii also bought some cereal, yogurt, and some pasta (again, because it was familiar). I also visited a bakery on the way back and got some yummy rolls for breakfast. I will probably go out tomorrow and get some more groceries with my flatmates.

Speaking of flatmates, mine are pretty cool! Saki is from Japan, and Chloe is from Japan/Vietnam (there much be a story there somewhere). Saki is actually doing a 1-year exchange instead of a semester, so she will stay through the summer while me and Chloe head home. Chloe has done a few exchanges and live in many places, so it is interesting to talk to her. Both are fluent english speakers and will be taking classes in english just like me! It’s pretty cool to live with them.

And now we come to living arrangements! My favorite part of today!

After my walking adventure, I spent part of my afternoon unpacking/organizing my room. I love to decorate and make myself feel at home, so I thought this would be a good thing to do today! My flatmates went out to the store as well, so I was home by myself for a bit. I played some music, etc. and unpacked everything.

Want a tour?!

This is a panoramic picture of our common area. On the far right is Chloe’s room, and on the left the stairs split and my door is at the top of the stairs while Saki’s is at the bottom. Behind me where I’m standing to take the picture is the bathroom we share. It is an okay size. The fridge and pantry is pretty small, which means I’ll have to buy groceries every couple days. But everything is pretty cheap, so I don’t think this will be a problem.

Upstairs is my room!  Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL!! 😀

Let’s get some other angles.

The wardrobe is huge, and has tons of shelves. The sheets for my bed were stored in there and such, and there is plenty of room for the things I brought with me. I have a really comfy chair to sit in, and a giant desk!

On my window sills I have my books for pleasure, books for travel, and books for coloring. The best kind of books in my opinion. My desk is my fav.

The box, basket, pen holder and file folder thing were here when I got here, which is an added bonus because I didn’t spend any money on decorations. Also on my desk is my binder, tablet, notebooks, calendar and pencil case. It all looks really cute.

 

Speaking of cute, congrats guys, you all made it safely to Austria!

While on the subject of pictures, look how cute my little coffee table thing is!

The table has a glass plate thing on top of it, so I just took it off and put some Polaroids there, and then replaced the glass. So now I have this cute table with my friends in it.

And I absolutely love the wood paneling on the ceiling.

My flatmates say they think I have the best room. And while I agree, I think the view really makes it.

Tonight me and my flatmates sat around the table, snacking and chatting. It was nice. We eventually all separated, and I came up to write this post. Tomorrow, Chloe’s “buddy” is coming over to pick her up and take her to a special kind of store (not sure?) and invited us to come. Since I’ll probably need some groceries, I’ll go with her.

 

The streets are pretty empty around here. Andrea said that almost all the local students are on holiday this week and next week, so that is why it is so quiet. Lots of international students post on our collective facebook page bout going out to bars and such, and meeting up for drinks. While this isn’t my kind of activity, it is nice to see that everyone seems to be connecting and that gives me great hope that I’ll be able to make some good friends here.

This evening I shall be discovering the wonders of Austrian Netflix while I listen to the rain outside my window. I think it shall be lovely. Plus it’s already past 10, and I could fall asleep right now if I wanted. But I may also read for a bit before I do that.

I don’t think it will be possible to post on this blog everyday – 1: because I don’t always have time, 2: because things don’t always happen every day. I’ll be starting classes soon, so some days that’s all I’ll be doing. And that’s not really worth posting about.

Thusfar, all the people I had contact with in Austria were super nice and helpful. They probably get used to tourists haha. But I think I’m really going to like it.

I HATE THAT MY TOE IS BROKEN. Have I mentioned that before?

 

emma.k