8:15 a.m. Kim wakes me again, I shower, we pack a lunch and head out in search of the Spanish riding school.
10:15 a.m. We were so close, but no cigar. The morning warm-ups are from 10 to 12 so we just missed the cut off. We both looked like zombies though, so we decided to get some coffee at a nearby cafe.
We find a sunny table outside, and wait for the waiter to come over. He walks by and I guess he said something, because he stood there a moment, then impatiently spat out "Hello?" One noticeable difference culturally is the way you are treated as a customer. Wait-staff are not hospitable to everyone. Usually the nicer you are dressed the better service you get. Either that or Kim and I have gotten pretty unlucky so far.
We sip our cappuccino's mit slag (thick whipped cream) and slowly wake up as the sun starts warming up Stephansplatz. After sipping our coffee and chatting for a while, we both got out our reading assignments for a class we signed up for which starts tomorrow.
11:00 a.m. We head out in search of the Nachstmarkt. We know from Derek that it is a few blocks past the Stadtsoper, so we wander around in that direction until we find it!
It is gorgeous. Not only is it visually stunning, but the smells are overwhelmingly delicious. There are voices coming from every direction, restaurants overflowing with people, and stands of exotic foods, fruits, vegetables, and spices from all over the world.
We find stands filled with hundreds of colorful scarves! They are only 5 euro a piece so of course we both get one.
I mentioned to Kim during our Nachstmarkt experience that it was as if I had a sign hanging around my neck that said "TALK TO ME, PLEASE!" because that is what was happening. At every stand someone was saying hello, or waving a sample at us, or flagging me down. We got some free felafel with hummus that was out of this world, and some sort of desert that was (I think) a caramel covered hazelnut. The man, who was older and quite shaggy-looking, handed Kim and I one apiece, then looked at me and said, "Hast du einen Boyfriend?"We had barely turned away when we bust out laughing. We are both over the excitement of being hit on by this point, because honestly it happens all the time here! At first it was shocking and/or flattering, but after a few days the excitement wears off.
We stopped to look at some rings, and the man was pushing to man a sale. After looking at the rings, he comes over and opens the box for us, literally pushing rings on our fingers to try on. Kim got one for cheap, he lowered the price just for her. I had been looking at some more expensive ones, they were out of my price range, but he could tell I liked them. He suggested ten euro off, and when I still did not budge, he said, name your price. At that point I lost my poker face, and told him I couldn't really afford it and walked away.
The same thing happened as we looked through the earrings, only 3 Euro for the pretty ladies! Ha!
1:00 p.m. We are starting to get hungry, and since we packed a lunch we wanted to find a nice place to sit down in the sun and eat. We decide to head back to Stadtpark for a picnic! It was the first time for us to try the chicken and cheese we had bought at the Penny Markt. I had made us sandwiches on kaiser rolls. Surprisingly good! We got out our reading again after lunch, and of course both fell asleep in the sun on and off for the next hour.
2:30 p.m. We head to the nearest U-Bahn to used the bathroom, and decided we want to check out shopping in the city center!
3:00 p.m. H&M! Two different locations within a mile of each other! Super cheap prices! Then the four-level Forever21! Then a quick stop at Mango, before (exhausted) calling it quits. I bought a long skirt and a basic t-shirt dress to go with my new scarf.
3:30 p.m. We head home, zombies from too much sun and shopping. We have school tomorrow, so we wanted to get home before dark. The trip home was quiet, both of us pooped-out.
5:00 p.m. After a quick stop at Bipa for razors, we head to our dorm to cook dinner. We decide to try something new! We had gotten a "clear" vegetable soup mix, so we cooked that and had it with some sweet rolls and black-currant juice.
The cooking, food, and comfy clothes helped us cheer up significantly! We then watched some Big Bang Theory and I got to skype with Amanda (surprise!) and Matt! :)
Hopefully some more TV is in my future, and some more reading before bed. Looking forward to meeting our professor tomorrow and going to class, finally!
E
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