at least I wasn't the only one who fell on my face today....

Last night I was standing in front of an U-Bahn station wrapping-up what could have been one of the worst days I have had in Vienna. I was saying goodnight to a few friends, when all of a sudden a guy, who must have been at least in his late 20s, comes flying at us at lightning speed in nothing less....but "wheelies." You know, "wheelies," those shoes with wheels in them that every American child between the ages of 4-9 own. I remember thinking, "wow that guy has balls...he seems a little old for wheelies." Then he hit a bump in the side walk and tumbled for what seemed like forever. I ran over to him to help in up, but he got up on his own and awkwardly shook my hand. As soon as I knew he was gone we all couldn't stop laughing. It was as if some higher power was saying, "hey Erin, I know that YOUR like really sucks....but at least you aren't the guys with the wheelies." So let me tell you all about how my life got twisted upsidown........

After a few days of talking it over- I moved out of mine and Zach's room. I don't really want to go into details about what happened, but we are still together....just not living together any longer.

So after a hard decision, and me being very, justifiably angry, I decided that it would be a good time to walk, get some air, and look for a pretty dress for the opera. The problem is..... the stores here make no sense! The are all disorganized and all of the sales people look like the want to kill you. I would have given my pinky toe for a Macys. I finally decided that I would ask a nice looking old woman for help because she looked sweet. In my best German I asked her wear I could find a nice looking dress for the opera. At the time I was wearing a slightly low-cut shirt. She proceeded to start talking very fast and pointing at my breasts. I was confused and just blurted out, "nein....Klied? bitte?" which in English roughly translates to, "no.....Dress? please?" after thinking it over I decided that it sounds equally stupid in both languages. She gave me a stern look and told me to go straight and to the left. When I went straight and to the left, I found myself in the bra department........ dammit.

I gave up on the dress hunt, and headed back to the room to back up my things. With the help of Michelle and Kristen, we began the long journey across town so I could go stay with Nicole for a few days until I get a new place to stay. I decided that I wanted to drown my sorrows in some ice cream, 4 scoops of ice cream actually. The problem arose when I got on to a crowded U-Bahn with my backpacking pack and a huge ice cream. Poor Kristen had to guard my back, because if I turned around too fast I was likely to knock someone over.

We finally got to Nicole's and all was well. I got settled in and Nicole made me laugh and cheered me up. We all went to a cafe to do homework. At the Cafe the crazy Austrian next to me kept blowing smoke in my face, and he kept making fun of my homework.

We ate dinner at a place called Centimeters, that served up Schnitzle the size of you face. I was happy when it was time to call it a night- and that is when I saw the wheelie guy fall on his face. It really seemed to put everything into perspective..... In a sense this everything that happened over the past few days made me feel like I had fallen on my face concerning my living situation here in Vienna, but, at least I wasn't the only one who had fallen on my face that day...