Bin wieder da!!

I`d always known Bregenz was small. Still, it came as a bit of a surprise that within such a short space of time (I`d literally dumped my stuff at my friend`s and gone for ice-cream) I saw students, a former colleague and boys from the Marianum.
How I've missed ice-cream by the Bodensee. Proper ice-cream. Mmm.
The day after I arrived was my birthday (I'm telling everyone that I'm 19 now that I'm back at uni) so Raffi and I went to Europa park. It`s probable that I am the worst person ever on a road trip because I pretty much slept  the whole way there and on the way back too. Raffi insisted on the biggest fastest rollercoasters (damn straight) and I forced him onto the water rides and the ridiculously awful things, that were possibly supposed to be scary.
In true birthday style it was rounded off by a few EMK friends coming round for drinks and then heading out to Paschanga for a legendary Long Island Iced Tea für Erwachsene. They ought to be legendary by now, I've blogged about them enough. There were a few other people we knew also there, including a few that I'd played touch rugby with that once. Out of sheer laziness, I hadn't been speaking any German which lead to some hilarious moments. Well hilarious for myself and anybody who knew that I understood everything being said about me. The priceless moment when I finally turned round and said "Ich KANN Deutsch..." Brilliant. Proof that some Brits really can communicate in other languages without repeating ourselves more slowly and louder, with more and more gesticulations.
Whilst being in the general kind of area, I took a trip to Stuttgart to visit my lovely friend Laura. What's a few hours on a train and €40 when I get to see one of my favourite people? It was a rather cold, grey day, on top of being a Sunday which severely limits possible activities. We had a traditional German lunch (more to this cuisine than sausages you know) although I must admit I have no idea what most of what I ate was...
We went for a wander. Cue the following display of superior intellect :
"ooh, that looks a bit Welsh!" In my defence, from the angle where I was standing, the writing was upside-down. We met up with some other people (not really clear on who they were. I did however enjoy their Scottish accents) and mooched round a flea market where we spotted a colossal electric Donald Duck. We debated over its possible purpose. Apparently it waved and the eyes lit up. I sent some things flying on one stall and decided it would be better to keep a safe distance and not end up paying for ivory carvings. We followed this root around with some lovely hot chocolate, a brief visit to Laura's flat before I headed back to Bregenz. My overwhelming impression of Stuttgart is now overshadowed by my own ineptitude.
I rounded off my time in Bregenz (before Oktoberfest - keep your eyes peeled for a post) with a list of errands. A not-so-quick to the bank gave me a nice shiny sum of money, rather than it being held hostage. To make sure they didn't keep it captive again, I closed the account. This was followed by a trip to the school, where I fortunately found all the staff getting ready for an afternoon meeting. I therefore greeted everybody nicely, said hi to all the teachers and picked up my from so that nobody tries to claim back that well-appreciated ERASMUS grant, which I no longer have. Being just round the corner, I nipped up to the Marianum. This wasn't very exciting. I didn't have any post and nobody was around. Boring. However, it was ever so nice to make a trip back, even if I spoke hardly any German.

Calypso didn't ruin my life then

Opting not to spend my last full day actually in Austria, I made a quick trip to Liechtenstein, purely for the novelty value.
What is there to say about that tiny little state? It seems that the nation comprised of avid stamp collectors. At least, there were stamp collections everywhere, on postcards, even on the floor of the main street. Quite the sign that there's not much going on there. They also seem to have a slight identity crisis, selling far too many souvenirs and things that are for Switzerland.
I thought Vorarlberg had a range of architecture, but Liechtenstein wins hands down for the pure craziness of some of the buildings.
The odd thing was the groups of athletes and East Asian tourists wandering around. Turns out that every 2 years the small states of Europe (less than 1,000,000 inhabitants) have their own Games and these just so happened to be taking place in Liechtenstein last week.  Well that explains the athletes at least.
Wednesday, being my last night, was not to be a dull one. The evening started by going for dinner with Maral and then for a few drinks. As well as Thursday/Friday being a national holiday, there seemed to be some big event going on across town so it was very, very busy! Later, Raffi joined us. Maral went home at a fairly reasonable time and Raffi and I continued the partying. We had our last Long Island Ice Tea für Erwachsene before heading to Calypso. I happily danced the night away, although it was very weird seeing the sun come up and then walking home in daylight.
The late night meant I was rather tired on Thursday so lugging my belongings on and off various modes of transport was not so much fun, especially with my hand luggage weighing in at over 20kg :S I was extremely grateful for the various people who helped me with them.
And so that was it, the end of my time in Austria. Auf Wiedersehen Oesterreich, cheers for the lovely send off. Heellllllooooo bonnie England.