Today was my last day at the camp. Two people (Megan from South African, and James from Australia) had left the previous day, and i was the next to go. It was actually quite nice when everyone left their classes to see me off, it was a really nice group.
I was driven to the station by Walter, the head of exchange in Austria. He is really nice, and him and his wife were really interested in how everything was going and what i was up to in Graz. The helped me find the right track and then i was on my way.
The trip was really interesting. I had to look everywhere for a seat, but in the end a couple who were in a cabin to themselves left and i had the whole cabin to myself. Something really strange about me is that i really need space. I mean not in an antisocial way, but things like that, i really like having an area to myself and not having to sit in the car with everyone else, i have never know why that is, maybe that is why im not the best person to room with! But the trip was great, read heaps of my book, Losing My Virginity, Richard Bransons autobiography, and im really enjoying it. Funnily enough, it is almost the only book i have wanted to pick up all the time.
But when the time came to change train was where the trip got really interesting. Where i had to change was a tiny town just past Lienz, an equally small town, but important rail exchange. I got off the train, dragging my bag, and stood there on the platform. Now, i had just spent two weeks at language camp, so you would expect that the german would really be bubbling away. So i thought to myself, why not put that to the test, and went up to one of the workers on the track who had this fantastic moustasche that curled up the whole way until it came back on itself. I nervously trotted over to him, and in my best accent asked him: ''Entschuldigung, k�nnen sie mir bitte helfen' - 'excuse me, can you help me please'. He looked at me....i looked at him....he looked back......i thought......i looked back......he didn't think and looked straight back probably saying by now, what is going on. You see the thing was that i had all this planned out, i was going to ask k�nnen sie mir bitte helfen, welche zug geht nach Graz? - Excuse me, can you please help me, which train goes to graz? After a dramatic pause i was prompted by him to say something else, i remembered the rest of the sentance and he told me which platform. It was quite funny all the same, however. I think it just showed me how exciting it is to travel on your own. Its funny to think that at that moment i was completely depedent on myself, i mean sure i probably would have not missed my train if the conversation hadn't worked out anyway, but there is something very exciting about being completely by yourself, no support, just you!
Paz