The night of the 20th was our last night in the Arlberg. During the day we went touring to the very end of the Arlberg, quite a bit of traversing which got the heart going, but all up about 6 and a half hours of skiing! That is a serious day!
When we returned, max and i had a sauna for a couple of hours which was great and really relaxing. I had my first sauna at the start of the week and it was a little bit of a shock. We were told at the language camp during austrian studies that austrians were less worried about nudity and those sorts of things than Australia. I thought, yeah, no worries, and it was left at that. I went by myself the first day after skiing and put on the towel and robe for a sauna. I walked into the room, and im not joking, i almost flipped. It looked like the set of Boogie Nights. I found a guy that spoke english and he told me it was completely normal. He also said that it was fine to keep a towel on. However..... coming on exchange to Austria was also a search for a cultural experience, and so i thought why not do a little culturizing and get in on the act. Haha, yes a stark naked large 65 year old sweating man next to you is a cultral experience indeed! But every fifteen minutes or so you go and take a shower. On the last day, however, Max and i thought it would be a good idea to actually roll in the snow, so scandanavian of us! Besides my feet turning blue because we stood out there taking photos, it was pretty funny. Im still waiting on these claimed 'amazing health benefits'.....
But we went to the Mooserwirt for the last night before leaving on the night train. The next night (well actually that night by this time, it was about 1:20), was Maxs birthday, and so he told me to get some sleep so that we could go out. Easier said than done, however, i did get some sleep and we arrived early the next morning in Graz.
Maxs birthday was quite good. We went to a local place called Fridays, and met some friends there. We basically hopped to a whole heap of other places, picking up friends and by about 5 we were back at Fridays. I feel asleep in one of the chairs while everyone was dancing. They didn't understand when i told them a couple of weekends prior that Australians only go out that late very seldom, as opposed to every weekend! We finally arrived back home at about 6:30. Good fun though. Mines coming soon!
Paz