The Austrains have a favourite game...

It#s called, lets see how many people we can fit onto the one bus.... About 50 standing with all the seats taken seems to be the norm!! Blergh, in an internet cafge, because the internet at home isn't working at the moment, so on a timer, and being Europe, it's a smoking place... blergh! Must therefore be fast!

I've started school, finallz, and it's good, in a boring kind of schoool way... My class is cool, and a group of girls has befriended me, which is good, they all speak english though, and like to practise so I havent been speaking as much german as i should!! Been invited to a night out next week, to celebrate Bibi's birthday (sorrz SMem!), so that should be good. The man next to me gave me a dark look, I think its the fact that y keyboard is so loud!

Every calss seems to have stock personalities! In mine are the 'beautiful girls' who haven't spoekn to me, and there's the typical back row guys and there's thecould be gay, or just the most vain guy I have ever met and there's the loud people....!! It#s mostly girls.... THe classes here are weird, everyone is in onem ain class, and that's who they do all their subjects with, in their classroom. They get to choose one subject (I'm doing german, which means 7 lessons a week!)... A bit weird....

Anyway,m in my class there is a girl who reminds me of Nikkki Rogers, another of Sophie Watkins, the English teacher is a bnit like Barry MacFarlane, keeping the class as entertained!The religion teacher is a whol heap like the shop assistant in Notting Hill, commands no respect whatsoever!The English, Music and Choir teacher, who is also my class' form teacher will do anything to enforce his power, so the calss has to stand up when he comes into the room (a zthing that some teachers like yoiu to do and others don't!). THe Phychology teacher is very cool, I don't think she has that much english, but she is verz funny!! I basicallz understood thepsych lesson which was good! Histroy teacher seems nice, we're dping WW1, so I pretty much know what's fgoing on, which helps a lot!! The geography teacher is also an English teacher, which is very nice... I have to do a presentation (in English) for the class next week on Australia and Tasmania (so if You've got any really useful li8ttle facts for me, now's the time!). The chem teacher seems nice enough, alhtough he wears socks and sandals (not uncommon here though!), nd the physics teacher is just creepy! I understtod maths (in a vague, comparitive sense!), which was nice!

There aren't specific lunchtimes or anything, just 10 minutes between calsses, for people to eat, talk and have a quick smoke in the 'Rauchen Zone'... Btw Bridget, I think the smoker's zones in Vienna airport are funny as - a palypen type of thing under an extractor fan!!

Have found the coolest bookshop ever, called Amaedeus, about 5 levels (although oione is stationery and another is coputer stuff!) including a cool english language section! Lots of books I've been meaing to lread ofr ages! And they're not expensive!

I'm gettin better at understanding people, which is nice, and the accent is starting to make sense to me... Rather than just a muddle of sounds, I can actually hear individual words!

Quite funny, my host father (Hans) is learning to knit socks, or something.... They're not bad, but it is funny to see him and my host mother (Erica) watching tv knitting one sock of a pair each!!

My mornings start at 6am, when I'm woken in a very unsubtle way, door opened, light turned on, and 'guten morgen' exclaimed! I then have to either catch a train, then a tram, then a bus, or get a lift with MIchi and a friend or Hans... Never know how I'm going to get to school, until about minutes before departure!!

Linz is pretty cool, reminds me a bit of Melbourne _ lots of alleyways and things! I haven't had a really good chance to explre yet, but am gradually doing it, while waiting for the Bim (tram), although I'm still a bit scared about going and buying food! Can't always work out what price the people are saying, and just gie them a 10 Euro note, in the hope it will be enough (has always worked so far!) THe girls from my class say tehey're going to take me around LInz and show me all the important sites and thigns, which is good!

Apparently this is the coldest winter in years and year and years, and it's been going for way longer than usual!!!

Anyway, must check my email, have 20 minutes left... the major smoker is gone now though, so that's nice.... Keep me informed or waht's going on in the world (I atually have no idea - they don't really have world news!)

Imo