Look, there's another new post under this one too!

Well, there’s a list of hints for surviving in Austria, most are kinda obvious, a few I wish someone had told me, but tey didn’t, and I’ve survived!

Autumn… Herbst…. Lots of balding trees, lots of leaves on the ground, not many evergreens around… The weather is weird though. It’s always coolish now, that’s ok, but the sky seems to have two options, the blue sky sunny day option, or the misty option. And when I say mist, I mean stuff that just hangs around for days and days, been the same since Sunday! I just wish it would properly rain and get it out of the system! I do like cold weather though, will be weird having a cold birthday I think! (not that it’s ever really been that warm, but you know what I mean!). There are heaps of stalls in the main street in LInz selling chestnuts an almonds and other nuts, they smell really good, but whenever I go past, I’m always only about ½ hour away from eating…. Will buy some sometime though!

Went to the ARS Electronica Center today. Very interesting place! Went on a tour (my ticket said I was to go on one, so I think everyone has to…!!) which was good, otherwise I wouldn’t have appreciated it properly, and even though it was all in Austrian, I pretty much understood everything (except when I started to think, hey I understand). Unfortunately there were HEAPS of people there, and I was all by myself (my class has a big maths test tomorrow, so everyone studying!) so I probably didn’t get as much out of it as I could have…! May go back in a few weeks! It’s the so called ‘Museum of the Future’ with lots of 3D stuff, and computer animation and all that. There was a room with spiffy 3D stuff (not just the normal red and green glasses, but high tech ones) which very cool – went on a tour of the Ideal City there… Also a fliying machine, where the user hangs in the air and ‘flies’ over Linz, wanted to have a go, but there were about 150 people (ok, maybe only 8) waiting, and I was getting hungry! But anyone who visits LInz will have to go there! Lots of completely useless stuff, but some cool stuff too!

Ummm… That’s about all my news, really not very interesting… Saw Minority Report on Sunday, interesting film, not bad, although not the best I’ve seen… Interesting idea though, of stopping the murder before the murderer commits it…. Read A Clockwork Orange yesterday, I liked it, although thought it could have ended about a chapter earlier. Good book though! Reading a Ian Rankin in German now, actually relatively easy, surprisingly!

Yesterday was All Saint’s Day, so the family got to go off and do family stuff at the cemetery. I was given the option of going along, but sitting in the car because only relatives are allowed in the cemetery, or staying home. Guess what I chose! Would have liked to have gone along and seen what happens, but wasn’t much point really, although I think there was also a big family get together or something, because they weren’t back until the evening, having left in the morning… I don’t know, but there didn’t seem to be any problem with me opting to stay home – my host mother suggested it as the more preferable option. So I had a nice day home alone!

Now that’s really all… It’S almost pitch black outside, and it’s only 5pm… The mist contributes, but the sun goes down at about 4:30pm….