Well my far spread friends (that sounds like a jam advertisment!)

I"ve now been back for exactly two weeks, and have heard the question "is it weird being back" more times that I can poke a stick at, and the answer is YES and NO! It's kinda weird because everyone's got experiences and jokes about things that I've missed, which is strange (and sometimes a little embarassing when I laugh for a different reason, and then everyone asks me why I'm laughing, and I have o explain, and it shows how my brain really doesn't work... but yeah...!) And no it's not so weird because it's back home, and hey, I'm a well travelled person with stories to tell my grandkids now! It is nice to know that some people are only happy to have me back for my massaging skills though... Hmmm Jono???

Ummm.... What have I done in my time so far! I have enrolled at uni, I am now an official Uni Student.... without any id, or proof.... But the lady at enrollment day told us that from that moment we were students, so there you go! She told me so! I'll be studying Arts Law, with English, History, Intro to Law and 2nd Year German (ohlala! Spiffy!) Erica and I have history and german together which will be nice! Today I handed in my HECs form, exciting stuff...

On Tuesday Bridget got back from her expeditions in Mexico and Jamaica (no Jamaican Rum consumed, but she can do that next time!) and America, she was rather daz-ed and confus-ed, but it's good to have her back! Imo K and I went out to meet her, which gave us a chance to explore the new airport stuff, looks all very shiny and spiffy, although all the toys are still made in China... But the lounge is cool.... We think it must be one of the very few airports left in the world, where anyone can go through to the departure lounge, not just those who are flying... And that's really nice! Although we know Hobart has a very quirks at the airport.... The baggage carousel for instance (although I reckon it's probably faster than the traditional ones, and far friendlier, with the sniffer dogs and all!)

Well I've had a pretty social life in the past weeks, although I'm sorry to those I've only seen at their works or anything, I promise we'll all have to do something in January, although after camps, so after the 16th for me....

Today I had dinner with a friend, her family and a friend of hers who I'd never met, but heard all about while I was away (and I think it was vice versa) which was fun, after that Erica, Hannes and I went and ate icecream, walked along Bellerive, stickybeaked Erica's Grandpa's old house and played Frisbee.... Then I raced off to my other engagement, a farewell party for Kate B, where I played massager (I'm not confident enough in my masseuse and masseur terms to use them!) and then came home again... Wow this is all getting exciting!

Ummm... Ahhhh.... My brother came home today, his first Christmas home for several years, which will be nice, but no sister this year, complications with the twins she's expecting. Please pray about that, one's not getting enough food and is much smaller, and we are waiting for an emergency caesarean any time in the next couple of weeks.... But it's nice that my brother is home, usually he's working with his church or something at some big Christmas lunch for the Melbournian homeless, I think... Something along those lines...

My brother being home meant we finally bought a Christmas tree, tradition in the family is that the children go tree hunting, and this year we've gotten a good one. Very bushy, not too bald in the middle (will put photos up for you Austrians!)... Lovely! Finally starting to feel like Christmas, although I think that being pulled in to be a sheep in the nativity play also helped!

Tomorrow is meant to be hot, so maybe I'll be organised and organise a beach trip, which would be nice, since I haven't been yet, since I've been back, it's always the hot days that I have other stuff to do! Like Wednesday, when it was about 36 degrees, and I had to go job searching.... Discovered people who work at youth hostels are very enthusiastic... Dunno if I've got the right enthusiasm levels to be able to get in there! Have to go back everywhere in the middle of January!

But really that's all... Sunday will be Christmas, go to church in the morning (I'm doing a reading, so have to go - usually just go to midnight mass on Saturday) then do the present thing, have lunch, talk the afternoon away, eat more in the evening (well I will at least, my family will probably be horrified if I say I'm still hungry!) then watch one of the inevitable DVDs (someone alwazs gets a movie of some sort, last year I got the original Italian Job, one of the best films ever I reckon!).... It's always hard to keep Christmas around the proper focus, there are so many distractions, but it's not impossible.

Well I think that's all.... Maybe more, maybe less next time, alhtough this time it took threats from AUstrians to write, so now I know that people are still reading this, even though I'm back! Hooray!

Sie haben mich gebietet...

Hallo hier ist mein Blog! Warum willst du etwas hier Melanie? Ich verstehe nicht...!

Mobile number

MY MOBILE NUMBER IS THE SAME AUSTRALIAN NUMBER I HAD BEFORE I LEFT.... The 0400 etc one! If you need it, ask and you shall receive...

I' bin da ham!

Hello! I'm back, and now have to get used to this kezboard again! All the letters are in funny places again!! i'm on mz mum's new laptop, very spiffy, wireless internet and all that!! i'm a little jetlagged, i think, but don't really feel tired, just don't have any idea what time it is - my body clock is telling me i'm in a no time zone!

Anyway, so i'm back, thanks everyone whocame to the airport, must say i wasn't expecting to be met by nearly so many people! very exciting! Made me feel very spesh!

Hmmm.... Where to start with the narration of my return! Tuesday is probably a good place, ormaybe Monday night, when I unpacked all my suitcase, jsut to find an elusive item, which may have been too heavy to bring (only to remember, after all my clothes were on the floor, that i'd packed it to send over in my posted stuff!) Nah, i'll start from Tuesday...

Tuesdaz I think was the weirdest day of my life... I was still at school and everything, but knew that it was my last day, and it all just made me feel really strange, the "want to go, no don't want to go" thing! But in Physics (my last lesson, and funnily enough, my first way back at the beginning of the year) i got up and said cheers, here eat Aussie biccies, and learnt how a plane flies... At the end, just about the whole class lined up to kiss my cheeks and shake my hand... Mildly startling(well not disturbing, but peculiar... no that's not rigth either... anyway, you get the idea...) when even people you've barely spoken to all year comoe up for the cheek clash... Very nice of them though!!

Anyway, after that a few of us went out for non-alcoholic drinks... i went home and packed and now my cat has just deleted all that i just wrote about the flights and my weekend and everything, and i really can't be bothered writing it all again.... What is it they say in Mog, drat that cat...

Got home, dekayed in Vienna and Sydney, watched Batman Begins, Batman and Robin, Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy then slept....

Met by lots of people in Hobart, very exciting, lots more people than I expected!

went home, got in OWN bed! MY OWN BED! With own cat! Slept then woke up then went to supermarket (in ENGLISH!!!) and ohhed and Ahhed about everything.

Saw Joyeux Noel (CLICK HERE!) really cool film about the Germans, French and Scottish playing soccer and socialising on Christmas Eve in WW1, based on a few true stories! ery Very good, i saw it again on Saturday with Erica and Katherine (had promo tickets!)

Saw dancing concert on Saturday night, very cool, never watched one before, always been involved!

Sunday, went to church, yay! Lots of peopel there! Lots of fun, and good too!

Today, put lots of net hats on small children before they could ride the donkeys.... And got sunburnt, and went into town, and all that! And collected a new road rules book, so i can reget my L's (how embarrassing...!)

OK, that's it for now, the condensed version! My week is now filling up again...

Don't know if any Austrians are reading this (let me know if you are!)

I'm going now, have to watch Dr Who!

The inevitable final post!!

Well people, that's it for the adventures of Imo in Austria! i'm off on Wednesday to fight the airports of the world (my route is fairly impressive: Linz - Vienna, Vienna - Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur - Sydney, Sydney - Hobart).. This will probably be my last Austrian internet time, so I have to write that reflections post... But first, my weekend!

Friday night, lots of fun, Bibi and I watched Echt Fett on a laptop (they don't have an actual dvd player, but in the computers...) after getting the sound but no picture on her's and then the picture but no sound on Fritz's (in the end it was just a matter of pressing a button on his and it all worked beautifully!) But that was all very funny!

Saturday, headed off to Vienna for the day, with a whole heap of cronies of my host parents. First was coffee in one of Vienna's most famous Coffee Houses (no idea what it's called...) then nd i joined them for a tour of the parliament house, which was very interesting, very cool building, then went off to hunt for souvenirs and entertain ourselves (didn't really want to go the the art exhibition everyone else was at!) I bought a 'No Kangaroos in Austria' bag... Teehee! We jsut kinda wandered around, window shopping etc etc, lots of fun, pizza for lunch blah blah blah. Then we found an English Cinema... And noticed that Harry Potter was playing at a nice time, and both felt we didn'T really want to go and sit in a smoky restaurant listening to all the others for 4 hours, and after a brief visit to the Rathaus Christkindlmarkt (christmas market, very big things here) which was a little disappointing, partially because it had sooooooooo many people, we went and saw Harry Potter... Now Dad, I know I said I'd go with you, and i will too, I thought it was fantastic (alhtough in some aspects a little disappointing, just in what they've cut to make it to the bearalbe 3 hours...!) and will very happily see it a second time!! Looking forward to it! Anyway, I found it to be definately the best from all so far!

After that we explored a smaller, much better market, while waiting for everyone else to finish in the restaurant, then went home again... Was a fantastic day really! Great last saturday!

On Sunday I tackled the packing thing... Tricky... It's not that there's too much stuff, it's just that I think it may weigh a little too much, alhtough i'll work it out... Can still fit lots into my hand baggage!! Then we went off to a more local market, but it wasn't so fantastic (apparently it's usually far better)...

Well lots of people are coming to see me off at the airport, yay!!! That'll be good! Ummm....What else... not much else, so I think I'm obliged to do that reflective bit now...

This year has been a mixture of good and bad, although mostly good, with just a little bit of bad to make me really appreciate houw good the good was!! I've learnt so much, apart from my German, and now have international friends, HOORAY! I now know for certain I can be self-sufficient, and while it's nice to rely on others for everything, it's not necessary...!! My self-confidence in such matters has gone up and up and up! Risk taking is a must in life, and this year I've discovered how much fun it can be... I hope I can remember all these lessons when I get back home!!!

Of course I'll be sad too leave everyone here, and Linz and the 'European thing' - being able to drive to Germany for the day... Milka and Schnitzel Semmels will be missed, as will the multitude of tv channels... But all these are just 'things' (and I've discovered how silly having lots of things is, alhtough I still do.... Much to the distress of my suitcase...!) and the biggest thing I'll miss will be all the people, all my school friends especially! Of course we've all promised to visit each other (me promising that mum'll feed them, but they should come for summer, for the Taste and everything!) but who knows if those promises will hold up! I'd love to visit Dina in Egypt and have my own personal guide, and I hope I can do it, but you never know what's going to happen next.... But we'll all be keeping in contact... I guess I'm just a little scared that we'll not have anything in common, and won't bother to keep in touch because there's nothing to talk about except 'that crazy year'....

I was here when the Pope died, when London was attacked, when bird flu came along, and they've all made it an interesting year... I have no idea what I've missed in Australia, except seeing the Aussies at the bottom in the skiing, the soccer, and the cricket... But I've learnt much more about the whole world, learnt to do the world view thing, not just the aussie knows best (which of course is true, but not really the point....!!! :-p)

So coming back will be weird... I'm sure I've changed (although, despite my ramblings, I have no idea what are visible changes and what not), and I'm sure that it'll be strange to be back in good ol' tassie, where people speak a normal language, with logical grammar.. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again, too my own bed and our house where I know what goes and what not... I'll be grateful to get away from the carpet that is 'vacuumed into submission' (I got that from an excerpt of 'The Xenophobes Guide to the Austrians' which looks like a very accurate description of the Austrian people, from my perspective!), alhtough may feel oddly compulsed to clean my bedroom, and maybe even the rest of the house (no mum, don't jump for joy, it's bad for the knees!)

Well anyway, I think that's enough of a reflection, if someone wants my opinion on how I've found something, tell me and I'll tell them... i'm off to iceskating in p.e. (Ice Skating, in PE!! No forms for the parents to sign or ANYTHING!!!) then home to fight the suitcase (and the scales..) Btw, despite all predictions, I don't think I have had any serious weight gain in my time here... Probably a little, maybe 1-2kg (which I doN't really think is anything, but not compared to the tens of thousands people were telling me!)....

Must be off, hve to take advantage of the slippery factor in ice (Bibi, poor poppet, has discovered that factor accidently twice since friday, once outside the house, o nthe way to the train, flat on the back, the next this morning running for the bus... Impressive but rather painful looking...)

Sydney Airport!

What do people think (preferable people with experience in these issues, not just those with an opinion), is it better to bus from one airport to the other or train? In Sydney that is! i've got about 4 hours (hopefully, provided the customs people let me through with Manner wafers and Mozart Kügel, alhtough I've posted both of those into Tassie at times, so don'T think there'll be a prob!) so time isn't an issue, but what's easier to find, with luggage and everything? They both cost the same, althoug the train is faster...

WEll, last weekend coming up! Vienna tomorrow, then packing on Sunday... I've kinda started that, but it's always tricky when you still need a fair bit of the stuff!! The randomest teachers have commented (our 'form teacher'/english/music teacher found out from the physics teacher, who offered to teach in my last two lessons what I wanted to learn about, but then forgot (luckily, since then I'd actually have to pay attention, and didn't really have much of an idea...) although there's still one lesson to go, last thing on Tuesday!). The Latin teacher, who knows me as the 'Austauschkind' (exchange child!!) who's just like a cross between Tammy and Frau Bye, said today we'll have to do something, she'll prolly cook something...!!

Anyway, I have to find out about Aussie quarantine laws, and my passenger numbers, so I can get my tickets, so i can fly!! Hey, on the plane I'll geto t see Hitchikers Guide and Batman Begins, two films I was interested in going to see, but didn'T! Hooray! Also the Fantastic Four, Mr and Mrs Smith (seen that though) and lots of others...!! I like flying! Will have to see if I can get a pack of cards (only if they're free) to add to my collection!