On my last day in Vienna, on the 30th of June, I gathered all my stuff, closed my bank account, printed my bus ticket and had my last sushi lunch with my friends. Leaving didn't feel dramatic like in movies, it felt like just another Monday. Other than I didn't have a home anymore and I had all my stuff stored at my friend Manfredi's place. Two hours before the bus left we were just sitting around listening to Cro and talking about this and that. When I left Manfredi's place and said goodbye to his roommates, they just stayed there to cook some dinner. And life went on.
Eva took me to the bus station to catch my bus to Berlin. I almost missed the bus and the driver told me off for being so late. Me and Eva hugged and said our goodbyes while a bus load of people waited impatiently for the last passenger (me) to get on the bus. I made my way to the last empty seat and started sending texts to people while I still had my Austrian number in use. In ten minutes I was out of Vienna.
My sister and I had made plans to spend one week in Berlin together before I would go home. I had named this week my "buffer week" since it was supposed to act as a buffer between my dreamy exchange student life and the harsh reality of home. I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday at six in the morning and first I wasn't sure if I liked the city. After Vienna it was ugly, and the nine hour bus ride hadn't done much good to my mood or my energy levels. I took a nap for a few hours on my friend's sofa, after which I started to like where I was.
During that week we did all kinds of Berlin fun stuff: went to outdoor cinema, hung out in bars, had amazingly cheap meals with cheap yet good beers and so on. My sister and I had the plan to visit one cool sounding neighbourhood per day, and roamed the streets of Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Mehringdamm and Friedrichshein. The last one turned out to be my favourite.
We went to a museum, we went to the theater, we went to bars and clubs (one gay bar, one normal one that cost 15 euros to get in but was worth it), we had food from different parts of the world each day. As one can easily see, Milka is my identical twin sister, which is why we got a lot of attention when we walked around. Normally we don't hang out all the time, so it was something we had to get used to.
In the end I felt like these bears at the flea market: exhausted. It felt like the right time to go home.
The flight however was delayed because of some problem in the airplane. We all sat in the airplane in Berlin airport for a good two hours, which felt like forever. I didn't think I was ready to go home but after all that, I was.
Seeing this was a sight for sore eyes.
And now I've been home for the last four days. I've moved to a new apartment with a new flatmate, and gathered all my stuff from four different addresses. I've spent almost all my spare time with my friends, who have been so nice with welcoming me home. They don't want to say they missed me, but I guess they did. I missed them.
It still feels weird to hear my own language everywhere. It feels weird not to hug or give kisses when I meet my friends. I still can't get used to the silence, or how light it is, or the prices (6,5 euros for a beer just last night).Vienna and my friends there are on my mind a lot, and I keep telling stories about my exchange. I've given myself one more week to get all these stories out, and after that I'll hopefully be over this state.
Let's see if the new stories make it to a new blog somewhere.
