Sunday Camille and I attempted the hike that I’d stuffed up earlier in the week. We succeeded! It was windy at the top but a great walk up, a relaxing with good company. (I’m also super glad we did it then because if we’d tried this Sunday we’d be walking through very deep snow.) I got home, showered and was about to get into bed when Martin sent me a message saying we’re going to Bregenz. So that we did – climbed on top of Bregenz train station (me in my pyjamas) and watched the world go by.

Monday – school.

Tuesday – self study. For me, this meant catching the train at 7:30 with Wim to go on a hike to Hoher Freschen. I’d done this one before with Thibaut, Jan, Isabella, Maddy, Stefan and Isa on a 32 degree day, so this experience ft. icy hands was rather different. Additionally, I’d forgotten my trackpants were in the wash so ended up wearing them wet. We had a few difficulties getting there, little obstacles to overcome but it worked out and was a really awesome hike. Midway we accidentally climbed up the wrong mountain and couldn’t work out how to get down. We ended up finding an empty-ish waterfall to clamber down but of course I slipped and got mud all down my backside which was particularly embarrassing going to the supermarket later that night. Still got the bruises. The top was brilliant though especially as on one side you could see Liechtenstein and the Swiss Alps where it was snowing and then on the other side you could see Austria and Germany where the sun was setting. It started to hail briefly at the top so we had a quick lunch and headed back down to Ebnit, where we caught the bus home.

Wednesday – Maddy’s birthday. Maddy turned 24 so that morning us two went and got smoked salmon bagels for breakfast at Cafesito and celebrated a great life and a treasured friendship. I briefly went to the markets, Wim then came over and we made pumpkin soup from scratch (go us). It was a big achievement. I then went to school, rushed home, picked up the soup and cycled very precariously to Loeki’s with the soup on the back of my bike. There, Camille, Isabelle, Maddy, Garrett, Logan, Loeki, Sophia, Jasmine, Mirjam, Wim and I enjoyed a very grown up dinner to celebrate our friend. A friend worth missing soccer and the Hunger Games Premiere for 😀

Thursday – I had a few presentations at school which was a little stressful but achievable. Martin and I had to run the English class that afternoon so we prepped for that whilst parkouring.

Friday – That morning I went to the opening of SASU which is a new boutique in Dornbirn. I got to do the corporate design and building exterior of it when I was doing my internship so it was really awesome to see it all come to fruition! The owners and super nice too and so I hung around for a while, had a look at their beautiful products, ate brownies and drank champagne.

That evening a few of us went out for William’s 22nd birthday for dinner to Longhorn which was fun and rather loud. There was a constant chant of ‘SKÅL’ (the Swedish word for cheers) which lead to a birthday boy having a few tactical naps. Following that, people went back to the student house to play some drinking games but I swung past school (in the pouring rain) where some Intermedia students were hanging out in the common room before heading into town to go to the opening of a new club/cafe/bar Frei. We stayed out for a while, ran into the exchange students again, club hopped a bit and then I ended up at home. A good start to the weekend.

Saturday – markets and sport. The usual. That night Clayton, Camille, Emily, Dominic and I went to Maddy’s for dinner which was finished off with TimTams and Marvellous Creations. Miss Australian goodies! We then shuffled along to Sebastianstrasse where we played 21 and watched flip cup. The first lot of snow started to come down as I headed home.  It’s strange things are wrapping up so quickly! Winter is definitely coming and with that so is my trip back to Aus. Eeeeek.