School
I only ended up having maybe three actual meetings with each professor. Both classes required one paper, both of which are now finished, and I have one oral exam next week.
I’m not saying that all exchanges will operate like this. I’m pretty sure most are much more scholastically intense than mine has been, but I’m not complaining. Although I have developed some pretty bad habits including academic laziness and non-academic laziness, just to cover all my bases.
I no longer consider free time a luxury, more a necessity. When I actually have work it has become an annoyance preventing me from doing what I want to do, which usually involves going to the beach or having a coffee by the sea.
“How rude work, getting in the way of my good time.” My professors don’t seem to discourage this way of thinking either. In fact, one of my “lectures” was my professor and I meeting over coffee.
That is just what we do here. We drink coffee by the sea and everyone is very okay with it.
This is the complete opposite of how my brain would function in Winnipeg, where work is the first priority and the sooner it gets done the better.
No time, no coffee, no sea. It used to bother me, doing nothing all the time. But as the months have progressed, I have decided to embrace it for the brief time that I am here because as soon as I get home, it is back to the grind and doing nothing is no longer an option, let alone a lifestyle.
Travel
I have been to Prague, Budapest, Zagreb, Croatia and Lake Bled in Slovenia since the last time I wrote in April.
It is fairly easy to get around here, you can choose to travel by plane, train, or car. Since there are only four of us it is cheaper to rent a car and drive places, which is what we did for Budapest and Zagreb. It also saves on waiting time but parking can be a pain in the ass, especially in cities like Prague, Budapest and Vienna. We learned that the hard way.
Also, if driving is your preference, spring the extra 10 euros for a GPS. Even though in some cases they’re useless, the times they are helpful are worth the investment.
Lake Bled is, if you happen to stop in Slovenia, the place to visit.
It is extremely beautiful with emerald waters and lots of outdoorsy activities like biking, horseback riding and rafting. We only stopped for an afternoon but we could have used a couple of more hours.
That very briefly sums up my last two months. There has been a lot of laughs, a lot of travel, a lot of fun and a lot of alcohol. I’m fairly confident that the only one who will be happy when I leave will be my liver.
