This town was meant for passing through
But it ain’t nothing new
Now go and show them
That the world stayed round
-the Killers, “This River is Wild”
Working every day is for the birds. My eyes are going dull from staring at a screen all day. It’s time to leave the town of passing through for an adventure.
Specifically, an adventure to visit my little brother Jeff, who’s studying abroad in Vienna. He went there despite the significant handicap of not knowing a single word of German, which is more than I can say, having gone to London where the biggest language barrier was remembering to call elevators ‘lifts’.
I leave tomorrow night straight from work to embark on an all-night flight to Paris, then another flight to Vienna. Here’s hoping for free booze and personal video screens.
Shortly after arriving, Jeff and I will be taking a train to Munich first thing Sunday morning for a couple of days in the beer gardens, and then back to Vienna. He may miss a German quiz, but then again he got an A++ on the midterm. Why couldn’t my study abroad classes have been pass/fail/ridiculously easy?
Jeff recently had his backpack stolen from the luggage compartment of a bus in Barcelona, losing his iPod, digicam, nice headphones, clothes, etc., so I’m bringing reinforcements. His requests include a wide variety of things, including Ranch dressing and the Neil Diamond Christmas CD.
Of course, I already mailed him a care package consisting of 12 red Solo cups and two ping pong balls. The lady at the Post Office wasn’t feeling my love and insisted I meant Vienna, VA when I filled out the three international forms. Brian pointed out that I could mail a box of air if I so chose to pay for it, and thus is the downside of being a federal employee. Here’s hoping those cups are still clean enough for some Europong.
I’ll be taking far too many pictures, and I’ll share them here when I get back.