Mission: searching for a room in Innsbruck

It was the end of October. After spending quite a lot of time in Innsbruck since June, I got an idea that living here in winter could be a great experience. So it was time to find my own place. I had never had flat viewings in my life. Living in the same flat for 8 years in Ljubljana was cosy. Also when I gave my flat away, I had exactly 4 viewings, all in the same afternoon. But I can say I had luck, because the fourth couple was exactly the type of people you want to live in your flat (:

But searching for a room in Innsbruck is another story. The time I was searching was probably the worst possible: the colledge started and everyone was looking for a flat. People told you right away: "Yes, we have 20 or 30 (or more) candidates for our flat." Innsbruck is a student city and because of that a lot of them accept only students (cause otherwise, other roommates don't get a subsidy for their rooms). Another difficulty you might be dealing with is time. For example: you write them on Monday and they reply, that you can come next week on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Which is a problem if you work everyday till 6 p.m. And when you ask if you could possible come a bit after 6 p.m., they reply: "Ok, but please hurry up, because at 7 p.m. we already have another person coming." And yes, people here have interviews with their potential new roommates. They ask you everything possible. I remember a guy living here said that when they were looking for a new rommate in their flat, they had 40 people coming and they had conversations with each of them. I asked: "40? Isn't that a bit too much? Do you guys really have time and energy for all those people?" He said: "Yes, it's important to me with whom I will live." Another friend told me that his friend didn't find a room here, so he moved to some other austrian city. It's actually not that hard to believe that now. And another fact: it is an expensive city. Someone told me, that the rents here are higher than they are in Vienna.

So, having about 20 flat viewing on average is kinda normal here. I don't know how many I had, but I would say about 10 or 12. And sometimes it was fun. There was a guy which I met at two flats in the same afternoon. In one flat they had sauna, but was full with things. The girl said I can clear it and use it if I want to. Come on, if I had sauna in my flat I would be in it the whole time! :D So yes, you can hear a lot of interesting things while visiting these random people. One girl told me that their roommate moved away because the room reminded her too much of her ex boyfriend :D

Last but not least, it's not a bad idea to do some Couchsurfing, when having difficulties while searching and you actually don't know how (and when) things will turn out. 

So yes, it was exhausting, but at the end I found a really cute flat, located literally under the mountains which means we see them from every room. A guy living here in Innsbruck said while we were talking about some city: "They might have the view on the mountains, but we have them here." Actually I feel like I'm here on a vacation. A bit longer vacation (: 

The view from a living room. I call it magic (:

When breakups become more cruel

Twenty-something women (closer to 30 than 20): when I look at the girls of my generation, I see that a lot of them are married/getting children, when it looks like the majority of them is in a serious relationship. Others are either single or maybe they just ended a relationship. A relationship they thought it was the one. So, why do the breakups get more cruel?

Talking with a friend my age about our peers settling down (having children), we agreed that we are under no pressure because of that (in fact we still feel quite young), but I believe at this age we somehow start wanting things (=relationships) that lead somewhere. What I can't really say for men this age. It can happen that a woman thinks they are doing fine, while he likes her and enjoys being with her. But if their relationship ended out of nowhere, he'll be just fine with it, while she will feel it's a great loss for her. And that he'll just find/meet someone in the future, while she believes she was lucky to meet him and who knows if she will have that luck again someday. So, when women our age meet a person, who represents a package that fits us in all aspects, it's likely we won't feel need to meet/ be with other people anymore.  

I read somewhere (or maybe did I hear it) that (though every death is hard and sad) it's even somehow harder for the relatives when someone dies suddenly, in a moment (for example in a car accident) than when someone is dying for a longer time. Because in the second case  relatives have time to prepare themselves and the chance to say goodbye, while in first case this is not possible. I don't know about death, but I think something like this happens in relationships. That probably the most painful way of ending some story is, when you thought the relationship worked really good and had a future, but it ended in a moment, out of nowhere. A story in which there was no arguing, no cheating, where nobody felt estranged from another. So, the one person, with whom you could practically stay forever, in a minute becomes a part of your past.

And what about the famous bad timing thing? Well, I'm convinced it doesn't exist, At least not when two people who like each other are together. Because if you want to be with someone, you make an effort no matter what. And where there's a will, there's a way.

Charles Bukowski once said:"You have to die a few times before you can really live." But women in twenty-something (around 30) got to this point of our life during years. Years in which we gained lessons, knowledge, experience. So there comes a time when we are able to settle down if (in our opinion) the one comes around. So guys, keep that in mind when dating a girl from this group. Especially if she's a keeper! (:

Where can you meet the most interesting people?

When we were younger (and single) my friends and me thought that we will meet interesting guys in the clubs. Then you see  that it doesn´t work like this and is therefore more an exeption than the rule. :D

Now, years later and quite a lot of international interactions behind me, my list of top 3 ways/places where you (can) meet interesting people goes like this:

1.) Carsharing: definitely the most sociable way of travelling (especially if you are travelling alone). All of my drivers on long distances were talkative, so also the rides were cool. Actually I can´t stay quite (and I don´t get the people who do that), because you can find out so many interesting things this way. For example: my last driver and me found out that we have a mutual friend (who is not a Slovene and lives in Germany!). When he walked me to his place, this our friend was laughing, like: What are you two doing here together? What a surprise for all of us! :DWith my other driver I was later singing at the karaoke. (: To sum up: 3 really pleasant guys in the last 3 months. 3 new friends, not bad!

2.) Couchsurfing: I have been writing about this before. But once again: via this community I have met truly interesting people. Last week I was hanging out with a guy from Sweden which was so amusingly. A friend recently asked me how is this scene and how are people here like. I said that it´s like all these people are the same nation, because they are not typical representatives of their countries. So if for example some nation is known to be close-minded or not open for meeting new people, these couchsurfers for sure are not like that.

3.) Friends of friends: And  last but not least: friends of your friends. I think it´s very likely to find a cool co-speaker in this group. Yes, I know-it´s not easy for women to find/have true female friends, but hey-maybe you´ll meet some cool person at the babyshower party. :D Or you can meet a new male friend at your friend´s birthday party.

So, that was my top 3 list. A list of people/events/things that made my life richer in the last weeks/months. And how do they say: "To travel is to live?" (:

Where I left my heart

I fell in love again. Not with a man, with a city. It's like everyone has a favourite city, and to me that's Munich. I just don't know why it took me so long to actually go there. :D

The view from the balcony

My second visit. Staying at my new friend's flat on a famous street called Leopoldstraße. The building itself is amazing, but the view from the balcony at night is just breathtaking! It turned out that my host/new friend has a lot of friends from Slovenia who live in Germany. And as he said, he likes us because we are really cool and open people, just our language is strange. :D Hehe. A funny guy.

Dianatempel, Hofgarten (:

"Do you like to walk?" "Ja, sure!" He gave me a guidebook and the exploring began. Actually I just had to walk down this street for about half an hour to the city centre and on my way I say the sights. 

Walking down the street

Since I adore parks, the Hofgarten with it's Dianatempel was really charming! Even the taxies, all in the same colour, are so cool. And the architecture in general. Oh, and the Karlsplatz with it's fountain! (:

Odeonsplatz

An interesting question?

But the highlight for sure was meeting my former host who took me to the Englischer Garten. You know, when you are in a good company at the great place? (: It was already dark outside and I didn't see much, but we saw surfers in the Eisbach river. Oh, and seeing the bats while lying on the grass. :D

Karlsplatz

Eisbach

So many impressions for "just" an ordinary day in the city. After experiencing all these animations, you just can't go back home. At least not for some time. Oh, I also found an interesting quote: "Thomas Wolfe was right when he said that Munich was a German heaven on earth."

The view from a restaurant

A chain of decisions

Do you ever wonder why and/or how some things/events happen? Things that you didn't plan and look like a coinsidence.

Well, I don't believe that things happen by coincidence. I can't neither say that I believe in fate. But I believe in words which I read in the past: "Everything in life is as it should be." And that whole life exists of our choices, or better: decisions. But there's something which fascinates me: how do you find yourself in some place and how a chain of decisions (or actions) brings together two people (and by that I don't mean just a man/woman relation, but in general)?

I had an interesting experience in Austria 2 months ago (this time I was there for business not for pleasure). I was supposed to spend the night in some village, which I arranged already at home. Coming there I decided to take a look around and took a walk on the left side of the village. There I met a girl and we said: "Hallo." Soon I was trying to find my place and figured out that this might be hard since the house numbers weren't in a sequence at all. Then there came again the girl I met before. Great! I asked her if she could help me find that place and the next moment we were searching together. "Did you take a walk when we met?" She said: "Yes." "That was a short walk,ha?" She said something like: "Yoo!" To shorten the story: in the end I didn't stay there due to some misapprehension and was running to catch the girl again so I could ask her for some hotel there because I really didn't want to drive back to the city again. She made a call and said: "No problem, you can stay at my aunt's house." 

And there I was: spending the night in a cute wooden house with a woman my mother's age. My bed had been ready before, like she would be expecting some couchsurfer that day :D I said: "You have a really cute house, I would like to live like that someday." She said: "Oh, I don't like it. I want to move to Bali." Well..who doesn't? :D

My cute austrian room

Thinking about it later, there are some elements that fascinate me. How did this girl and me both find ourselves at the same time in that part of the village (or better: how I caught her there during her few minutes walk). And was I supposed to sleep over at her aunt's place already from the moment I arranged my place on? I know, actually it's just about spending the night somewhere, but I think things like that are quite often also at more important matters in life. Also at finding a partner. (:

The same day I saw some interesting quote in the city centre (of course it was in German) and it goes like this: "Life is more than the notion that we have about it."

A day with cousins

Last Sunday I spent with my 2 cousins. With one I often hang out, the other one (my only male cousin) I met just a few times. I think we sometimes act like a 140 kilometres distant place is on the other side of the world and that the whole procedure is needed to visit someone. And though our country is small, there are still a lot of places we haven't visited yet. So, it was time for some family gathering and discovering unknown parts of Slovenia. (:

The view with my cousins (:

After spending some time at the grandpa's house our cousin took us to Golte (a ski resort above Mozirje). He showed us the best view on the landscape, then to a renovated hotel (where we were staying in 4th grade) and from there we climbed to the reservoir and had a drink at the cabin. This lake was new to me. High away from the world, talking about life, relationships and other stuff. And you don't hang out with your cousins like the that everyday. 

At the revoir

Walking back down to our car we met a man from the cabin who served us-such a positive person. It was a short, but interesting convesation about life. He said: "But in the end you see, it's important just not to complicate things." I agree.    

The hotel. I think it looks cute (:

We agreed it was a quality spent Sunday. It was also time for some carpooling in which case it's good to have an assistant, who answers all the calls while you are driving (: With the last guy that was driving with us we also had a cool conversation and at the end he wanted to pay more. I said: "No,I'll take just as much as I wrote." He replied: "It's been a while since I have had such a pleasant ride." I think we should compliment things so honestly more often. Actually I think the world needs more of that! Not just that his words made my evening, I was in a cheerful mood even the next day. (:

The sunset on our way home

And the cousins? They are closer than we might think! (:

A girl travelling alone

In the last 2 months I've been abroad 4 times. Everytime alone, by carpooling and couchsurfing, well to be more exact: staying with people I met there :D Some people say that a girl who travels alone is brave, but I agree with Thomas Jefferson who said: "One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more."

A coincidence? My driver picked me up in Ljubljana and said: "Heey! We've been driving together before! But we were both passengers." I didn't recall that, so after he described our ride, I remembered. How small the world is! Well, this can happen only in Slovenia. :D A guy from Ljubljana, visiting his girlfriend in Austria. It was one of those rides when very soon you feel domestic with that person and 5 hours just fly by. When your co-speaker is extremely honest and open-minded, so you talk with him basically about everything. And when getting out of the car at the end you get a feeling that you have a new good friend. He said: "Damn, now you know too much about me!" :D Another 2 coincidences: he lived at the same street as where I was staying and one day I met him and his girlfriend in the city centre. I said: "I forgot to tell you, but you are really cool!" "Thanks, you are too!"

The Inn river

Innsbruck through my eyes: my second visit here. In the evening I took a walk alone, near the Inn river to the city centre. This area, where you can see those colourful houses looks really nice.

Next days were more animated: hiking, a students party in the meadow, seeing a cute place (Ambras castle) on our way there. There was also time to read a book/drink a beer on a balcony and to visit the shops and bookstores there (they also have Mango). (:

Hiking

The best soup in my life! (the right one) (:

Oh, and I ate the best soup and risotto in my life. The first one (Kartoffelsuppe) was on the top of a mountain, the second was prepared at home by guys. Mmm (:

The view on Innsbruck

The Ambras castle

On Sunday we had parliamentary elections at home in Slovenia (our professor won. I hope this will be a positive change for our messed up country), but here the main event was the FIFA World cup finale, which we watched at the Treibhaus.I'm not that into football, but watching it with guys from Germany was interesting. And I love Germany (:

At the Treibhaus

Selfie at the toilet

Travelling back home the next day from Innsbruck to München and from there to Slovenia with 3 guys was relaxed and we didn't talk much. We were all slightly tired: some because of exams and others because of parties :D