To be constantly lost

Liebes Österreich,
(apparently this country isn't feminine and thus needs an 's')

Just got home from some errands (book craving) and had the magic realisation that I haven't used Google maps at all this week. Admittedly, I've spent most of the time at home since I've had a sore throat, and it's only been 4½ days, but it felt like a small victory anyway. To be constantly lost, maybe that's one way to describe how it feels to move to a new city (country). In translation, in direction, in life. And the beauty lies in the perspective that you can't find something that's not lost.

When I sat down I was going to write about last weekend, which I've been postponing. I went to Warsaw, to attend ELLS student conference (European League of Life Sciences) and present my bachelor thesis. Now, the main reason to go was not really the conference, it was to meet up with my peers from last year in Copenhagen, because some of them went on to do their second year at other universities. After a lot of struggle for some of them (missing a flight, then flying to the wrong city and renting a car to get to Warsaw), we had a great time together!

The conference exceeded my expectations - I listened to an abundance of interesting presentations, and I was very satisfied with my own presentation as well. There was also an abundance of vodka and some Polish night life to lift our spirits after a lot of nitrogen and sludge and dying animals ;) As I have been in Warsaw before (with my beloved grandma a year ago to celebrate her 75th birthday) I had already seen the most sights, otherwise the time would not have been sufficient. But I got my dumplings and vodka all right!

Unfortunately the weekend had a very annoying end for me, as the Austrian railway company had written the wrong departure time on my ticket so I missed my train. I had to wait 8 hours for the next train, which was the night train... Which was very stressful, but I ended up re-visiting the national art museum (kinda boring art to be honest but at least good wifi) and then got on the same train as my friend Nathalie, and we even made some new friends that night! But as I got home at 7am instead of 9pm, I was way too tired to attend any of my morning classes (they were taught at the same time...) and came down with a sore throat, which has prevented me from running! Will catch up on that next week hopefully, but I've decided to be extremely careful so I would be fine this weekend, as I get a visit that I've been longing for...