As the Rope Bridge Sways...

Hey everyone!

It's Monday evening, I had an interesting day with loads of exercise (had to ride to uni twice because I had forgotten my library card the first time!!!), my CSI:Vienna class that was fun and now some rice and salad for dinner....and I watched 2 episodes of My name is Earl...my favourite American pasttime...

However, I want to share with you my weekend that was really exciting...It all started out Friday afternoon, when I met Celia in the library and we were talking about what we're going to do this weekend...and I had actually planned to go to San Francisco to do some shopping and more exploring...and Celia asked me if I wanted to come to Lake Tahoe with her and some friends...they had rented a house there and there would be other students and she convinced me....
So after a nice meeting with my professor that helped my research a lot, I met Celia again, we drove to my place and grabbed some clothes, books, the electric blanket and off we were. We went to her room in one of the dorms on campus and she packed her stuff...And at 8.30, her friend Nicole plus her boyfriend Martin, picked us up...before hitting the freeway, we bought some really good Tacos...it was actually the first time I ate fish/tofus tacos...in the car, not even seeing what I was eating...but they were really good and fresh...
And then I sat in the car for 4 hours...the first part of the ride was fine, we passed by San Francisco and headed towards Sacramento...but then we came into the forest, it started raining and the closer we came to Tahoe, the more it rained and eventually also snowed...
The road is really windy and I got a bit scared since Martin is a rather fast driver....and I was soo tired.

Once we had arrived there, it had about 15cm snow in Tahoe! I thought, "Damn, this is for what I had left Austria???", but as soon as we entered the house, I was fine again. It was really nice, one of these wooden weekend houses...and it was full of people and booze.
As soon as we had found a corner for our stuff, we got some wine and talked to the people who were mostly friends of one another...and a lot of Stanford graduates...
What struck me early, was that the guy who was renting out the place, seemed to be obsessed with order and cleanliness. There were post-its everywhere, telling you what you had/had not to do....and threats that he would not give you back the deposit if something is wrong with the flat.
Since we were tired from the drive and the wine, we went to bed and also managed to get the upstairs couch to sleep, even though it was not really comfortable...
Here a pic of some people and the cute dog Penelope, who is not into contact...but it looks like ALF in my opinion...

The next morning we got up, had some cereals and coffee and then read the stuff Celia and me had to do for the CSI class. Then we decided to go for a hiking trip, even though the weather was not really inviting. And I definitely had the wrong equipment - Converse, skinny jeans and a leather jacket are not really suitable for rain hiking!
We drove a bit and got off at a spot that indicated some hiking tours...and how you should behave...I liked the warning sign and took a pic! And off we were...
It was raining, it was windy, there was snow on some spots of the trail and I was definitely not in the mood to hike...like you can see...but I did not want to disappoint the others who were totally into experiencing nature...it made me feel funny somehow...maybe I have had too much hiking in my childhood and now can not understand these feelings anymore...or maybe I prefer hiking in the sun with a cold beer in my hand like we do it every September for my brother's birthday...

However, after about 40mins that we went into the forest and a lake that we saw, we decided to return to the car since the weather was not getting better. And we drove back to the house. On our way, we stopped at Starbucks and got some Chai Latte, my new favourite drink. It sounds really "gay" (I'm sorry I use this word, I know it's not politically correct but I can't think of any other word that might fit as well as this one! If you have any suggestions, let me know!), but it's sooooooooo goood. Spicy tea with milk....RRRRRRrrrrrrr!!!
In the house, we had some sandwiches and then turned back to the texts we had to read and post comments on in an online forum. And then we took a nap...and then waited for the time to pass. At some point, I started watching My name is Earl because the general mood was a bit weird. I felt like did not fit in...which I feel like most of the time. But maybe I'm really paranoid about this...
And Celia joined me with some wine and some more My name is Earl, which she really enjoyed...she had never seen it before and meant that it gives you a really bad impression of America, so at first, she did not want to watch it, but she kind of liked it in the end...
We drank some more and listened to music...I showed Celia some stuff I like, she did the same and for the rest of the evening we were entangled in Youtube videos of Ein echter Wiener geht nicht unter and Alf Poier, all stuff that I showed her to represent Austrian culture =) And she liked it...We also started to watch my favourite documentary About a Son on Kurt Cobain, which for me is the creation of a genius! I love this movie! It gives me the creeps all the time because it is not a simple, boring summary of a guy who became a famous rock star, consumed drugs and eventually killed himself...but it is Kurt Cobain who tells his own story (they used parts of old interviews done by the guy who wrote the official Nirvana biography called Come as you are) and they show pictures from where he grew up, the people who live there, the general mood and play music that has influenced Cobain for his own sound...If you're into Nirvana or like documentaries, you really need to check it out!!!
Well, then Martin and Nicole brewed the killer stuff of this weekend - Feuerzangenbowle, a mix of sugar that is caramelized into warm alcohol which contains oranges and tastes like Christmas!! After two cups of this and two cups of gelo-shots (take some flavored gelatine and add vodka instead of water), I was really wasted....to I decided to lay down on the floor next to the dog...and watch tv...but unfortunately, the others were playing drinking games and loud so I couldn't hear a word...Celia was equally wasted so we fell asleep, watching the rest of About a Son...then we set up the bed and with the sound of our iPods and pillows on our head to hide from the lights, we fell asleep like chicken...

On Sunday, we got up, cleaned up and got ready for going home...we hopped into the car and hit the road...here some pics from along the way...really impressive for me...how weird things look there....and the funniest thing is that as soon as you cross the border between Nevada and California, you see casinos and wedding chapels....then you know you're in the Silver State Nevada....where gambling and wedding are important economical features.....
We stopped in Davis, a small university town, for some Chinese lunch. It was pretty good...and for dessert I had a Snoball...I saw this, of course, in My name is Earl. It is the culmination of all the good, sweet things that exist in this world...it is a filled chocolate cake with some pink marshmellow and coconut covering....it looks totally chemical, which it probably also is...but it liked it somehow....it is really cheap too =)

As soon as I was home I took a shower and went to bed. I hadn't slept well so I fell into bed....to be able to go back to routine today...which I did....
Well, not awfully exciting because of the weather mosty but I had fun seeing all the stuff and hang out with Celia and be spontaneous...it was a good decision to go there...
Let me know, if you like my pics...I'll really appreciate some comments...

Good night and good luck!