Back to the future

Frankfurt airport's traditional boarding pass auction at full swing.

And so, as if at the push of a button, the days spent in Graz are counting again. I arrived home on Thursday evening to find the kitchen clean (maybe Petra's death threats on the cupboards helped), my house shoes where I left them (on this side of the bed under the black plastic chair) and my table empty (it had been used as a workspace for making a puzzle and all my things were in the bookshelf).

Friday was spent in the Kunstuni and Spar. Yesterday was celebrated with a marathon rehearsal of Schnittke's Requiem. In the evening, our flat's dark-haired duo from the pusta hosted one of their popular Hungarian evenings - missing one of these is hard, especially if you live with them. I was initiated into the popular tradition of drinking palinka, a home-made brandy which always flows copiously at these ethnic gatherings. Expecting nothing more than a little warm kindling in the stomach, the first swig took my voice away. It remained the evening's only swig.

After that, we headed to Kulturhauskeller, a bar/nightclub in a huge cellar just a few blocks away. It was absolutely packed with students and the music was so loud I couldn't hear anything for about ten minutes after leaving (I told you these were fun!).

At around four today, I was cooking spaghetti and the others were staring into space in a post-palinka/nightclub slumber when our landlady called and told us she needed something from our flat and could she come over now? Absolutely delighted, we sprang into action - the sacks of garbage were taken down, dishes were cleared away and I learned some new Romanian swear words. The result of the visit: one of us lost her writing table. It's good for her that she seems to be going around in a sort of ecstatic daze or she probably would not have dismissed the whole thing as "not a problem".

The only things I forgot at home are my toothbrush and notebook. I got a new one with a tongue-cleaner in the back. A toothbrush, that is.