Cheers!

I surfed in Austria with a young Polish woman who lived in England for awhile, and other places around Europe, and is now in Innsbruck, but leaving in a month. People in Europe seem to move around a lot.

We immediately went to a bar to meet up with other couchsurfers, because it was the night of the monthly meeting. Eventually, about twenty people were there, mostly Austrians but there were a few Polish. Apparently, even though they speak German, Austrians do not mix beer and coke like the Germans, and I got a few strange looks. But not in an unkind way, because these people were amazing. First of all, Austrian men are a thousand times more expressive than Americans, because my three new friends I was talking to for most of the night would throw their arms around each other, kiss on the cheek, etc. But had only just met to surf couches.

After anyone bought a new drink, or really at any time at all, the whole crowd would start clinking glasses, and shouting "cheers" or the equivalent in various languages. It was jovial and sweet, and I laughed at the number of times they did it. After awhile, all I had was a glass coke bottle, so I would absentmindedly clink it against their beer glasses anytime someone called a toast, in the middle of a conversation, it was so often.

They gave me a lot of travel advice, drew a relatively accurate map of Austria in my travel notebook, and taught me more German. When I left, they made me promise over and over that I would friend them on CS, that I should visit, and sent me off with hugs and kisses on my cheek.

There were four young Polish men staying with my host as well, an incredibly kind group that were on a camping trip (it was raining). My host made amazing pasta and vegetables, after hearing that I was vegan. Apparantly she has several vegan friends, and was vegan for a time. Incredible to find after so much trouble in other countries.