FREEDOM!!!!

The move is official. Saturday morning, I packed up my suitcase and two backpacks and said good bye to convent living for good. I need to remember that sharing a room is a really bad idea and agreeing to live in a setting with more rules than my freshman year dorm is a really really bad idea. But the nuns were great and I can't say I didn't learn a lot from the experience. I am just amazed by how many adult women live there. One woman has lived there for 13 years. She's nearly 30.

As a conversation starter, I would ask my neighbors, "So, do you want to be a nun?" Each woman would assure she had no intentions of entering the sisterhood for good, but unless these girls get out of the convent, it seems they may as well don the habit and rescind all earthly pleasures.

My new place is in the 2nd district, just a short bike ride from my office. My new roommates are two German guys and luckily they speak (a little) English, otherwise we would be sunk! I am still working on learning German. Ha! They seems really great, and my room is tiny, but only $240 per month! PERFECT. One of my new roomies is named Emu. (Yes, he knows what this means in English. I asked him, and it means the same in German.) The other I just met this morning. I guess he's a bartender, and works really long hours. Good sign though, when I woke up, he was cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. This new living arrangement is going to be great! I am so excited.

The best part of the move is my new bicycle! I am now a biking maniac! I've been tooling around Vienna, taking in all of the sites, dodging tourists, and looking, I think, like a real European. It's fabulous!