Father Son bonding, Deutsche Bahn, Sun and other Surprises. An overdue roundup.

So it has been nearly a month since my last report on the occurrences surrounding my time here in abroad.  Consulting my calendar (because remembering things from that long ago is tough), I have learned where I need to pick up from, so I shall:

• I went to Austria with my Father, who did the driving, which was very good.  We visited some family friends who made us very welcome and gave us the best hospitality anyone could hope for.  We even got in a trip to Salzburg (after our planned trip to Venice was snowed off).  Even more surprisingly my Father and I got on for the whole trip, its almost as though we're adults.  
  
  (The Salzburg Burg)
  
  
• I then went home (in fact I was at home when the last two updates were posted.  It was very nice and I got to take a pretty girl to a dinner at the National Museum of Wales, wearing a Dinner Jacket, which was pretty cool. (Or did she take me?  Either way a good night was had by all).
  
  (I'm the one on the left)
  
  
• After returning to Konstanz I did the most logical thing I could and promptly left again, this time heading to Lake Como in Italy.  
• This was by dint of having taken GermanWings up on their offer of a 'blind booking' which involved choosing a departure airport, dates and a theme (I think ours was culture) and paying a relatively small price to go to a destination we found out having completed the booking.  I had been hopeful for Sarajevo (one option) but was very happy with Milan, until we discovered how much it cost to stay there (€30 per night in a badly reviewed hostel? Err no).  So after a bit of research we had settled on Lake Como as an alternative.  
• In short (as this post is getting very long) the trip was fantastic, good hostel, good food, good city, not to mention good company but also good weather.  Even the first day when it was supposed to rain turned out to be overcast in the morning and beautiful sunshine in the afternoon and evening which set the tone for the remaining days. We got excellent views of the lake from various look out points and even better Ice Cream, in short, lived the dream.
•   
• We did visit Milan, of course, on our last day on the way to the airport.  It's a beautiful city but I'm glad we didn't try to spend all of our time there.  

• We also learned to always, always, always, ask the price of drinks form the €4 cans of Coke to the €6 beer that made me sad.  


• We also learned that Deutsche Bahn doesn't have to be Nürnberg bad, meaning we managed to get back to Konstanz at 01.30 on Monday morning rather than 07.30, which would have meant going straight to the first day of Uni.  

• Another surprise of the recent past has been the weather, which we very much enjoyed in Como has followed us back to Konstanz, seemingly to prove that this lake can be just as wonderful as that one, with the added bonus of us being here all of the time.  This has left me very much looking forward to summer here and increasingly sad that I now have less than 3 months between now and when I fly back to the UK and leave my Erasmus year behind.  

• As I tend to try and demonstrate that I'm not just gallivanting around here when I write these posts there have been some things that have struck home:
• This year puts a lot of places within such easy reach.  Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France, not to mention all that Germany itself has to offer.
• Being thrown into a pot of new people is not only a fantastic opportunity on its own, it helps remind you of what's good about the ones you already know.  
• Surprises are what keep things fun.  I like not knowing all the answers and what happens next.
• This year is fleeting, so if you've yet to begin, just getting started or 3 months from the end, don't let it slip away, it won't happen again.  Carpe diem.