Portland or bust.

Made it to Munich Airport. It turns out Montag ist Schnitzeltag at Airbrau, so things are looking up. Flight tomorrow to Portland.

I had a mishap in Trieste today. I tripped and tore the tendon in my left knee. I’m spending the night in the hospital and then figuring out how to get back to Ljubljana and then Portland for surgery. So I’m out of commission for a while. 😢

Has anyone been to Trieste? I’m going tomorrow for the day just to commune with the ghosts of history. I’ve got Jan Morris, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere, on my Kindle. 🇸🇮 🚌 🇮🇹🚶‍♀️☕️🚶‍♀️🍝🍷 🚌 🇸🇮

Vocab homework sampler:

trg = plaza

črn = black

prst = finger

čmrlj = bumblebee

Slovenia, I’d like to buy a vowel? 🇸🇮🙏

I have 45 minutes to get ready for school, including finishing my homework and packing my lunch. I feel like I’m 11 years old again. I didn’t work this hard when I was an exchange student! We spent a lot more time just hanging out and attending the occasional lecture. 🇸🇮📝😬

Where my head’s been the last week: “rewrite the sentences in dual and plural.” Slovene has a dual form, in addition to singular, plural. 🤯

I slept all weekend, my brain was so full. But I did get Micro @monday with @pratik published, and managed Discover curation again. 🇸🇮

Thinking of @bitdepth. Our class is going to see Gaia’s World at Kinodvor. 🇸🇮🎬

Achievement unlocked: first scooter ride in Ljubljana. 🛴🇸🇮

(It took me a week to get up the nerve, with @rosemaryorchard’s San Jose mishap in mind.)

City soundscape: the bells with a view of Prešeren Square, the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, and the Ljubljanica River.

It’s karaoke night In Ljubljana for the summer students of the Slovene As A Foreign Language course. If I had a transporter, I’d zip @verso over here quick because I’m getting a lot of blank stares when I tell people it will be fun. 🎤😳

Lunch with @anzet. Yes, I am drinking a beer. I spent 3 hrs. learning about Slovene’s extra pronoun category for groups of two. Ex. “I/jaz” (sing.), “we/mi” (plural), and “midva” (me + one other). Or “medve,” depending on the binary gender of who the 2nd person is. 🤯🍺

1 in 20 Slovenians are beekeepers. Yesterday we had a tour led by the director of urban beekeeping. I learned a ton of interesting facts, but did not have the nerve to hold a frame like my classmate Mark. 🐝

Apparently I am in the right place. 🎤🇸🇮

Prvi dan šole = first day of school. I have all the relevant jitters. 🇸🇮

(What should I wear? Will I like the teacher? Will the other kids like me? What will a beginner like me be doing for an hourlong placement test?)

Dinner companions. 🇸🇮

Bosch Washer Micro.blog Hive Mind, new question: The spin light is blinking. (See video.) I could swear I didn’t overfill the machine with clothes but could it be out-of-balance? What should I do next?

I’m using Boomerang iOS App Store to translate words and phrases. It’s the best kind of simple app, and so low-priced: free w/ads, $1.99/year subscription with no ads. (I just sent @ishabazz and @heidi_helen a tip because I get WAY more value than that from their work.) 🇸🇮

First Slovenian microbrew with first Slovenian friend Anže Tomič (@anzet). IPA of course!

I’m on an old compartment train, very reminiscent of my student days. And I reached Slovenia! And remembered how to say “thank you” to the Slovenian conductor when he took my ticket. (“Hvala!”) The adventure begins.

Goal #3 achieved: overnight stay at the Munich Airport Hotel. I did this in 2011–such a treat. Instead of navigating into the city jet-lagged and wilted, I just walked from the gate to the hotel to rest and regroup. Ready for travel adventure now. Jetzt geht’s los! 🚃 🇩🇪

Everyone at British Airways has been so nice. The flight attendant gave me a delightful lesson in proper scone prep, with jam and clotted cream. Then I overtiredly left my Kindle on the plane, didn’t realize until after customs, and the check-in guy is retrieving it for me. 🇬🇧

Goal #2 achieved: flying to London on a 747 from Seattle. And watching the planes from the British Airways lounge at Heathrow, taking off one per minute! 🛫🇸🇮

Goal #1 achieved. Checked in at PDX, at the gate early, with just one carry-on, one backpack, and a purse. Compare to 22 y.o. me, going to Europe for the first time with two large checked suitcases with no wheels. 🛫🇸🇮