SALZBURG, Austria – In Ohio when it rains in the spring, the sidewalks are covered with worms. Here, things are a bit different, considering I haven’t seen a worm yet. Instead, our sidewalks are populated with slugs. As I was hurrying to class yesterday afternoon, I dodged at least 10 of them because I couldn’t bear to step on one. The other recent development here that is something quite different from life at Bowling Green is three of the student residences, including the building I live in, now have a limited amount of Internet usage. I found out about this two Thursdays ago when I opened Firefox and was faced with a login page I didn’t know how to use. What a fun thing to wake up to! And then later we found out our Internet usage will be tracked, as there is only a limited number of uploads and downloads per person. But just before I started writing this column, Firefox crashed and had to restart. It restarted without my login page, and it is now nowhere to be found. Now I have no way of checking how much Internet I’ve used, so some day in May I just won’t be able to use the Internet any more because I will have unknowingly maxed-out my monthly usage. Oh, how I love Austria – especially my housing. I really don’t want to complain about things like this Internet situation, though. And don’t suggest to me, ‘Oh, well, just go to the Union and use its 24-hour lab,’ because neither a Union nor a 24-hour lab exist here. Things like these, though, make my experience here all the more memorable, and they definitely make good stories to tell. Another good story is the roommate I had for one week at the beginning of April. She arrived while I was in class, so I returned to foreign luggage in my room, and of course I had taken over the other side of the room so I had to remove all the things I had nicely organized for my parents. When I finally met her later, I learned she spoke no German and a tiny bit of English, so communicating wasn’t really that easy, especially when she spoke to me in Italian. She did manage to explain that she was going to study in the law college, but later found out she couldn’t take the entrance exam, probably because we were already one month into the summer semester. She left a week after arriving, saying she’d return when she was given permission to study here. I really can’t imagine permission will be granted, and since I think she paid for the room through June, I think I am in the clear for a roommate-free May and June. Another ‘only in Austria’ experience is shopping at Aldi, except in Austria it is called Hofer. At home, Aldi always has a weird reputation, especially since they don’t have bags, you have to make a deposit for a buggy and they don’t accept credit cards. And then, consider their product selection. Not only do they have food, but there is always a selection of non-grocery items like clothing, electronics and garden supplies that make such an odd collection. Here, Hofer fits right in. Grocery stores don’t offer plastic bags for free, you have to bag your own groceries and paying with cash is the way most people go. I’ve quit thinking it’s weird that they offer such an eclectic variety of products, as it’s not going to change.