I arrived back in Europe around the 10th of June. I missed my connecting flight in Madrid which gave me the chance to visit the city for a few hours. Late at night I finally got home to my father's house - which is home to my stuff if not to me. I had one day to take a swim in the Grundlsee which after travelling half the globe is still the best place to swim if you ask me. Then I moved on to visit friends in Innsbruck and enjoy a little hike in the mountains again. After that I went to the Netherlands to visit friends there. The World Cup had already started by then so with the great people I stayed with in Utrecht I spent literally every night in front of the TV watching matches. It was ok, as we were having a good time in spite of the matches. I couldn't have wished for better hosts! Thanks so much!!! Also on my way there the German trains didn't manage to get me there in time so a friend from Germany spontaneously offered a bed at her house for the night. Really, friends are such a great thing to have. Not to mention that after that I went to Vienna where I stayed for the next three months if I wasn't at the ringing station - with another fabulous friend!

I started my time in Vienna with six weeks straight at the ringing station. We caught more birds this years than ever and if I had looked forward to enjoying and relaxing in the quiet, I was disappointed. But then, there is hardly anything in the world that's better than birds, so while most days I was desperate for an hour of sleep I was also complaining about net checks that had fewer than twenty birds - quite a step up from Miami, where I was happy about every single bird I got! With all the birds it was more exhausting but also great as ever. We also managed to make a pond that the shorebirds really liked for a week or two but then grass grew and shorebirds left. Well…

Despite everything Hohenau is still my home so yes, I enjoyed being there a lot.

The rest of the time I was in Vienna, where luckily I found a football club that I could train with. The girls were all really nice and we had a lot of fun. I felt like I found friends in no time, which was highly welcome as Flo worked many days and I was bored most of the time. The rest of the time I was trying to organize things for Jamaica and for the next year. Either way, I survived close to three months in Vienna (with some breaks of course) and when the autumn came in Europe I was more than ready to leave for my next adventure. Mind you, I also look forward to coming back to Europe, when the winter is over.