She was a fascinating kind of person. Sometimes she found herself just in the very thick of things, with no warning. Assigned to shadow this group of students half way through her master sociology studies at university, she found a way to travel, work on her thesis and be one of the students; well almost.

Her life did not parallel theirs much. She was well educated, old for her age, grounded in manners, decorum and experience. Most of the kids were drinking their way through Germany on the way to the school and not bothering to attend most of the classes. They studied and cringed at test time, but most of the time it was all travel and spending their parent's money. She knew of at least 2 drug runs to Amsterdam, and wondered if anyone at the school knew and if it was really more than weed.

The program officials wanted her onsite. They wanted to know from someone other than the school exchange teachers and the headmistress, just how effectively run the program really was. Did it meet the needs of the students, of the curriculum, did the students learn, attend class, conduct themselves in a way that might lend credibility to the program and not endanger it, all formidable questions. It was a wonderful assignment created for her by her advisor. He knew that the program needed some investigation and he thought how easily it would be to not really explain the process of evaluation to anyone there, but to analyze the data upon her return and then shoot them an evalution and recommendations. After all, they were the university liason for all the other feeder schools in the states that wanted to send their students to the program. Additionally the school cost a pretty penny, much more than tuition at home. The living arrangements for students, they already knew, could be spotty. This was a college level program, not some short term high school exchange. Some of these students would be here for more than a semester, so they needed long term, secure housing and not the live with  a family option that was so frequently used. Sometimes that did not work, and more often than not, some of the family chosen were in it primarily for the money. 

She apparently filled the requirements for this spy assignment. She only had to pay her travel expenses there and any holidays she might plan. She received a stipend for living expenses, although she was expected to live in the same kind of student housing. She was to attend classes as a student, participate in student related programs and eat lunch on campus, so that she would be doing everything they were. Sounded pretty easy and it would be great research for her thesis which was on The Immediate Influence of Parents of Students Studying at the University Level Away From Home. She hoped to learn how often, here abroad, they corresponded with their parents or guardians, and how parental influence might impact certain behaviors. Did they feel isolated, homesick, unable to make decisions, need more counseling, guidance or alternative support systems?  She knew that as of now, there were no counseling, guidence or alternative support systems for these students here and wondered if her research might show a need.

She was expected to keep up the charade to everyone there, and to leave at end of the fall semester. She would have some intermittent contact with her advisor as deemed necessary by the direction of her own work and needs, otherwise, she was completely on her own.

He was not really a professor. He was a student, a graduate student, not unlike herself. He was one of the only male teachers there, and was obviously someone whom the headmistress thought the young people would relate to well. He was very intelligent and had just what it took to get ahead academically, and would  probably be a successful political scholar some day. His interests in music were paramount in his life and along with his brother, he had a band. That was his true passion, at least at the moment she met him.

While they seemed near in age academically, the system in Europe calibrated the educational experience differently. He was about six years older, in his late twenties. 

The day in Prague started out as every other day had when the students were rounded up for a weekend tour of some nearby venue. This was bit of a bus ride, but the students were really into it. They had been warned. The travel would include a communist country and they would have to be on their best behavior. At one point they did cross into a kind of no man's land. After that a guard from the Czech side came on board with another soldier and they collected everyone's passports.  The headmistress had warned everyone against any inappropriate laughing or undignified behavior, before they left. "It will only make them more curious, and they will search the luggage, detain everyone if necessary and otherwise ruin what will be a wonderful, historical adventure." Okay. They got it, now the question would be, did the guards?

It was a cold and rainy day and while everything appeared to go rather smoothly at the border, the schedule had gotten goofed up even before they left and time went faster than anyone planned. The head mistress had been called away and would not be participating, it was left to two teachers to manage them. They arrived late in the day to their sightseeing destination, and with an early darkness settling in, most of the students were ready to hit a bar rather than a dark museum about to close. So one was managed but it was a quick in and out.

They found out they weren't in Salzburg anymore. The people on the streets looked like throw backs to the 60's. Bouffant platinum colored hairdo's with pointed toe stiletto heels and hugely crinolines dresses, with tiny waists, and guys with greased dark hair and tight black pants, most of them felt like we were on the set of Grease. It seemed that this country was a decade or more behind Austria.

The students got the look from the locals that said "Stay away". So with the help of the dark haired musician, who was along to officially chaperone with the medieval dance teacher, (who barely spoke English and was wrangled to join them at the last minute)another plan was made.

He told the students that they could purchase alcohol from the hotel clerk at the desk. So there was a slight up charge but they didn't care. It was party in the hotel room time. It was an old hotel with massive rooms, antique looking furniture and huge ceilings.

Somehow he attached himself to her. They were in a room with a number of people in it and suddenly it seemed they had all gone. Everyone had been sitting on the floor, the beds and a kind of long twin bed made to look like a couch. Group after group left, and along with them went most of the laughter and noise.

It felt like it was important to finish up the last bottle of wine. Even cheap wine there was very good. While the food never seemed enough, the wine, beer and hard stuff like vodka, flowed pretty freely and always seemed in a strange abundance. Somewhere along the line she had mixed too many things together or at least she was willing to believe it was her fault. She was tipsy, and he hung on her every word and movement. They were sitting sprawled out on the couch and now the room was empty. He was leaning on a huge feather pillow and she was too. At opposite ends of the expanse, they looked at each other.

No one had sent the others away, just one by one, or group by group, it was late and they drifted off. She remembered that the conversation was quite animated and actually intelligent. She was talking about where they would be tomorrow. Josefov, the Jewish Quarter was on the itinerary and she was particularly interested in it. He was talking about how he had been studying here on a short exchange in the spring of 1968. Yes, that spring, Prague Spring. He was talking about a beautiful girl he had met with dark hair who he was having huge crush on and how he had to leave. He remembered her sitting on a park bench, where he left her when they said goodbye. He never knew what happened to her. He seemed sad, but then just stopped talking.

They were gravitating to each other, and it seemed almost a mistake because he did not really have a clue who she really was and well, it might seem inappropriate.

She got up to move and her head was spinning. She managed to hide it and said she needed to leave.

It was clear he was disappointed. His idea of how this might end was somehow different and he was clearly not as drunk as she.

She was not completely angry or enraged by this. She had almost entertained the idea of something more herself, but she had to think more clearly before she did anything like that. It did not seem too harmful to share a kiss. Nor did it seem awkward to imagine more.  She adjusted herself and leaned forward, her lips met his as he too leaned over. It was not unpleasant, a kiss like you might give a new beau, one that could be slightly electric, but defiantly not passionate and inviting.

She got up, and did make it out of the room in one piece. She did however bounce back on the walls, throw up in the communal bathroom in the hall, then got safely to her room and slept it off. While she would never admit it, drinking that much that night had been a mistake and perhaps a kind of blessing. She remembered one kiss.

He had been feeling anxious and foolish all day. He had been wrong in thinking he could chaperone a bunch of students and have time for all their bs. He was too busy with his work, too busy with his band, too busy with his girlfriend to waste time like this. He told himself he had a girlfriend, but often it did not feel that way. There was a huge disconnect going on that he had been burying in his music. His girlfriend had her own interests and her own ambitions and they were getting out of sync. No one was going to tell him that, she was not going to admit it and so he just ignored it and propped it all up against his wall of what he thought he needed to do.

Getting drunk had not been in his plan. He did not want the likes of Frau Doktor Fussan to be on his ass about anything. He needed the job she gave him. It fit in with his studies at the university and goals for advancement there. He had plenty of free time for his music.

These kids were so young and well, annoying. They were Americans with money, and they were on an extended holiday. He wanted them to enjoy themselves, but really, getting the liquor hook up was almost crazy, he hoped he had done the right thing. They had seemed intent on drinking and he knew it would be dangerous for them to be out with the locals. It was a very different kind of world here, with curfews and rules, that the American kids would not be able to grasp quick enough to stay out of trouble. No, confining them to the hotel and facilitating their partying was the right thing to do.

She was different. Definitely not one of them.   For one, she had manners, intelligence, she had a nice look about her, but there was something else, almost a familiarity. She seemed to have a kind of respect for him, but a take it or leave it attitude about him as a man. This made him feel interested and like he needed to explore it. Her kiss when she left and all that they had said to each other, well, it was tantalizing. Really. Her words, why she needed to leave, why there would not be anything else. What, was she making a plan for a future time with something more? Ah, she was drunk, it was obvious, but in even that she seemed to control the situation and its outcome. He had not really met a woman like that before. One where he thought he had her in his hand, and yet, well, she had pulled all the strings that closed the curtain on that little play.

He felt like she was as strong like his mother. He felt like he had met someone from the village where he grew up and she knew all about him and could not be fooled.

"No, I am giving her too much credit. She is a beautiful intelligent woman who was drunk and well, I was a gentleman, and well, I had no choice but to be one in this case. I am not here for sex. Ugh, yes, no, Gott in Himmel. I am such a good Catholic son!" he had said to himself in the shower. Fortunately he shared his hotel room with no one and so no one heard him say this. He wondered if he even heard it himself, or was he just mouthing what he should be saying.

The next morning she finally made her way downstairs for the breakfast. It was served to everyone, the same things, hard boiled egg, croissant, jam, butter, coffee, yogurt. There were tables with white cloths and napkins and an attempt at formality. The gracious old lady that this hotel once was, played her part for these students.

Suddenly raucous laughter rang out and as she navigated her way to a table, she glanced up, in between her head pounding a bit and the smell of coffee, she noticed him. He was sitting with a group of students looking no worse for the wear of the night before. How could anyone look that alive after all that wine. She stopped trying to figure it out and was about to sit down alone and he noticed her.

He stood up in his chair, " Hey come on over here and join us."

"Oh, I don't think there is any room."

"Of course, there is, come!"

This was beginning to be like a bad dream. She was still recovering from last night, she did not want to remember what, if anything was said or done or if she was an ass. She remembered being firm and giving one kiss. That was it, and now she just wanted to forget it all in the light of day, not be somehow reminded of something that was not what she should have been doing. She had her career to think of, everything she was planning for. This was a big break for her, to be here. Ah, for the love of Mike!

"Oh thanks, I would love to join you all." And as soon as those words came out of her mouth, a bunch of them got up, all of them at that table, and they were on their way to their rooms to brush their teeth and get ready to leave for a tour in town. She was late and now she was alone with him. AGAIN.

He looked at her and smiled. She looked at him and was hooked, again. She smiled back and well, she laughed. He laughed too.  He said, " Hey, you have about 8 minutes to eat, then we have to get on the bus and take the tour. Do you have all your stuff down here?"

Well, she was late, but her nature always forced her to be aware of the time. So she had her jacket and purse with her. She was ready to go, but if she drank this coffee which she desperately needed to, well she was going to have to at least eat a croissant or something. She loaded the coffee with cream and sugar, drank it, wrapped a croissant, stood up and said, "Ready! Lets go now, so we get the front seats on the bus!"

He really had no idea what to do with her. She was unpredictable. She was energetic, smart, she made him feel like she already knew him, for a long time, a life time.  

 Copyright 2011 by SheilaTGTG55

You can read part one and two here: 

 http://open.salon.com/blog/sheilatgtg55/2011/01/26/love_and_the_grossglockner_-_part_one

 http://open.salon.com/blog/sheilatgtg55/2011/01/31/love_and_the_grossglockner_-_part_two