Last night I went to bed very early and well prepared with an eye mask and earplugs, but still I wake up in the middle of the night when the panda returns. It’s not just him, but also the fact that the beds are too small for a tall guy like me and that I’m not used to sleeping with more people in a room that makes sleeping here challenging. I’m glad I slept at least a couple of hours and that I can lay on the couch in the living room. I take my blanket and pillow and lay on the couch and put some nice music on. Outside there is lightning and thunder and rain. I actually enjoy this moment, it’s relaxing and peaceful. Chances are that I’ll be a bit tired during the day, but then there will be coffee again and I’ll be fine. Even though it’s a really nice place to stay here, I think that the short nights will determine my decision to start traveling again by the end of the week. There are still a few places here in the South that I like to visit and then I’ll slowly travel up North again.

The hostel is on a hill at the outside of town and has a really beautiful view of downtown and the lake. Especially tonight with the lightning it’s lovely to just look out of the window for a while. Just when I walk to the freezer for a midnight snack, the lighting hits again and the whole town goes dark for a couple of seconds. Then the lights turn on again and I can make a bowl of ice cream and cookies. I like nights like this. I call my grandma in America for a while and we have some good conversations about traveling and life as we usually do. Then I try to sleep again on the couch in which I to my surprise succeed and I wake up a couple of hours later when the first people go to the kitchen for breakfast. I also have breakfast myself and then get my sporting clothes from the car, because I want to check out the gym in town.

The gym is at an industrial area and is located in an old garage, pretty cool. It feels great to work out again, though I can feel that I’ve gone a few weeks without. There are not many people around, just somewhere between five or ten are also training. I work out for about an hour and then run back to the hostel. There some people are heading to a second-hand store and I join them. It’s nice to go to those stores, because you never know what you’ll find. I get myself a nice small backpack for day trip hikes, something I forgot to bring on this journey. We go to a few more stores and then return to the hostel. Time to work for a bit again.

Around dinner time we get the idea with some people to go to town and have pizza somewhere (read: I introduce them to Monday Pizzaday). We go to a nice bar called London where they have good pizza’s en nice beers. Later some more people from the hostel join us for drinks and we have a good time. I don’t make it too late though, because I have to watch my budget a bit and I’m also a bit tired from the short nights of sleep. All with all, it’s a nice day again and I enjoy staying here for a while.