I'm not a very housewifish person, at least not in my current stage of my life. On the one hand, I've always admired people with the ability to turn their homes into a sanctuary of cosiness, tranquility and safety - on the other hand, I seriously dread an existence that is limited by the walls of one's house, both spatially and mentally. I greatly respect people devoted to their homes, gardens and kitchens - people who renovate old farm houses and transform them to modern artist workshops or family houses without destroying the original charms of the old building or who can grow roses or kitchen herbs on poor soil. I've tried, but I seem to lack some sense of interior design and gardening and, if I'm lucky, the results from my kitchen experiments are somewhere around mediocre. Surely I could learn if I really wanted to - problem is, I'm simply not that interested and don't have the patience for these things.

So what is home for me? Basically, it's a space where you can put all your things, where you shower, where you sleep (at least most of the time...) and where you make yourself fit for civilised society (in our family, we use the old-fashioned word "kultivieren" that pretty much captures that sense). Based on this notion you can pretty much picture the way my home looks like...

The rest of my days I spend outside - at school, in the street, on a train, at university... If I don't leave my house during a day, I'm seriously ill. Most of the time, I just enjoy being among other people without actually having to bear their company. Everything's better outside - everything looks nicer, sounds better, even tastes better. At a restaurant you could serve me a meal I wouldn't even touch at home and I'll love it. Maybe because I haven't watched the process of its preparation (which I often find a bit disappointing compared to the result), maybe they can sell it in a more attractive way, maybe because it has got this sense of being something special. Eating at home (alone) is simply very, very dull and I often lose my appetite the moment I see the familiar tapestry of the dining room.

So, where do I go when I need a break? Coffee houses are certainly something like an alternative living room. I often, sometimes daily go there to read books, magazines or academic papers, to study for exams, to correct homework, to plan my lessons, to meet friends or family members or just to relax, contemplate or daydream. The best coffee houses feature dreadful coffee, raddled furniture, curtains that are dirty from dust and ages of heavy smoking and toilets that appear to be artifacts from the turn of the last century - however, they also have waiters that won't bother you every half hour, an interesting clientèle and from time to time even lovely piano evenings.

For everyone of you who hasn't got the opportunity to sit in a coffee house right now (such as me, for example, as I'm just somewhere between my showering and sleeping time;-)), I'd like to recommend this amazing blog to you (you can also find it here on Facebook) - it features audio files with sounds recorded at various Viennese coffeehouses and nicely captures a part of the genuine coffee house feeling... As its Facebook description already suggests, it's for people who prefer to study in coffee houses but lack the time, money or motivation to do so, for exiled Viennese people who want to experience a taste of home and for people with social phobia who battle against the boredom of their solitary living rooms. However, naturally it's just a small part of the whole experience... Nevertheless, maybe I can wet your mouth a bit and make you consider the advantages of a few hours spent at a nice coffeehouse. Just give it a try, leave your house, go out and find out what happens... It really surprises me day by day.

(Café Ritter, taken from http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/c1/5b/29/caption.jpg )