caught between two stools

Please compare the following two pictures:

Sweden, Skane, somewhere near Lomma

Somewhere in Austria

I met a girl from Nepal the other day at a party and the first thing that came to my mind was: "How does she deal with all these missing mountains???"

I was really curious how the south-Swedish landscape would affect my mental constitution. Until then I had always turned into a depressed and dull something (I wouldn't even have called myself human anymore) when I was in a place where I could see the horizon wherever I turned. So naturally, I'm quite surprised of myself being in a content state of mind since I'm here, neither down nor disgusted by the even land. On the contrary I can't stop boring my environment (and my readers) to death with my exalted statements about how much the vastness and openness here just wow me...

But then...

I had another look at the pictures my dad sent me the other day. I knew it would be dangerous, so I only threw a hasty glance the first time.

But I just took another close look at those pictures a few minutes ago.
Hew...

And now I can smell the comforting coolness of the woodlands (firs, pines, larches...), I see the pale blue outlines of hills and mountains against the horizon, the forests painted in gold, red, brown, yellow and green... I hear the creaking of wooden floors in old cottages and the ringing of cowbells, I feel the stones near the river where I like to sit and the grass of our municipal park, I taste the autumn breeze in grilled corncobs, Sturm (a beverage in between must and wine) and chestnuts, sitting in a wineyard... I hear my friends chatting and laughing in the garden or cooking with me in the kitchen (ok, I just lied - I would never let anyone get between me and the pans and pots). I see myself swimming in the Ossiachersee in the middle of the night, all alone and perfectly content, or standing on top of the Loser-mountain, or driving through snowcovered, dreamy Vienna sitting in the tram (with this horrible man's voice coming out of the loudspeakers - I love him!). I remember the many times I forgot everything around me during long walks with my camera. I even think of the stuffy lecture room I spent most of my last semester in with an affectionate smile on my face.

I know it's all stereotype...
I know, I know...

I'm not homesick at all.

I only know I'm gonna cry like a baby and kiss the earth when my feet touch Austrian ground again. And I love Sweden for giving me this insight!