8:00pm- The woman with the fur coat is also harbouring a cold (surmised based on her constant throat clearing, not the fact that she’s wearing a fur coat), and chatting incessantly in Portugese to someone on the phone, which she spends most of the day doing, when she’s not outside smoking (this is what I believe the purpose of the fur coat is). Random people keep entering the hostel to chat to the bartender, including two people with motorcycle helmets. Ok, the title of bartender is generous. Really, she’s someone who works in the hostel, along with about three others, who spend most of their time outside smoking and chatting. To be fair, I don’t think they are all on the clock, they just seem to be hanging out, but definitely work here at other hours. And the bar is not really a bar, just called one in name, as it is a counter with drinks that people buy about the equivalent of 1 drink (for the whole hostel) per night, but do ask for the corkscrew and wine glasses quite frequently, as you’re allowed to bring your own alcohol in, including 1 euro bottles of wine.

In the corner there’s the guy with noise cancelling headphones (seriously those must take up so much room in his bag) inexplicably using the desktop computer. Maybe I am 22 again and we’re back in 2009? Really though I know he’s hoping the chatty American girl will show up, as she did last night.

The motorcyclists leave after using the washroom. They appear to be friends with the bartender. The German couple who replaced the cuddling couple on the couch are playing a card game entitled “bitch, please”. Comma added by me.

10:00pm. Feels like the hostel is just getting going. Time for bed. Maybe I can fall asleep before the snoring starts. The snoring has been seriously ridiculous. The first night it started before I managed to fall asleep, and it seemed to last most of the night. It was coming from the lady with the fur coat. It was so bad, a girl in another bunk got up to wake her up and tell her she was snoring. The girl was in the top bunk on a very tall bunk bed, so you know it was serious. For those wondering, yes, I had earplugs. I even researched earplugs before I left, buying a pair of reusable ones that got good reviews on Amazon. They dulled the snoring. And no, it is not normal to wake someone up you don’t know. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

The second night I had a plan. I would fall asleep before the snoring started, making it easier to fall back asleep after it started. This I managed, despite the yell-talking exhibited by the mother and daughter from opposite bunks, waking up to the snoring at 12:48am. Looking over at the bed of the woman in the fur coat, it appeared she wasn’t there! Turns out the new culprit, who seemed to be snoring even louder than her, was in the bed across from her, a new arrival. At 2am, the woman in the fur coat went to her bed, but obviously had trouble sleeping due to the noise across from her. Which was a form of justice in my mind. Meanwhile, the mother from the yell-talking mother/daughter combo was in the unfortunate position of being above the snorer. If only she knew, I bet she would have tried to go to sleep earlier. Again, a form of justice. Being in the bunk above the snoring culprit, however, did provide a certain advantage. She took advantage of this by deliberately being loud, trying to wake him up with the hopes he would change positions. The attempts worked, as she employed techniques such as coughing extraordinarily loudly, crinkling her plastic water bottle, and rolling over extremely loudly. Unfortunately, the reprieves were fleeting, as he went back to snoring, regardless of whether he switched positions. It was a lost cause, but did provide some entertainment as I watched the dance between the two of them.

11:00pm- there might only be 6 of us tonight. Two are not snorers. One is, but didn’t seem as bad last night. Maybe she does have a cold that she’s getting over, or maybe the other guy was just so loud I didn’t notice her? Boding potentially well.

5:00am- They are both snoring, but I slept til now! Time for headphones and earplugs. The alarm and packing and departure by the quiet Finnish girl does not disturb the snorers. I feel like that might be the worst part of the snoring. You know the snorers are sleeping soundly!

7:00am- still awake, but half asleep. Snoring continues unabated.

10:00am- I slept! Time to pack and get out of this place in the hopes of quieter pastures/dorm rooms.