The Grand Adventure Thus Far

Hello!

It has been almost two months since I have left Seattle and I have finally figured out some form of descent internet access. I now FINALLY have wifi access at school, however the internet in my apartment is still not working. I apologize for not having written to everyone in such a long time, but I have been adding things constantly to this email so that I would not forget them in hopes of eventually having a more permanent form of internet access and being able to send it to. Now that I finally have wifi access here is my saga of the last two months.

For those of you who are in the middle of homework assignments or preparing for midterms or other such things here is a synopsis of my life as of recent:
· Had a crazy adventure getting to Graz, because my travel partner Josie and I almost missed our flight, due to a series of misadventures.
· Graz is a small town and I have realized that I have always lived in a very big, metropolitan city and might be much more of a big-town girl than a small-town girl.
· Took a day trip to Slovenia, but was more exhausted then I thought thus do not remember much of it.
· Enjoyed my intensive German summer class.
· Had a mini-break between the German class and real school, during which Josie and I went to Prague, Czech Republic.
· Real school started and I have realized that the Austrian educational system sometimes tends to frustrate me more than not. However, I really really enjoy my classes so far.
· I got sick, but nothing too serious, just annoying. (i.e. sinus infection, sore throat, cough, runny nose and the works.)
· Maybe the entire Austrian system infuriates me at times…I had been cut off from the internet in my apartment for an indefinite amount of time, because my computer had a virus that I had no idea about…now Josie’s and my internet are cancelled again…
· I am taking two extracurricular PE classes (kind of like SU’s classes at Connolly), which are rock-climbing and karate, and loved them.
· Visited a chocolate factory and castle and had an amazing time at both.
· Went on a school organized day-trip to Venice, Italy. It was wonderful to be back in Venice!
· Went to Bled, Slovenia this last weekend, and it was incredible.
· Went to Werfen, Austria saw a super-cool castle and then had to spend the night in Salzburg.
Now for those of you that are willing to read a novel here is the full story. Consider yourself forewarned now in terms of how long this might end up being:

As you might remember from my last email, I had spent a few quite fun days in London, before it was time to catch my flight over to Graz. We were in a hostel in Victoria and we needed to get to Stanstead Airport, which was quite a ways away from where we were. We landed in Heathrow Airport but were flying out of Stanstead Airport, which is a little strange to begin with but it was something we were prepared for. We thought our flight left at 11:40am and therefore figured if we left our hostel at 7:00am that would give us plenty of time to get to the airport and check-in. Based on our calculations and what the receptionist at the front desk of the hostel told us it should not take more than an hour and a half to get to the airport, but just to be on the safe side we planned on two hours. Therefore, that would have still given us close to three hours to check in at the airport; which we figured we might need, because we were flying with Ryanair. Based on the paper work that we had received from them, it appeared that this particular airline was quite picky – and were we right!

Bare with me as I walk you through the crazy airport adventure that Josie and I unwillingly embarked upon. We woke up on time, packed the rest of our stuff together and headed to the main train station. We thought that we could take a direct train to the airport, but after some asking around were told that we needed to take the ‘tube’ (underground which is different from the normal train) to another station and then catch the train from there. We are pretty confident in our map/tube deciphering skills and figure out we need to get on the orange line. We go to the correct platform and wait for the next tube. As soon as the tube pulls in we get on, but what we forgot is that the orange and the yellow line share a platform. A couple of stops into our ride we realize that we are on the yellow and not the orange. Thankfully, this is not really a big deal since they share most stops anyway. Regardless, we still hop off and wait a couple of minutes and get on the orange.

Everything was going smoothly and we got off at the station that we thought we needed to get off on, only to realize that we should have gone one more stop. What we had not realized is that there was a weird half-station that the tube stopped at. The line that we were on seemed to be primarily used by business men and women that were trying to get to the business district and therefore this special stop existed for them during rush-hour and it was not clearly marked on the map that we had looked at earlier that morning.

Even with these minor little glitches we were still right on track with time, and we just waited another couple of minutes and hopped back on the tube. It is really great that they come about every 3-5 minutes. This time we made it to the right stop and we got off at the main train station where we hopped on another train that would take us to the airport. We found a comfortable spot on the train and started munching on the snacks we had bought the previous night for the train ride. It took about forty minutes which was not too bad and we were at the airport by 9:20am.

To any reasonable person this seems like it would be plenty of time to check in at an airport, right? But we had decided to fly with Ryanair (thinking it would be cheaper…it seemed cheaper anyway) and within that lied our first mistake.

After some analyzing of monitors dispersed around the airport we found the spot that we need to be at. With some more detective work we figured out that we needed to check in at the machines, before we could go up to a counter to check our luggage in, or else we were going to get yelled at. Thus step number starts with us going to the strange vending machine looking contraptions that allow you to weigh your luggage if you feed it enough money. We had read on our tickets that our checked luggage could not weigh more than 15kg (which is just under 30 lbs) and our hang luggage could not be more than 10kg. Based on all of the other hidden costs with this airline we had assumed that it would cost an exorbitant amount to check a second piece of luggage and thus we had consolidated everything.

Well, we quickly figured out we were over the weight limit but thought is shouldn’t be too bad, thus proceeded to the check in machine. The machine itself was slightly confusing, but playing with it we determined that it would cost us $40 to check in an additional back, but $30 per kg over the weight limit. Therefore in our heads the only logical thing to do was to go back to the luggage weighing machines and redistribute our entire luggage in more bags so that we would not have excessive weight and would have to pay less.

After this entire ordeal we went back to the check-in machines to realize that the entire system was down and the machine had temporarily eaten our debit cards. Well, after some frustration we got our debit cards back and proceeded to the check-in desk, where there seemed to finally be real people to talk to. Except the line was huge and when looking at the reader board above their heads we realized that our flight left at 11:15 – as in the flight started at 11:20 (not 11:40) and check in ended at 10:50. It was 10:45 when we saw all of this unfold. Let’s just say panic started slowly setting in, but we were still optimistic.

The line also naturally moved at snail pace and it took forever until we were at the front. It’s 11:03am and we are finally talking to a real person, but unfortunately we do not receive any happy news. She informed us that the weight limit for our checked-in luggage is 15 kg regardless of how many bags we have; it is a weight limit for all combined luggage checked in by one person. Also, since we had two bags each, she would now not only have to charge us the excess weight charge, but also the extra bag charges. She kept trying to convince us to consolidate our luggage AGAIN, but the minutes kept ticking away and we knew that there was not another flight to Graz until the next day, when we already need to be in school. Thus we handed over our plastic cards and told her to charge whatever needed to be charged, but just to get us on that flight, which was departing in under 10 minutes.

Oh, but if only it had been so easy. Their system was also down and she could not charge our cards anyway since she had no type of cash register – she only check people in for flight did not take payments. With a fake grin she send us off to another huge line to wait to go pay our excessive and ridiculously high fees, but promised to send someone to move us to the front of the line.

Tick, tock went the clock with every minuscule step that we took towards the front of the line. Finally at 11:17am someone moved us to the front of the line and rushed us through the process of paying. I also have to say that the excess baggage fees we paid were almost worth twice as much as the original price of our ticket. Ridiculous, just ridiculous!

So, we have two minutes before our plane leaves and we are close to having given up all hope that will make it on this flight. The man that had taken our luggage after we paid told us to high tail it and ask the man working in the security line to point us to our gate and then run. Great advice, except not really.

We get into the security line which of course is also very long, but thankfully seems to be moving at a reasonable speed. Josie and I are panicked and at this point we are creating a mental list of all of our possible options now that we have essentially missed our flight, it is 11:19am.

Miraculously the line starts to move really fast and it is almost our turn, there is just one young man in front of us. However, of course this has to probably be the most incapable man that the planet has ever seen. I have never seen a more ridiculous, and hilarious spectacle take place in an airport security line then what happened next.

This man is detaching himself from this laptop bag and oversized jacket and placing them on a tray when his iPod flies out of his pocket and his passport goes zooming past Josie’s leg. We grab his passport and hand it to him, trying to help him out but also becoming more and more impatient with every second. We were seriously two track starts waiting on the starting blocks in anticipating to hear the starting shot and sprint our hearts out to this supposed plain that was waiting for us.

The man walks through the metal detector and beeps; not that we all were not expecting it. The security officers start moving the wand thing over him and it beeps profusely over his chest. With the look of a crazy science professor he realizes that he has a wallet thing around his neck and under his sweater. He takes off his sweater and places the wallet on a new tray. At this point I cannot keep still and am bouncing up and down right behind him, while Josie has gone into a laughing fit, but it gets even better.

The man walks through the metal detector once again, and again it beeps. This time even the security officers seem to be a little annoyed. They are about to start moving the wand thing over him again, when as if he had just awoken from a dream, he realizes he has ankle weights on. Who in their right mind walks through an airport with ankle weights??? Who wears ankle weights when they are not working out? I do not know, and I did not understand at all, but I will tell you that I just about lost it at that point. Josie and I were at the breaking point between hysterical laughter and tears, when we commented to each other that we are highly impressed by our lack of screaming profanities at anything and everything.

The security officers made the man take off his belt, shoes, empty out his pockets and everything else that they could think of before giving him one more shot at going through the metal detector. Finally, we went through and asked the men where to go next, only to be met by confused looks. We stopped dead in our tracks found a reader board and realized that we needed to get to the other side of the airport. Of course, what else would happen!

We strapped our backpacks to us and started sprinting like mad-women. Almost ran into people and pretty much jumped over small children. I am sure the entire scene looked like something out of a high speed chase in a movie. Here are two girls running full speed through an airport and screaming to get out of their way at the top of their lungs, while un-doubtfully scaring quite a few people. I vividly remember parents grabbing their children and shoving them out of our way.

Well, we make it to the other end of the airport. We are out-of-breath; sweaty, bright red and probably just crazy looking in general, except when we finally look up there is nothing there. There are no people waiting in line and we see the airplane taxing out of its little spot. We have met defeat, or have we? We look around and see that there is a lady working at another counter, we hobble over to her and ask her about our flight, hoping that maybe we can run out onto the runway and still get onto our plane. Crazy thoughts, I know, but pretty much our last resort at this point.

She sizes us up and probably pities us and the current disgusting state we are in as she tells us that our departure gate is 47 not 49 and the plane has not left yet. We see that the last people are getting on in that line and run over and literally drop to the floor while we wait in line. We must have looked absolutely horrendous when we got on that plane. Even the airline crew did seem to quite know how to approach us, but nothing mattered at this point, because we had made it onto the freaking plane.

I have to admit that I do not remember much of the flight, except for the fact that Josie and I now started worrying about how we were going to find our friend that was supposed to meet us at the airport in Graz. Isabel, is a girl that was studying at SU last year as an exchange student from Graz and she had been so kind to offer to pick us up from the airport and pick up the keys to our apartments. However, since we had last contacted her via email in from London we had no idea how to establish contact with her if she was not at the airport.

Luckily though, the Graz airport is not very big and she was right there when we landed. So, we were officially in Graz a city in which we are to reside for the next five/six months. I expected to feel something upon landing; I don’t know if it was the exhaustion of catching our plane or something else, but I did not feel anything extraordinary upon landing.

When I landed in Nicaragua, I welcomed the heat and humidity. When I landed in China I could not contain my excitement. When I landed in Italy, there was huge relief at the sight of Ally. But here there was no extraordinary emotion, and I have since attributed this to pure exhaustion.

Anyway, that first day we took a big Ikea trip and bought all of our bedding, and some other necessities, before deciding on a meeting spot for the next morning. Isabel carefully showed both of us how to get to the meeting spot and which bus to take the next morning in order to find our school. Oh yeah school started the next morning. Well, not real school, but an intensive German class that we both had signed up for, and were already a day late for.

Miraculously we found each other in the morning and even managed to find the office that we were supposed to go to without too much difficulty. I really enjoyed the German class and it was definitely fun to meet students from all over the world. It was also interesting to see so many people from neighboring countries coming here to study.

Super exciting news, that stem from a project in that class is that Josie and I have decided to attempt to do a research project. One of the on-going assignments throughout the class was to work on idioms. We essentially had a book full of German idioms, categorized by topic that we went through each day. For example, one day it was idioms that used ‘ears’ as a way of description. After the first week of this Josie and I both became painfully aware of anytime we or someone else would use idioms in everyday speech, whether it be in German or in English. Next time you have a conversation you should really pay attention to how many idioms you use, it is pretty incredible.

Thus, based on this discovery we have decided to look deeper into idioms and do a cross analysis between German and English idioms and their etymological roots. Right now we are still in our research and collection phase (we both have little books we write down idiom that we hear in every day conversation, it is quite entertaining), but it has been a great process. Our German professor as well as our Austrian history professor are both willing to support us in this research as well, which will be very helpful once we start compiling all of our findings. This has been quite a fun project that we have stumbled upon.

The first month in general went pretty well. There were the obvious settling in issues. Figuring out how to pay rent, setting up bank accounts, transportations issues and the like, but that is all part of the past now. I feel like I know my way around pretty well, and I have everything set up to my liking. Though, one thing that keeps me frustrated is my lack of stable internet access. The housing system here is very different than at home. The school works with a contractor so to speak who own the student housing, however the school does not have anything to do with housing, they are two independent functions. Thus the internet in my apartment is controlled through a normal landlord and I can not really complain to the school about my frustration with the system.

So, my computer somehow contracted a virus and the housing people somehow know this and thus shut off my internet. The first time your computer has a virus it only takes one week before they allow you to have internet again (as long as you have fixed your computer). This was an inconvenience, but nothing too big of a deal, since I had already waited almost a month to even have them set-up the internet in the first place. However, about a week later my computer appeared to have a virus again (we have determined that it might not have been my computer this time, but someone else’s in my apartment, because all of us are shut off from it). However, for every following ‘offense’ your internet is shut off an exponentially longer time (1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks…). Therefore, I have unfortunately, resigned myself to not expecting to really ever have real internet access in my apartment.

Then I figured maybe I can just use the wireless internet on campus, but I did not have access to that either for some reason. Yesterday, Josie and I finally figured out how to get wifi access. We had to find the IT department and they did something funky to our computers and now we have access, which is fantastic, because this country does not seem to believe in the need for internet cafes and the computers in the library are always overcrowded. Anyway, I am done ranting about the lack of internet. I have just realized that I am much more dependent on internet then I thought I was. It is just one of those things that I take for granted in the educational system. When I don’t understand something in a reading assignment, or am intrigued by something I automatically look it up on the internet, but that is not possible when you don’t have internet access in your apartment.

Speaking of apartment, I should probably tell you about my living arrangement. I live in what is called a “Wohngemeinschaft” (or WG as it is referred to). I share my bedroom with another girl. Funny coincidence though; the girl is from Sarajevo, Bosnia so we talk in Bosnian which is kind of fun. She is super sweet and has been an awesome roommate. She is a med-student and has lived here for the last six years. Though she might have to leave mid-November to do her practicum in Germany, and I am not really sure if I would get a new roommate or what would happen, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Aside from her I have four other roommates. My apartment has four bed rooms two bathrooms, a kitchen and a balcony. There is a couple that lives in one of the rooms and they are both very nice and one of them might take Josie and I rock-climbing at this cool gym, but more on that later. Then I have two more housemates that live in their own bed rooms. I rarely ever see the guy; I don’t think he’s spent a full two days at the apartment since school started, but according to my housemates he goes back to his parents house on most days. Then there is another girl who lives there as well and I can’t necessarily say that she’s my favorite person on the planet, but she’s not awful either. She just perfectly embodies the not-so-positive stereotype that I have formed about Austrians.

Based of off my experience with my housemates, I can’t exactly say that I have the highest opinion of Austrians. That is not to say that all Austrians rub me the wrong way so to speak, but it is just not quite what I expected. Another American girl used to live in my apartment last year and it is incredible how much they talk about her, and I don’t mean reminisce about good times they had with her. They all thought that she was weird and they don’t understand the concept of grill cheese sandwiches or the fact that peanut butter and apples taste good together. They don’t understand why she asked her mother to ship her baking soda (which can not be found anywhere in this country for some reason!!!) so that she could make chocolate chip cookies. The list goes on and on, but never did they seem to want to try what she had made or learn more about her culture so to speak. They just decided that she is weird and that everything that is Austrian is better.

I really don’t understand how a people that live on a continent such as Europe, which has a multitude of nationalities can be so incredibly close minded and ignorant. Josie and I were having a conversation with the girl that I’m not a fan of (her name is Bettina by the way) and talking about holidays and came on the topic of Christmas and instead of ‘believing’ in Santa Clause they believe in the ‘Christ Child’ and it’s the ‘Christ Child’ that brings the presents. This is the way and nothing else can be acceptable or right, Josie and I were both incredibly surprised by how set in their ways they are.

Overall, living here has been really interesting in terms of my sentiments towards American and Austrian culture; as strange as this might sound I have really come to understand why ‘America’ is such a world power and why we can afford to be arrogant about our position in the world. And I really don’t think that it is my nationalistic pride or anything of that sort that is causing me to have this opinion, since I have lived in various parts of the world and can appreciate all. What I can’t appreciate though is blatant ignorance, regardless from whom it comes from. I know that there are also plenty of Americans who are blatantly ignorant, but as a nation I feel that we make much more of an effort to have an integrated society. After all, the US is founded on the basis of immigration. Austria does not even have a formal immigration policy; they simply ignore the fact that there other people living in their country aside from ‘pure-blooded’ Austrians. One of my professors was even saying that Austria does not consider itself an immigrant country and yet when you look at the social composition of the country it is inevitable to notice that a great percentage of the population are Turkish immigrants. Oh but wait Austria does not have immigrants, they are just people living here for an indefinite amount of time. Most true Austrians that I have talked to have very negative and deeply harbored feeling about the Turkish population, and just can not accept the fact that yes there are immigrants in their country and they need to get their act together and formally figure out something to do with them instead of creating this awkward limbo space.

While I am on the topic of cultural differences, I have to say that I am not so sure how I feel about the educational system here. I think I have also become quite aware as to why a degree from an American university is pretty much accepted across the globe unlike degrees from other countries. I am not saying that their education is bad, after all the university that I am at is quite renowned across Europe as being a really good school; but I think that I like my Seattle University education quite a bit more.

Furthermore, I think that SU (and I assume most other US schools) focuses on educating the individual not only in their chosen field but also as a productive individual of society. What I mean by that is that we become independent and are asked to form our own opinions and look at everything we learn with a critical eye. The education here is spoon-fed to you and there is a lack of independent thinking if you ask me. I was talking to a girl in my class and she found the idea of having to write an analytical/reflective paper after a reading assignment absolutely unthinkable. The idea of actual homework assignments and preparing for class is weird to most students. If they have to read 20 pages for a class that only happens once a week they feel overworked. Additionally, the idea of extracurricular activities is a completely foreign concept here. One of my housemates goes to school and works very part time and that is considered a huge accomplishment. Most American students do at least those two activities and then some.

Even though I might not agree with the educational system here, I really appreciate the vast variety of classes that are offered. I am taking some really awesome classes here and enjoying them quite a bit. I am currently in seven classes (which is apparently much more than a normal load according to Austrian standards, but when class is only once a week and the homework assignments are minimal, it really does not seem like much at all) with the potential of ‘dropping’ one. The add/drop class thing also works a little strangely. You are not really ‘enrolled’ in a class until you take the final exam/turn in the final paper, thus ‘dropping/adding’ seriously happens throughout the entire semester. Really strange I know…

Now, for my classes: Here is a little bit of a synopsis. I’ll just walk you through my week.
Monday I have my Austrian History class and a Turkish class. My Austrian History class meets twice a week and is specifically geared towards American students. The class is in German, but the professor is very understanding and thus makes every effort to speak clearly and annunciate. Though, he has told us that it is very likely that he will slip into his Austrian dialect by the end of the semester. We’ll see how that goes. I like the professor and class will be interesting I think. We have been moving kind of slow these last couple of weeks, because we need to learn all of the German history terms first, but I think that it will be really interesting once we get into the heart of the topic. This class is also associated with an excursion to Wien which I am really excited about. My Turkish class is at a lower level than I am, but the beginning level was the only one offered thus I took it. It has been mostly review so far, but I really appreciate it, because it is has helped me have all of the material from this summer stick. I am also thinking that one of these days I will be really adventurous and go and try to talk to one of the shop keepers here in Graz. There are quite a few grocery stores and döner places that are owned by Turks and maybe I’ll go test out my skills with them.

Let’s see, what happens on Tuesdays. I have a class called “Balkans in Transition” and it is quite an exciting class. It focuses primarily on the last two decades and the history in the Balkan region, though we have started quite a bit further back in history in order to understand the underlying issues of that region. I obviously have a strong emotional connection with that region, and am therefore very intrigued with this class. The class is in English and taught by a visiting professor from Canada, who has pretty much spent his entire life dedicated to the region. Josie and I are both in this class together and I am thinking of taking her to Sarajevo sometime around winter break and showing her around and having her feel this melting pot of culture and hotbed of conflict. Basically, I really like this class.

The other class that I have on Tuesdays is has a really long title and could be roughly translated as “Economic and developmental human rights law: Reform of the international economic organization, the role of the EU, and economic and social people’s rights.” The description of the class sounded interesting and the first couple of meetings of the class very interesting, however now I am not so sure about it and am contemplating dropping it. The class is in German, but the book that we are reading is in English. So, we read the material in English, but the lectures are in German. What I have found at this particular university is that professors really like to use original sources and do not believe in translated texts. Classes are offered in various languages (almost any language you can imagine) so that documents/books can be used in their original language. Anyway, back to my class. I was attracted to this class because I thought that it would deal with economics and law (because it is offered through the law school), but unfortunately economics is not really a concern of this class (even though it is mentioned in the title).

I was hoping that I might potentially be able to transfer credit from this class and use it as one of my business classes, but not so much…When the professor mentioned a very simple econ concept during last class the entire class freaked out. However, I am also highly intimidated by them because they are third and fourth year law students and can pretty much cite any law word for word and tell you exactly in which article and in which paragraph of the article it is located. However, this is also all focused on Austrian law and I don’t plan on ever being a lawyer here, thus I have decided that this class might be a little pointless for me. The subjects discussed in the class is really interesting, it is about globalization and what role humans rights should play within it; however, one of the reasons I decided to take the class was to be exposed to economic terms in German, yet what I have discovered is that they just use English words and pronounce them with a German accent. This is perfectly exemplified by the fact that the book used to teach the class is in English, even though the class is supposedly in German.

On Wednesdays I do not have class. On Thursdays I have an International Relations class, which is really awesome. It specifically focuses on the European Committee for Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment (CPT) and it’s policies. The class is in English and in German, which sounds a little strange, but goes along with the whole idea of using sources in their primary language. The working language of the CPT is English and French, and since I don’t know French I read all of my material in English. I really like this class and am excited about our seminar project. Each one of us had to chose a country that we will focus on throughout the semester and will eventually write a final report about. I have chosen Cyprus, because I visited there this summer and am really curious about issues of human rights violations due to the conflict that exists on the island. I also have the Austrian History class again on Thursdays.

On Fridays, I have a class called “Secrecy and Espionage, from Machiovelli to Obama.” The class is as fantastic as the title sounds. It is basically all about the history of espionage. The class is held in English, but the recommended book for class is in German which once again portrays the importance of using books in their primary language. I am really excited about this class and can’t wait to see what all we will cover before the end of the semester.

The last class that I have is also on Fridays, but it is every other Friday. It is focused on feminist art and really interesting. It is in German, but the professor is super awesome and very willing to help me out if I don’t understand something. She even offered to try to find the readings in English for me, but I have been doing okay so far. The class in general is super cool. It’s a group of about 10 girls and they are all super friendly. Let’s just say they totally break the Austrian stereotype that I have formed in my head – they are a lot less ignorant and almost Seattle liberal.

Basically, I really like all of my classes even though I was initially a little disappointed that I wasn’t going to be able to take any business classes. All of the true business classes that they offer are classes I have already taken (that’s what happens when you decide to study abroad your senior year :-) But, it turned out all right, because I enjoy all the other classes!

Aside from that I am also taking some PEish classes, they are pretty much equivalent to classes offered at Connolly; except for the fact that attendance is recorded (which is strange to me, but Josie and I have still not been able to figure out if we are getting some kind of credit for these classes; either way they are pretty much like our Connolly classes). I am taking a rock-climbing class and a karate class. Both of which I love. Both the teachers are really awesome, and it has also been a great way to get exposed to a less formal/less academic aspect of the German language.

So, now about Graz. It’s a cute little town; quaint might be a good way to describe it. It is small though, and I have definitely come to realize that I have always lived in a big city. It is a college town, about a fourth of the population are students. However, it is not very lively. It has some cool cultural events, but the entire town pretty much shuts down around nine or ten. It’s also a little strange, because all of the stores close at 5 or 6pm, and absolutely nothing is open on Sundays.

Due to this, and the fact that school won’t be super demanding until the later part of the semester, Josie and I have been traveling around quite a bit. (There is a reasonable amount of reading, but that can easily be done on the train. However, all of the papers and finals are at the end of the semester and our professors don’t want us to start our papers until later, so that we can use everything that we have learned in the class in the papers. When was the last time you were told not to start a paper as early as possible?...Weird right?...)

Our very first weekend here we went to Maribor, Slovenia. It was a fun first excursion. It was also a smaller town, which is good, because we were more exhausted/jet-lagged than we thought and thus didn’t have an excessive amount of energy. Though, we enjoyed our day outside.

We explored Graz and the surrounding areas the following couple of weekends. The town is known for the “Schlossberg” (literally meaning castle mountain, though I have to admit that the mountains in this town are more like hills than mountains). The Schlossberg has this really awesome clock tower called the “Glockenspiel” which you can see pretty much from anywhere in Graz. Aside from being a pretty awesome castle, there is also this incredible well once you get to the castle top. Josie and I even went up there a couple of times in the evening to see it. The well looks like something straight out of a fairy tale. The inside of it is overgrown with moss and there is no way you can see the bottom (they have lights installed to that you can look down). Absolutely incredible is pretty much the only way to describe it.

We have also seen another castle called “Schloss Eggenberg,” but this castle is a little too renovated for my likening. It is converted into a museum and looks too modern for me, but it has an amazing court yard area. This reminds me, Graz has this really neat yearly event called, “Long Nights of the Museums,” where on one night of the year all of the museums are open until late into the night and there are specific busses designated to take you to all of the museums here. This is how Josie and I ended up seeing most of the museums here.

There is also a third castle that we have visited here in Graz, and that one has been my favorite by far. It is less renovated and has an amazing access point where you can overlook the entire city. When you look over one side, you see the more modern part of Graz, the industrialized part if you will. Then when you look over the other side you see what could easily be described as a scene out of the little kid movie “Heidi;” rolling hills with wood houses and live stock grazing around. It is a very calming and quite picturesque scene.

Aside from that we have also seen another castle, but it was on the outskirts of Graz, and the main point of that trip was actually to go to the Chocolate Factory. A couple of weekends ago a friend of ours that is studying in France (she is also an SU student) came to visit us in Graz and we met up with an Austrian girl (Tony) that had studied at SU two years ago. The only reason I mention this is because Tony has a car, which was vital to our mission of going to the chocolate factory.

So, for all of you that like chocolate, let me tell you that this excursion to the chocolate factory was one of the absolutely best things that could have ever happened to my taste buds. I think we sampled over 500 different kinds of chocolate, we made our own hot chocolate, we tasted pure coco, mixed our own chocolate. It was heaven for any true chocolate lover! Let me just say that we could barely walk out of the factory once we were done with the tour.

After the conclusion of our German class (which went very well by the way, I just got my grades back two weeks ago) we had about a week long break before real classes started, so Josie and I decided to go to Prague, Czech Republic. I think everyone who visits Europe, has to go see Prague. This city is absolutely incredible! The architecture in the city was just amazing; I could not help myself but pretty much stop at every corner and take pictures. It was amazing! There is a non-profit company in Europe that gives free historical tours of major cities in Europe and Prague was one of them, thus we used this opportunity. Visiting Prague, was also really cool, because of the historical connections between Austria and the Czech Republic. While there we also saw the largest castle in Europe. It was huge and it took us pretty much an entire day to see it all.

Then school started, and I have already mentioned how classes have been going. But that has not been the end of our traveling. About three weeks ago, we went on a day trip to Venice. It was a school organized trip, where any student and alumni from the university could come along. Quite a few of the international students that I had met were going and Josie and I both really like Venice, so that is how we decided to go. It was such a gorgeous day. Venice does not cease to amaze me. A city build on water full of secrets and surprises. Every little nook, every little side street solely accessible by boat, just another old tale waiting to be discovered. Just wonderful :-) It was also really nostalgic for me to be back in Venice, because the last time I had been there was with Alyson and Steven. I made sure to go back to some of the places that we had gone to together. I even went back to that super colorful island, Burano and re-admired all of the brightly colored houses.

However, I think that my absolutely favorite adventure thus far happened last weekend. We decided to give Slovenia another try, considering we are significantly more awake now then we were upon arrival to this continent. Though we did not go back to the same city, we decided to go to a mountain town called Brno. My love for natural beauty primarily lies within large bodies of water, but this place was breath-taking. We were going to stay there only for one night, but ended up staying for two, because it was so wonderful. This town is high up in the mountains, has a beautiful lake with a tiny little island on it and a picturesque castle hanging above a cliff. I do not think you can go here and not love it.

We hiked up to the castle, wandered around for hours, before returning back to the base of the cliff and then dipping our feet in the lake. I have to admit that I was more than tempted to go swimming in the lake, but it was unfortunately not allowed during this time of the year. We sat by the lake for a while and just enjoyed the peace and comfort that this place seemed to provide anyone that entered the space.

That moment was exactly what I wanted to get out of this entire trip. Yes, I decided to come to Graz in order to improve my German, continue my academic studies and all of those normal, logical things. But I also decided to study abroad in order to step out of my normal routine and get a different perspective on my life. I spent most of last year contemplating if my major was right, what I wanted to do after undergrad, where I wanted to be…I was really wrapped up in everything I was doing and it was hard to see through all of that. I can’t say that I have a crystal clear picture of what I want to do with my life right now, but I feel more confident in my choices of what I like and what I don’t like. I feel less like a yo-yo that’s bouncing around all over the place.

So, Bled was wonderful as was the little island in the middle of the lake. We figured that since we had been to Slovenia twice already, it was time to see the capital. Thus on our way back to Graz, we decided to take the train through Ljubljana and make a pit stop there. We spent about eight hours there which was the perfect amount of time to see the city. We saw the downtown part of town, walked through a huge market, and climbed up to yet another castle. Overall, a perfect weekend.

This weekend we decided to stay in Austria, but try to see more of the country that we are actually studying in. By the way I am currently on a train writhing this. Did I tell you that trains are incredible? The views are gorgeous and you can be super productive. You can do homework and you can write emails too (well kind of, I can write it, but obviously I can’t send it). It’s also super sweet because Josie and I always manage to find a free compartment, so we essentially have our own little room for the ride :-)

Anyway, this weekend we decided to go to a town called Werfen, because we saw that it has this really amazing castle and they are also known for their falcons. This area and particularly this castle has a very long tradition of training falcons and other birds of prey to be used as ‘weapons’ in hunting. It was super cool. Maybe I have a wild imagination, I don’t know, but I always just feel incredible walking through a castle – I feel like I am being transported into another age and I try to picture what it would have been like living there in the middle ages. This castle was particularly spectacular because it was high up in the mountains and had a crystal emerald green river flowing through the base of it. On the way down we took the ‘lift’, which is literally a box on rails that takes you down the side of the mountain, it is like a ski-lift but on rails. It was kind of bizarre, but it was awesome to be able to see the mountains from that perspective. Even if I might be less than thrilled by the people in Austria I am absolutely amazed by the natural beauty of this country.

After our castle adventure, we thought it would be fun to go through Salzburg on the way back to Graz since it wasn’t really that late yet (it was around 4pm) and we were about a forty minute ride away from the city. We get to the main station in Salzburg and decide to check when the last train back to Graz is. But since it is a Saturday, the trains don’t run as often and we find out that the last train had already left and the next one wasn’t coming until the middle of the night (or the start of the next day whichever way you want to look at it). We contemplated staying up and seeing the city at night, but then we remembered that Graz shuts down pretty early and figured that it would probably be best if we just spent the night there. Thus we spend Halloween night in Salzburg in a super cute bed and breakfast. Salzburg is the city of Mozart, and our room was the Mozart room, how appropriate right…Anyway, after our brief taste of the city last night and this morning, we have decided that it will definitely be worth it to come back when it is more wintery and further explore Mozart’s city.

As you see I am really having a great time here and Josie and I are really trying o make the absolutely most of it. This trip has also turned into a little bit of a soul-searching trip for me, which was unexpected, but welcomed regardless. My relationship with Europe and its lifestyle and culture was always a little bit nostalgic. I have always kind of wondered which continent I would rather live on, which one I identify with more, where I feel like me the most?...Europe is definitely part of me, I can say that without an ounce of doubt in my heart, but the European style of life has a little too much bureaucratic red tape for my liking. There are too many social boxes and an under appreciation for free thinking.

Alright, if you have seriously read through all of this you are amazing and I commend you.

Have a wonderful day and happy November.

Much love from across the world,

Ajla