Gutentag faithful followers!
I am still alive and will apologize up front for my failure in doing this in a timely fashion. The moments that are free are spent online or coffee shop sitting on facebook and such and not on here! I will pay more attention with the months to follow :)
AHH! So much has happened. I had to make a list of all the things I want to talk about because it's so much. Yikes.
So my Geburtstagggg! Geburtstag means birthday in German and it sounds very gross so I enjoy using it as much as possible.
I had made some friends at my orientation that I have been hanging out with all the time it seems. I make friends very fast in general and being an echange student just increases the speed even more! My friends and I, in total 5, all went to town the day of my birthday. It was so fun! We roamed around and it was almost like we had a photoshoot because one of the girls brought her fancy camera out for the day too! We roamed all around taking the tourist pictures while we laughed and happily spoke English. We got Doner Kebabs - which is a broke college student's most favorite delicacy. It is pita, veggies, and lamb or chicken with this amazing spicy sauce and it's huge and just typing about it makes me want one and I've already eaten one today! haaa! We enjoyed these and explored the city a little more! It was the first day that the sun actually came out too! It's been a bit dreary here which reminds me of what the woman on the plane said! So, the sun was a special birthday present :) After frolicking the afternoon away we all parted ways to prepare for the night. We all went over to my friend's apartment and made dinner together with wine in hand. It was so nice! It was about 8 of us and we had all met each other just that week! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday dinner with new friends and new adventures ahead. After dinner we went to the English speaking pub - for my 5th time that week! So many people were there to celebrate my birthday and presents were exchanged! Even the bartenders (who think I'm hilarious) gave me presents! I have the best Erasmus buddy who made me a necklace with one of the landmarks of Graz and a book on how to be Austrian. She kept saying, "how do you have this many friends after one week?"! HA! It was funny and hard to explain that it's probably not me but the beer and socializing for why so many people came! Regardless - it was a perfect night spent with friends and I couldn't have asked for a better geburtstag :)
The next day was a little rough starting since I might have enjoyed the geburtstag party too much! I met up with my friends and we all went to this crazy thing that Graz has - Insel an der Mur, which means Island on the Mur. The Mur is the river that Graz sits on and it is quite a nice little river. So, there is a huge floating glass building on it which probably has more than just a cafe going on for it in the summer, but in the winter it's just a cafe. All 4 of us just sat there laughing about the night before and talking about the past and future. It was nice and reminded me of my many cafe sitting times in Europe last adventure. We were there all afternoon with the hopes of going to a museum but it didn't quite happen ha! Saturday was a day of recovery and chilling.
Monday my German Intensive class started! I live right by campus so I think I scored big on that convenience! A lot of people live far from the main part of Graz, and when I say far I am speaking in European terms because you can get anywhere in Graz via the bus/tram system in like 15 minutes! So "far" as in not perfect walking distance like me. I rolled out of bed and had a quick 5 minute walk to my class and happily saw a familiar face - my friend from the University of Arkansas who is also studying abroad here is in my class! She has had 3 more German classes than I have so that was surprising to see her at my same level. My teacher is a funny man named Herwig and you can tell he really loves teaching! He doesn't dress like a normal teacher haha I enjoy him despite only undestanding 70% of what he says! He draws all the time to help explain things which I like. I am finding the course to be rather hard though. Hard as in I probably need to study outside of the class more than I do and focus a little more :) But with that being said I'm glad I'm at this level to be pushed and to be confused because that's sometimes a good thing! I can see how that wouldn't work all the time in a learning atmosphere. Let's hope it does in this one! hah! Classes are from 9 to 12:15 so we have all afternoon to hang out and explore Graz! Which is kinda awesome! Everyone finds my building quite convenient as well and every day we have spent eating lunch in my little hang out area of my dorm. Have I spoken about my dorm? It the classic American style dorm with a kitcen for a floor and then my roommate (who still hasn't shown up!!) and I share a room with a bathroom. The kitchen scares me and I haven't used it but it seems to be the social hang out area and maybe if I had any cooking skills or even like utensils to eat with or a pot to cook things in it would also be a social area for me too! I'm such a mess that I just have been making sandwiches and eating cheese in my room! Ha! I might need to give in and buy some pasta and a pot? I'll keep you updated on how this one goes. I think I'm becomng quite malnourished...
Tuesday I met up wih Lilith and her friends for trivia night. OMG. Y'all.. I'm so bad and it's in English! It was a little different this time since one of the parts was song lyrics. You listened to a song and then had to write down the next words after they stopped playing it and all of them except one was in English and I was so confident in them as I was singing along! I finally felt like I could contribute! So, I was all pumped and took the pen and wrote about half the answers and we get our thing back and I didn't get any right! It was sooo funny until I realized that one of the girls was actually kinda mad! ha! Oops! Stupid American
On Wednesday, my friends and I went to the Kunsthaus Museum. It is a modern art museum right along the river and the buidling is this weird huge terd thing with tentacles! It's really awful and apparently nobody really likes it but I guess it's different and eye catching! Apparently the architects call it "the Friendly Alien". It's so ugly. It was a great museum... well, I guess I don't really appreciate modern art but I did enjoy myself. On the top floor there was this glass area that looked out onto the infamous Schlossberg and the river. It was a beautiful sunny day and we just sat and enjoyed some wifi and the classic austrian imagery :) Later that night, my big group of friends all went to the English pub again and we had so much fun! It was great because I knew more people and met more.
Friday was one of my good friend's birthday - 20 years old - and we all went out to a nice sit down Italian restaurant. It was about 10 of us and so nice to have pasta! I haven't had a nice sit down meal really since I've been here. It was very relaxing to just sit and enjoy each other and celebrate another geburtstag! After dinner we decided to try out a new bar on a different part of town. It was called "Brot und Spiele" which literally means "Bread and Games" haha We were all joking that we were going to a brothel since where my friend lives is by the train station and train stations in Europe are notoriously the bad part of town. We got there and it was not at all what I was expecting! It was this huge building with billiard tables everywhere and dart games. Which, nobody even played we were just wanting to try a new place! It was funny and our huge group finally found a spot to sit and celebrate. After this we went to a dance club. This was our first experience in a club in Austria and the theme of the night was "90's" but it was so cute because they spelled it "90ties" haha we all got a chuckle from that while we sang along to our childhood songs. It was very fun!!
Saturday was an awesome day! We woke up kinda early and it was a beautiful day!! We finally went to the Schlossberg! (Schloss means "castle" and Berg meand "mountain") It overlooks Graz and was fomerly a fortified hill that is 1,500 feet above sea level. It was leveled in 1809 by terms of a treaty Napolean dictated to the defeated Austria. You can take a cable railway to the restaurant on top or just climb which is what we did! It only takes like 20 minutes or so to walk up it. At the top, you can look at the entire city! It was amazing to be up there with the sun shining. I might have gotten a little emotional thinking that I get to live here for the next 6 months! There is also a Clock Tower and all these interesting things - even an outdoor theater and Japanese gazebo. I loved it and would like to go back :) After this we had lunch at this seafood deli type restaurant and got filled with yummy fish and chips Austro style. We then went the Palace Museum in town. It houses the cultural history collection of the Universalmuseum Joanneum and a great collection of very interesting gems from the royal family! The baroque interior of the Herberstein Palace (which now houses the museum) is a wonderful setting that makes the gems and trinkettes even more elaborate. It was modern too! They had all these multimedia type things that captured your attention when drifting a bit after the 5th fancy goblet of some prince. I loved the mixing of the modern with the old, beautiful palace. While we were leaving we ran into a friend and they were exploring the city as well and convinced us to follow them! They took us in this huge department store that had 7 floors! They promised us the surprise at the top would be worth it and we all followed them up to the very top floor and it was a patio and cafe that was among the red roofed houses and buildings. You could see the Town Hall and the Schlossberg! Everything. It was epic and I'm totally making people go back there with me. We could see it from the Schlossberg and were so jealous of the fancy dressed women relaxing in the sun on this elaborate patio and then we were there! So awesome. After this we decided nothing could top it so we parted ways and promised to meet up for more geburtstag fun for my friend. Apparently my phone isn't working - as I can't make phone calls or text people for some annoying reason!! I didn't realize this until I had gotten off the bus and was trying to call my friend to tell me where to go after I got off the bus! Ah! If anyone knows me - I do not do well in these type of situations. I was trying to stay cool but I had no idea which way to go since I had only been there once and in the daylight! She doesn't live in that great of an area and it was about 8 on a Saturday!! I was begging the stars that someone would call me and I could figure things out but it didn't happen and after strolling the streets for 15 minutes I decided I looked pathetic and possibly asking for trouble. I decided to get back on the bus and go to the main area and just wait for someone to realize that I wasn't on time and to call me. While at the main area, I convinced myself this would be a good opportunity to speak some Deutsch so I approached a man and asked to use his phone - right, I know! Why the hell did I approach a man?! I have no idea. He was so awful and told me absolutely not! It was mortifying and I just sunk back on the bench by myself not knowing what to do! Then! My friend finally called and all was fine but it was sooo horrible! I was a mess but I didn't shed one tear :) I guess that means I'm getting tough out here! Once the trauma shock wore off, I was able to enjoy a home cooked meal with friends before we headed out the english pub we always go to! haha classic. I sound like maybe I go there too often, yeah? It was such a fun night and I actually stayed at the bar until it closed enjoying a beer with the bartenders and another friend. Turns out my favorite bartender is from one the towns in Ireland that I have visited! Wexford! It was this sweet town south of Dublin and so many great memories there. Small world.
Today we got up rather early again to go to another museum! We had purchased a 24 hour pass for a really good price so we thought we might as well use it. We went to the Natural History Museum Joanneum Quarter. We had heard great things about it! It was very interactive and awesome! It was brand new with great exhibition space and it houses fascinating exhibitions by all the natural sciences departments of the Universalmuseum Joanneum! I loved it! So many crazy things that I couldn't even appreciate.
After this we grabbed food and I came back and napped the day away. I had great plans to be productive and sadly the only thing I'm going to accomplish today is this entry! So be very greatful that my mom has been pestering me about it all day - or else this wouldn't have happened!
Sorry about the length! Pat on the back for those that made it this far!
Happy and healthy here :)
Bis Bald faithful followers
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