I’ve been exploring Austria the past two weeks so this blog is dedicated to my eyes and heart being more open to everything around me. Here are 15  Things you didn't know about Austria

As maybe some of you know, I’ve been here for over a month now. Locals continuously ask me, “Why did you pick to come to Austria? Of all the places you could be instead!” I laugh and explain my simple explanation and yet I find new reasons why I love Austria every day. Here are more observations that you maybe didn’t know about this little country that is my home for the next few months.

1. About one fourth of the population lives in Vienna. The population of Austria roughly is the same as London.

2. At a crosswalk everyone will continue to stand and wait for the green man to flash in order to walk, even when there are no cars coming.

3. Austrians really do wear lederhosen and dirndls out and about. I’ve been caught staring.

4. Dogs are everywhere and are allowed to go everywhere. This includes but is not limited to: restaurants, public transportation, and even stores. And – the dogs here are especially cute for some reason.

5. Everyone learns to ski and hike up mountains at a very young age. I’ve been passed by an 80 year old man and an 8 year old child on a hike up a “small hill” which really means “mountain” in English.

6. Austrian men must do 6 months of mandatory military service, which includes a wide variety of ways to serve in the civilian service. A friend spent his 6 months working on an ambulance.

7. Cobblestone streets are very common and hard to walk on… heels are very uncommon.

8. Tipping is not customary. You usually just round up the bill and nobody will yell at you.

9. Nothing is ever spicy, and when the locals think it is you’re confused

10. The beer here is sweeter compared to others.

11. Austrians follow the rules very closely, especially with public transportation and biking laws.

12. About half the Austrian men are overweight.

13. It is not unusual to get nudged, bumped or shoved when in public and someone is passing you. This is not considered rude if it happens.

14. There are over 20 million travelers and tourists to Austria each year, which is almost 3 times the actual population and the one of highest in all of Europe. 

15. Schnitzel is normally meat, mashed down really thin, covered in breadcrumbs and fried. Julie Andrews thinks it is served with noodles, but I’ve never seen that and it’s normally served with potatoes or a salad.

The past two weeks have been so beautiful. I couldn’t even handle how beautiful this city is in the sun. Everything looks so different and one is able to see more of the beauty that gets hidden in the dreary winter. We are lucky to be experiencing the country from death to life instead of those who decide to study abroad in the autumn.  This past two weekends I have been staying in Graz and just exploring. HA! “Just exploring”, as if that sounds so sad to do while in Austria for a semester!

I got lunch one day with a friend who has been struggling with adjusting here. It was hard to hear the negative things she was saying… It really struck a nerve with me for some reason. When we parted ways, I went to my room and it kept bothering me. It was almost like I had to fight for all those people that love traveling and feeling uncomfortable and who don’t want this experience to be negative. So many people aren’t able to study abroad for a semester for many reasons - bad timing, money reasons, nerves, and no support. People don’t realize how strong they are until they encounter something that really makes them challenge themselves by thinking and dealing with emotions. At home, it is very easy to change your situation because you know it and you know how to change it and you are comfortable with dealing with it in your native land/language, more than elsewhere. Here it is different. You don’t feel comfortable and you don’t know how to feel better because sometimes what is making you feel anxious, awkward or crazy isn’t definable. It’s really hard. It challenges every bone in your body that screams for a routine and comfort and laughs back at it and says, “Nah, we are going to make this interesting”. It’s hard shit! I don’t know what it was but I had an urge to make the most of being here while I was pondering these emotions. I refused to sit in my room so I put on my tennis shoes and decided to go for a run, since it was so beautiful. I had no idea where I was going to run to but I just started. I ran along the tram tracks since the possibility of me getting lost was very high!

I had a huge test Friday for my German intensive class the next day. All we had to do was write about a topic of our choice. Simple enough! But we also could not use a dictionary! Poor teacher got some weird stuff from me when I was trying to be creative with describing what I wanted to say instead of knowing the word! Ha! I wrote about something that I knew a lot about, my passion for traveling and exploring and being uncomfortable. While I was writing about my jog in the park, in German, and my thoughts, I began to get so emotional! I was writing a huge exam about my passions – I was able to express myself and what matters to me in German! It was pretty amazing. It brought me back to why I wanted to come to this German speaking language so bad in the first place – for that one little moment against all the tough times where you are writing or speaking and your emotions come across. In that moment everything makes sense. All the pain and the hard nights you spent studying the grammar and verb formation was worth it and becoming bright red in the grocery store when the cashier tries to talk to you. It was epic. I could have written what I wrote in German, French, and English and that is a beautiful moment for an International Relations major to realize. I can do this. All this work is going to pay off, I just have to keep pushing myself because it’s only just begun. I was really struggling in this course but the more I got my homework back graded and with nice notes about how he can see my progress, something has changed in me! The last homework we turned in, we had to write about an event and describe the situation and location. The title of what we had to write about was, “an interesting situation with interesting people”. I just started writing about whatever came to mind. It was so fun to look up words and create something. I created a very unique scene and happily turned it in. Over the next few days, our teacher decided to have a game where he read some of them out loud and then we all had to guess if it was from one of us or the media. He read mine first and he read it with such emotion and with a mysterious tone. It was crazy to hear the words I had labored over come out so wonderfully. Everyone in the class guessed that it was from the Media and I smiled when he revealed that I had written it. He said I wrote beautiful and that it was like he was reading a novel! Sometimes all you need is a little push to have a change of heart about everything you knew before. That was mine. J

As I said, I have been exploring all around Graz recently! Last weekend one of my good friends from Georgia, Ashley, and I decided to just spontaneously take trip out to go hiking! Of course we missed the bus so we went over to the tourist office and asked where they recommended for some outdoor exploring – then next thing you know we are taking a bus 40 to the last stop to Gosting. Gosting is super easy to get to and yet when you are there you feel so far from the main city. The steep but short ascent passes by the “Jungfernsprung” is from legend where the lovesick and saddened Anna von Gosting threw herself to her death. I did not actually know that until I looked it up! So, I cannot verify the legend and didn’t see any upset ghosts while I ate my sandwich on top. It was just a quick 30 min hike up we were nuzzling with some ancient castle on top of a hill overlooking the valley. It was pretty cool. The ancient castle had great views of the strategically important valley of the river Mur, Graz, and the surrounding areas. It was a perfect Saturday spent having lunch while exploring a castle with a good friend.

The next day, Ashley and I woke up even earlier to catch a bus that took us even farther away and to a bigger hill to hike up! We were so pumped and ready for our climb from the success of the day before’s 30 min trek. We were at a place called Schockl Mountain. Schockl has everything from steep slopes to an extended plateau. You can hike up, bike up, or treat yourself to a comfortable cable car. It is not the highest mountain of Graz (at 1445 meters) but it is a very popular destination for locals and those outdoorsy tourists. The tour guide described it as a “small hill” that “is an easy hike to the top”. We thought great - unfortunately, to Austrians the words “small hill” don’t exactly mean the same to a person from the American Midwest! We started off our trek following other people, this habit has become quite normal for exchange students. We were following on a rather easy path through the woods and then hit a path that was just under the cable car since they had cleared the trees under it. We thought it would be a faster way so we hopped on it and kept on it for 30 mins. This was straight up. I’m talking we had to use our hands to grab onto things since our footing wouldn’t hold. It was crazy. The path we were taking never met up with the one we were on before so we were forced to stay on this extremely difficult path that was legit vertical. We would stop every 15 mins to pant and bitch about how this was a “little hill”. It was somewhat comical. Old men and small children were easily passing us and we were doubled over cussing in English and being whatever you imagine two 20-something year old girls being midway through a strenuous hike. It was hilarious looking back. After 2 hours of this, we finally made it! It was epic. We were sweating and almost crying at how happy we were. A cute couple crossed the finish line with us at the same time and congratulated us on our success (in English) and offered to take our picture. Apparently they had been behind us the whole time and we never even knew it! Ha! We were being so loud and annoying that a random couple felt the need to give us praise for our effort at trying to be Austrian. So funny. We ate lunch on top of the mountain and had a panoramic view of the Triglav Mountain at the border between Slovenia and Italy and Slemen near Zagreb, Croatia, over the plains of Pannonia to the mountain tops of Wechsel, Rax, and Hochschwab in the north and Stubalpe, Gleinaple and Koralpe in the west. It was pretty awesome. The trek down took 2 hours as well since we decided we couldn’t even climb up the route we came so no point in going down it! We would have probably just fallen the whole way down! It was great and we were exhausted from the endurance test the ride home. We both agreed that it was the unknown that got us through it all. Knowing how hard it was – I might have to train before we go next time.

This past week was spent with catching up on the classes I had missed while in Belgium… oops! But I have friends in every class so it wasn't too difficult since classes were only on the second week when I took my little vacation. Wednesday I went out with all my friends to a cool party in town. Friday I spent the evening making dinner with Ashley and planning our Easter Break – which is 3 weeks long! So we will be doing some exploring even more. I think a Balkan Tour will be in our future! I hope! Saturday we both headed to Vienna for the day on an early train. It was a fun train ride since her flat mate came with us since he had to go to Vienna for the day too! We spent the day with Ashley’s friend (she lived with her for a year, is from Italy, and studies Dentistry in Vienna) just walking around Vienna. It was a beautiful day and the sun wouldn’t stop shining it seemed. It was nice to spend the whole day just enjoying the wonderful city and hitting places like the City Park and enjoying spritzers for happy hour at an Australian Bar (yes, Australian not Austrian!). We took the 8pm bus home and were back by 10:30. Had high hopes of going out but that never happened and I had a nice quiet Saturday night! Today I bought a bike!! Yes, I am not a proud owner of a bike J I am so Euro now! I found the Austrian craigslist here and just sent some emails (in German) and 40 euro later I have a rusty, mint green bike! I love it! I can’t to zoom all across town in my new bike! Pictures of my new lifestyle coming soon! Also - I am training for a half marathon in Salzburg! Whole new world y'all :)

Happy birthday to my Grandma Chari! Miss you! 

La Belgique

          J 

 In recent news! I just returned home from my past European life! I think that is the best way to describe my experience of returning to Belgium after 3 years of not being there nor seeing my friends. It was crazy! To think that I was this inexperienced 18 year old girl and now I’m returning as a 22 year old is bizarre to me. I think I’m having some issues accepting that I’m 22 years old and that I’m now one of those people that’s always saying, “wow, time really went fast!” It’s so true though! Okay, so where do I even begin. My flight left on Friday, which I barely made and think I lost 5 pounds from the stress and anxiety I had the entire (yes – the entire) day, and I got into Belgium at almost 10pm. I took a bus, train, another bus, plane, another plane, a wrong train, and finally the right train in order to get to my beloved little country of Belgium. It was all so worth it though. Many kinds people along the way who helped me to thank on my arrival in Belgium.

          There was a huge party that the Med School (which my friends and host siblings are a part of) was hosting in town. My host parents picked me up and I went directly to the party since everyone was already there – I changed into boots (since it was outside and nasty from the beers and the bathroom being outside too, it’s a Belge thing) and an old sweater of my host brothers and arrived at the party just in time! It was amazing. One of my best friends cried, everyone was so excited to see me, I met so many new friends of friends, and partook in the Belge party-making and beer-drinking that I had remembered so lovingly. We were out until 3 in the morning and smelled like nastiness when we got back but it was the perfect welcoming home that anyone could have asked for. 

          The next day was spent lounging around and nap taking followed by a large family dinner to celebrate my host grandfather’s birthday! I got to see all my old host family at dinner and I, like normal, got worn out quick from all the different conversations in French I had to follow and differing accents. My French came back pretty quick and I was able to communicate like how I had left off – of course with some errors but people majority of the time could understand me! It was amazing to sit at the table with everyone and talk like I had seen them just a few weeks ago it seemed. So odd how time works. Sometimes it’s like you never even left. I think I value those relationships the most. The ones where you don’t see them or talk to them for a while but when you do get back in the same room with them it’s as if you were never separated. It’s perfection.  I hope to make more friendships like that in Austria.

        Sunday, we went into town and just hung out since for some miracle is was beautiful and sunny weather in Belgium in March! We got drinks outside at a café and ice cream and just sat and talked. It was all my favorite things I used to do in town. It was the weirdest thing! I would be like, Oh! There’s where I used to withdraw money, that sign is how I used to remember not to get lost and to turn here, and that bar is where we would always drink a peach beer. It was the smallest of things that I remembered that when I said them out loud everyone would be like um? But I couldn’t help but smile at it! I loved how my mind thought this town was beautiful and remembered the slightest things and just kept them saved for me to experience again when I came back. That’s the only way I can describe it. I lived there for a year – and I think I could describe every day to you. That’s how beautiful my time was there and it gave me an extra push to enjoy every day to the fullest in Austria like my young 18 year old self had done before. It passes fast and even when you return and know where everything is, it still feels like another time.  

               After being in town, 14 of my close friends came over for dinner at my host family’s house. It was perfect. My host mom made lasagna and we all just sat and talked. A lot of my friends that I had at my high school don’t hang out as much so it was a few years or months so I wasn’t too far behind in the conversation as everything led back to our senior year of high school we spent together. It was perfect.

          Monday my host brother had the day off and we went and bought a bunny! When I was there before, they had a bunny named Canelle but the bunny died a few months after I left and for Francois’ birthday Benoit promised to buy him a new bunny! We went Monday to get one and it was so fun! We walked about a mile to the pet store and ooed and awed at all the cute bunnies there. We bought this really cute, beige bunny with long hair and ears that didn’t stand up straight but kind of fell down all cute like. His name is Barney and he is perfect and I love him. I wish I could take him back to Austria with me! Francois loved him too and it was a good to be a part of the new family member. 

        That night, I went over to a friend’s apartment with all her friends from law school. It was all girls and we made pasta with vegetables and just talked and laughed. After that we went to another one of those big parties that this time the School of Science was holding. It was even nastier than the other one on Friday! This was almost a food fight, except with nasty food. From the moment we entered this tent in the field people started throwing things at us! Everyone was just a mess at the end. Every time we had something thrown on us, we would cry, “what color is it?!” Because people were throwing cow poop! And beer! And Mayonnaise and barbeque sauce. Y’all this was the nastiest. My friend brought a bottle of beet juice concentrate and she would throw it back and people thought it was blood! It was so funny. All this sounds so nasty but it was more fun than anything. I stayed the night at my friends and after 2 showers I finally felt like I smelled like a normal person and not a trash can. It was hilarious.

          Tuesday, 3 of my close girl friends and I went into town for lunch and some shopping and that night I had dinner with my 3^rd host family who was also one of my really good friends. Another girlfriend came for the dinner too who I hadn’t seen yet because she lives and goes to school in Brussels instead of Liege like the others. It was so good to see my family and her and just sit and talk and enjoy Chinese and sushi!! It was perfect too!

Wednesday was my last full day in Liege and it was spent mainly with me sleeping in and trying to catch up on homework I had missed while enjoying myself in Belgium while my classes in Austria were happening! EEK! A little before 6, I walked over to first host families house who lived very close to my second family and we had a quick little before dinner drink. It was nice to talk and see them even if just for an hour. They were so nice and remembered my birthday and made me the cutest card with all the photos from my time with them! I was so innocent looking and young! I loved it and it really made me happy that I had made time for them even if just for a little. Then after that I headed into town to have dinner one last time with all my friends at this cute little pizzeria. We all stuffed our faces with good pizza and good conversation. I couldn’t have asked for a better last meal. We then went to one of my favorite places in Liege and I almost cried when I walked in, actually I did get really teary eyed. I wasn’t really anything special just a bar that my exchange student friends and I would always go to just hang out. It was exactly the same and it felt like I was just there with everyone the night before. So crazy how memories come in all different forms and ways. It was the cherry on top of a beautiful welcoming back week in Belgium. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It also made me strive to live everything to the fullest like I did in Belgium now in my experience that I have before me in Austria. I am really going to try to make more of an effort to speak German, meet locals, and travel as much as I can.

I’ve missed you Austria, I promise I won’t cheat on you with Belgium for a few more months :)

all for now!

Carnival and thoughts

This past Friday we didn’t do much since we had to be up at 4:45 in the morning to get on a bus and head to Venice, Italy for Carnival!! I have never been to Venice, so I was extra excited to take part. I’ve experienced Carnival season in Belgium but never in Italy. Venice has an infamous Carnival experience with extravagant masks and crazy parades! Not only was I going to be going to Italy for the Carnival but one of my good friends from the University of Arkansas was going to be there at the same time as me! So random that I even thought to message her! She is studying abroad just a few hours north of Rome for the semester and we had always talked about meeting up and this trip was it! We had planned to meet at 10am at this famous square right in town off this major canal. We didn’t end up getting to Venice until 12! I was so upset and then it started to rain. You almost had to laugh at the idea of this city that is already flooding with canals and sinking into itself was now being hit by a monsoon exactly on the same day we were to be there for just 10 hours! It was hilarious and cold. I kept my head high as my friends and I battled through the umbrellas to find this square, despite how late we were. I had given up hope and then I heard a faint – MAL! – and I knew that it was her! We screamed and hugged like the loud American girls we were and it was perfect. We parted ways, her lending me her Italian phone, and promised to meet up later. I got lunch with the friends I came with and lost half of them on this massive bridge in the storm of umbrellas and ponchos. The whole town had people down every nook and cranny you can imagine and we lost half of our friends and couldn’t contact them since the phone provider we have doesn’t work outside of Austria. So the girl I was with, Gina, from Kansas City at school in Little Rock AR (small world right?!) and I set out to find my friend and we had so much fun when we found her! We bought masks and drank hot wine from street venders! We had more wine when we went to hide from the monsoon running into more friends. It legit was the best day ever despite the downpour and not even really seeing a parade. We made the most of the weather and promised Venice we would come back to see her soon in all her glory. We got back on the bus, I can’t even tell you how Gina and I managed to find this bus in the rain, the dark, and with both of us lacking in quickness of picking up on directions. It still makes me laugh thinking about how we were prepared to sleep in the streets of Venice with buckets of water pouring on us. But we made it! And our friends we had lost made it too and all was good as we slumbered the night away and got back into Graz at 4 in the morning. A good, quick trip J 

                Tuesday was a big parade in town at noon and everybody pretty much had the day off to enjoy themselves! The entire town dressed up it seemed - even old and teenagers! It was like Halloween - which is my absolute favorite! Then my good friend and I went out at night to where the youngins call "Bermuda Triangle" because you its these three squares all by each other and they are just bars pretty much and they joke that once you go in you never come out! All three squares were packed with kids all dressed up with DJs. It was beyond fun and we danced away Mardi Gras - Fasching in German :) Even though it rained all day for this carnival event as well! Oh, Europe you make me laugh.

    This past week was the first week of school! Ah! Everyone’s main reason for stress and anxiety over credits transferring properly and scheduling problems had finally arrived. It was all very exciting and I signed up for more classes than my University called for because of my fear of something just not working out correctly – mainly my own dysfunction in looking at details. But everything seemed to work out fine! Well – as far as I think! 

I really like the European system for university studies. While in the US, you take 15 credit hours which is the equivalent of 5 classes which meet 2 or 3 times a week. In Europe, you take more classes (perhaps with fewer credit hours) but which meet only once a week, maybe every other week, or even sometimes just 3 times over the course of the semester. It is all very different depending on the course and your studies. Also, in Europe if you study math, you only take math courses. If you study law,  you only take the law courses. International Relations is not a thing! Since this does not exist I am now registered as majoring in Sociology, History, Law, Economics and German Studies at Karl-Franzens. Which is just absurd for any actual European to be enrolled in all of these! It is humorous. The idea of taking Science and Math classes and “pre-requisites” doesn’t quite exist over here nor does International Relations. I would find it hard to narrow my passions down to just one! I’m glad this area of study does exist and I am thankful for the “pre-requisites” I was obliged to take at the University of Arkansas. I think it makes one more rounded academically, but who knows which system is better. I’m just glad everything worked out and I look so much more prestigious on paper here! Ha!

Post on Belgium soon to follow!