Vacation!

   This travelling and semester abroad stuff is hard work- so what better way to escape it all than with a vacation! The Fakultäten (departments) at TU Graz have a tradition of taking interested students on Excursions during the semester to show them applications of what they are learning. I signed up for the Wasserbau (Hydraulic/civil Engineering, paid €25, and was swept off on a 2 day, all inclusive tour of water projects:
Montag, 23.05.2011 (click read more)

Pancake breakfast

Sunday brunch in Top 24

Click on the slideshow to go to the album.

Becks visits Budapest

Monday, Me: "have any plans for next weekend?"
Ruth: "no, why" "'cause i was thinking about going to Budapest."
As we were falling asleep Wednesday, Ruth asked "is there anything that would keep you from going this weekend?"
"No, but my KWB project is due Friday. But if we can finish it tomorrow and go Friday/Saturday..."
   Thursday evening I left the Zeichensaal at 9.30 with the KWB project finished.
Ruth: "I'm not going to lecture tomorrow. Budapest?"
And so began the adventure...
   By now the train system is routine for me. Get up at 6.00, leave for the station by 7.00, train leaves at 7.25. Arrive in Vienna at 10.00. I was a little slow pulling things together and we were both running on around 6 hours of sleep, but we parked our bikes and bought our tickets with plenty of time to spare. Four hours later the landscape flattened out and the announcements started coming in Magyar, Deutsch, and English- our first minutes in Hungary! We snagged a visitor's guide (German, they were out of English) from the info booth at the main train station and stepped out into the bustling streets of Pest. (Click read more)

A little history...

Some background on the Magyar people
Originally, Buda and Pest were separate cities occupying the west and east banks of the river Duna (Donau/Danube). The Romas had a settlement there which was followed by a town. Parts of medieval Buda, including the Mathias Church, sit on a hill which was fortified in the 13th century by king Béla against invading Turks. When the Turks finally overran Hungary in the mid-1500's, they turned the church into a mosque. Not all of the 150 year occupation was a bummer for the Hungarians. When the Turks were ousted they left behind a series of naturally heated baths and ornate aribesque-like art. The next major occupation for Hungary came when it joined the Austrian empire in the 19th century. Maria Theresa's portrait is in many halls in Budapest! Many of the Neo-Gothic constructions and renovations date from this period, including the Mathias church re-model, the Fisherman's Bastion, Parliament, and the Chain Bridge (which connected Buda and Pest in 1849).
Unfortunately the dual-monarchy meant that Hungary was dragged into WW1. In 1919 it was its own state, which really didn't mean much to the Germans and Russians who rolled back and forth through the region 25 years later. Most of the major buildings and bridges have been re-built at least once as a result of the wars. Post-war Hungary set origionally had free elections, but the elected government formed a coalition with the Communists and were eventually edged out. Despite a revolution in 1956 the communist party ran Hungary until 1989, when the barbed wire fence separating Hungary from Austria was finally cut.

I just discovered Google Maps...

Check it out! Where I have been so far...


View Semester Travels in a larger map

And tomorrow morning, off to Budapest! G'night, all!

Eastern Styria: Castle Riegersburg and Zotter chocolate

   It's time for the Weekend Update! This Saturda's Ausflug went to eastern Styria, a land of green hills draped with small farms and orchards. The landscape is dominated by the castle Riegersburg, which sits at the tip of an old volcanic outcropping. We took the cable tram up the hill and walked over to the raptor park which is on the hill's lower slope. There was a show with owls, a falconry demonstration, vultures, and the first bald eagle I have seen in five months. Really beautiful birds! The show was completely in German, but I understood more than 80% without a problem- woot!

   After the show we went up to the fotress itself. Riegersburg was one of the border fortifications against Hungarian and Turkish invasions starting in the 13th or 14th centuries. From the 16th to 18th centuries it was the site of several witch hunts and trials. We walked through the Hexenmuseum and I was surprised that the witch phobia was sweeping through the northeastern American colonies at about the same time. Today, the castle is owned by a "von Lichtenstien". Yes, the nephew (or cousin or something like that!) of the royal family in the country of Lichtenstien! The aristocracy is alive and well in Europe!

   Our third and final stop was at the Zotter chocolate factory a few km away. After touring the "edible zoo" (a collection of animals that we eat, built to raise awareness that at one time the meat in your hamburger was alive) we entered the factory, museum, and Genussweg (pleasure path). We sampled cocoa beans, liquid chocolate from 10-100% cocoa, compared different bar chocolates with everything from flowers to yoghurt to green tea to pumpkin seed mixed in, flavored drinking chocolate (stirred into hot milk), chocolate balls rolled around pieces of fruit/nuts/whatever in miniature copper cement mixers, and finally bars where a flavored filling was sandwitched between the chocolate layers. Everyone had a little bit of a chocolate hangover on the way home!

101 days of Europe

   The highlight of my 100th day in Graz was Marietje's birthday party. Marietjen (middle in the photo) taught us all a series of traditional Belgian dances, complete with live music! The first two of were in a circle and we rotated partners so that all the girls danced with all of the guys- I can now say that I have danced with a dude wearing Lederhosen, lol. 

Back to "normal"

   Well, classes have started again. Two new ones on my schedule: my project management course is in a four hour block on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, and technical writing is through WSU Online. They should be balanced by the two courses that I am wrapping up at TU Graz in the next week or so. If I pass, I will have fulfilled my design and lab requirements at WSU. Woohoo! The next step is to petition to have my Austrian Lanugage and Culture course count for my multi-cultural studies credit at WSU. How can studying abroad not get you cross-cultural credit? Especially when your classmates are from literally all over the world- Japan, Macedonia, Russia...
All this work is making me wish that I was back here:

Even so, it feels good be back in Graz and into some form of my normal routine!

Leave me a comment, they make my day!

Family tour of Graz and Salzburg

   I just said goodbye to Mom and Dad at the train station here in Graz after two and a half days in Graz and two days in Salzburg. Tuesday morning we snagged some Kuchen at the market and took the tram out to Schloß Eggenburg and toured the museums and houses. The gardens around the big yellow building are full of blue peacocks. In one corner of the grounds there was an archeology museum with pieces from the Hallstatt period through the Romans. Dad had a great time translating grave stones! The palace also had beautiful "State" rooms, an art collection, and a coin museum because the builder was head of the Hapsburg mint.
   On our way back into town, we stopped by the "Friendly Alien" for a quick walk through the modern art exhibits and a lovely view over Graz. (click "read more")

Wiener Parents, ja!

   Mom and Dad were subjected to essentially the same Vienna tour that I did with my friends about a month ago, so you should recognize the locations of some of the pictures! We took the U-Bahn into downtown and did a walking tour around Stephansplatz and the Dom, down the main shopping streets (Dad was not as amused as Mom and I that "douglas" is the name of a makeup store chain), past the Oper (where Mom met a charming gentleman selling Mozart tickets), and through the Hofburg.

   In the afternoon we headed out to Schönbrunn and walked up to the Gloriette through the gardens. The weather started out clear and sunny, but by the time that we reached the huge summer palace it was a little cloudy, though not unpleasant! Mom and Dad went on a tour of the imperial apartments while I explored the Carriage House- Ana, it is definitely going on our list! 

   Over the next 24 hours we also made stops by the Hundertwasser houses, Belvedere palace and gardens, the Nachsmarkt, parliament, Stadpark, Manner chocolate store,  and espresso and tortes (including Sacher) at a Viennese Café/Konditorei... by the time that we finally got on the train to Graz, Mom and Dad were pretty exhausted!

  

Donostia/San Sebastian

   Kike invited us to visit him at 'work' in San Sebastian Friday morning. I had never been in a studio before and was amazed by the brightness and business of the MKLZ set! There was so much going on at the same time, both obvious  and behind the scenes. People running around controlling cameras and cueing the audience, sound and video mixing in the upstairs booths (sooo many buttons!), and Kike and his co-host Ilaski talking while a producer was whispering into their ear buds. A guy named Julian gave us a tour of the entire studio building, including the sets of a news program, tv show, and even a green screen stage. Afterwords we watched them film an episode of MKLZ and got to walk around the set. Basically we were given the vip treatment- and it was so much fun! A huge thanks to the MKLZ/EiTB/Amonarriz crews for their hospitality and the experience!
    After lunch at home we drove back to Donostia to explore the city. It is really different from what I have seen anywhere else. The buildings are "new" compared to others in Europe, having been re-built after the Napoleanic wars. They are a warm sandy colour and arranged along straight, orderly streets. The windows above the street level are lined with flower pots and have flags hanging from them. After months of the twisted passages and painted facades in Austria, Donostia was a little bit of a shock. I think that to really appreciate the city I would need to go back and spend a few weeks, maybe a month, living it. (click read more)

First day with the parents- Bizkaia

   Mom and Dad got in to Tolosa around 10 pm Wednesday evening, just in time for another dinner. Kike opened a bottle of local cider, which was shared over shrimp and a seafood and rice dish prepared by Gurutze (really, she is a fantastic chef!). After our meal, she and Jone took us over to Kike's sister's new house, which they had prepared for us to sleep at. We all crashed within a few minutes and slept like logs.
   Thursday morning launched another whirlwind tour of the basque country, this time in the province of Biskaia. We started with a visit to Gernika (Guernica), the historic seat of the Basque government which was bombed in 1937 by the Luftwaffe as a sort of pre-war target practice. Next, we walked through Bermeo and introduced Mom and Dad to pintxos and pelota. The sun was out and it seemed like most of the town with it- the waterfront park was packed. Kike hosts a show called MKLZ on the Basque television, so wherever we walked people would recognize him and stop to chat. I realized why the Amonarriz family goes to France for vacation!
   We drove a little ways along the coast from Bermeo for lunch, finally stopping at a place overlooking the mouth of the river that flows through Gernika. Rather than a muddy delta there was a wide, sandy beach with evenly breaking waves and aquamarine water. Kike and Gurutze insisted on treating us to lunch. I ordered a local dish made of little stuffed squid in a black ink/tomato sauce- I know that it sounds a little strange, but it was actually very very good! We decided that it was a little bit like Dad's steamed muscles in the northwest- the locals love it, but everyone else thinks they're crazy until they actually try it! We walked down to a nearby beach after lunch and explored a little harbor full of txalupas. Dad counted three boat launches and wanted to know why Anacortes couldn't have even one in town.

Kaixo, Euskal Herria!

What a whirlwind of a week! Let me see if I can put together what happened, more or less...

   My second day in the Basque Country, Gurutze, Kike, and Jone took me on a driving tour of their part of the Basque Country. The car ride alone was worth flying across Europe- the roads wound around, over, and through mountains as green as I have ever seen and along a shoreline that made Chukanut look tame. Our first stops were Zarautz and Zumaia, two picture-perfect coastal towns in Gipuzkoa. We walked along the harbors and climbed the steep stone streets to enjoy stunning views over the Bay of Biscay and the coast. Each town has a stone harbor filled with Txalupak (small work boats) and a dockside that reminded me a bit of home. The cool, breezy weather meant that the sandy beaches were nearly deserted- they will be packed as the weather warms up! 

   Our drive back to Tolosa took us through Asteasu, which Kike explained to me was the home town of author Bernardo Atxaga. Part of his book Obabakoak (which Kike was surprised to hear that I had read- thanks, Em!) takes place driving to the fictional town of Obaba on the non-fictional mountain road to Asteasu. The journey and stone town were even better in reality than imagined from the story. Absolutely lovely!

When we arrived back in Tolosa Jone and I were dropped off at a favorite kafétegia (café)/hang out spot for young people in Tolosa, where I learned a new version of BC from Jone and her friends before we walked over to their garage to hang out until dinner. (Click "read more"...)