Our adventure in pictures

I finally uploaded our pictures to Picasa!

To view the album directly, check out the album online here.

Goodbye Graz

I have not really had time to be sad about leaving Graz- everything is has happened so fast here that even sitting on the train (with a roller duffel, small duffel, and two large backpacks) on my way from Graz to Vienna for the last time still seems like just another part of my routine. 

Even though the last week has been "normal," there are so many moments that stand out as having been really exceptional. Like Monday night, when Ruth and I made a quick trip to meet some of our new Austrian friends at a pub and ended up hanging out and watching a movie for the entire evening. Or last night, when the same three guys (+Maria!) came over, and Basti made us Kaiserschmarrn. Christoph brought Maria and I "goodbye Austria survival" gifts of Manner Schnitte and Mozartkugeln. In Maria's words, "unglaublich," unbelievable! 

Basti, Maria, Peter, Christoph, and me- last goodbye!

I have also managed to say goodbye to so many friends, spend an entire day hiking in the Vorberge (foothills), fail my first university exam (and therefore the class), score an A on an oral history exam, 

sell my bicycle (for the same amount I bought it for!), go for one last coffee at Café Binder, and move out of my apartment.

On Tuesday I escaped to the edge of Graz and hiked up the castle ruins which have been tempting me since I first arrived in Graz.... (click Read more)

a Midsummer Night's Dream

 Last night may have been one of the best Graz nights I have had.
It started out with a free moccachino at Parks (because my card was full) and then migrated to Stadtpark, where  some Swedish girls (Maria and Elena, the ones wearing wreathes in the picture right) planned a Svensk Midsommar festival/party. There was laughing, singing (in Swedish), a decorated Midsommar tree, eating of raw fish and Knackerbrod, drinking Radlers (while the Swedes drank schnapps... they have a lot of drinking songs), and dancing like crazy people in the circle around the tree.

Well, Maria invited two of her Austrian friends, and we got talking when they heard that I was from a place where there was fantastic backcountry skiing. I started to explain my "bucket list" for Graz, and a few hours later five of us (Christoph, Bastian, Ruth, Mikel, and I) were going up Schlossberg to see the stars and the city by night. There might have been some climbing of the Hacker Lion statue once we got to the top...

Afterwords, we sat on the wall near the Uhrturm (clocktower) and talked until it was time to go home (hiking plans for the morning... more on that to come). We all live in the same direction, so we walked home... and made a short detour for Kabap before finally coming home. Ruth and I gave Mikel hugs goodbye, and finally hit the hay. 

Mikel, Bastian, Christoph, and Ruth on the wall

Tomorrow, Bastian is taking me to a Mittelalterfest in a town just outside of Graz :) Another check off the list!

BTW, here is the link to the pension that Christoph's family owns/runs in St. Anton von Arlberg... Christoph designed the website http://www.gaestehaus-kolp.at

Processing...

Since coming back from Croatia I have been trying to deal with the fact that I am leaving Graz in a week. There are so many things that I will miss about Graz... here are ten of them, in no particular order...

1. 

   Taking down the maypole in Hauptplatz

    There are yogurt vending machines at the 
   university.
2. I am free to think critically about american culture, politics, and history and have opportunity to epress my thoughts 
3. I'm not fluent in German yet. I can't leave before I'm fluent, can I? now where i can generally understand people, and am starting to learn to express myself. And there are so many other languages around me! 
4. Transport- bike everywhere. public transportation rocks. and it's flippin easy here. 
5. it is hard to have a "buybuybuy" supermarket when you have to pay for every (resuable!) shopping bag and walk home with it 
6. distinct coffee culture, sweet lokals, and 300 types of bread...

Cooking Turkish

Petra, Mediha, and Ezgi invited me over last Friday (before I left for Croatia) for dinner and a lesson in how to make a delicious Turkish desert called Helva. Here is how Mediha made it:
Helva (from Istanbul)

• 1,5 cups flour into a pot on medium heat, stir continuously
• 1,5 cups sugar + 2,5 c water in a second pot
• When the flour starts to brown a little add ~ 200g butter and approx. the same amount of sunflower oil. It should  be about as thick as cream of wheat. Keep stirring until it boils.
• Drop a little batter into the sugar water. If it turns white quickly, you are ready for the next step.
• Pour the sugar water into the batter. Watch out- it is a little explosive! Stir rapidly until thick. 
• Cool, spoon onto a plate, and enjoy!

One note- the "cup" we used was just a regular cup. Mediha said that she has made it from many different recipes, and this time she didn't use one- so everything is approximate!
Our main dish was pasta- which, I learned, the Turks top with yogurt! Evidently my love of eating just about anything with yogurt would be quite at home in Istanbul :)

In other news, it is only two weeks until I leave Graz. At this time on July 1. I will be on a train somewhere in northern Italy, on my way to meet up with Erin and her dad and bro in Venice. Yikes! So much still to do... time for a list!

1. go up Schloßberg on a clear night
2. eat a Steirer Schnitzle
3. go to the RitterFest near Brück on der Mur
4. have coffee at the cute blue place near the Opera that I saw the first week here
5. finish my "regular's" card at the climbing gym 
6. ... Suggestions??

Vienna III: Van Geest Edition

   I have been avoiding blogging all of this because every time I sit down at my computer I feel guilty for not working on my history paper... but that is in the final stages, so here is the week's news from Graz in summary.
   Monday afternoon I jumped on a train to go meet two very special girls who were passing through Austria on their way from Prague to Venice. Erika was my roommate for a year and a half, but studied abroad my last semester at Calvin. She and her sister Marijke are currently in the middle of a month backpacking around Europe. Wien Meidlung train station was the first time we had seen each other in two and a half years. There was much screaming and hugging :) (click Read More)

Pancake breakfast

Sunday brunch in Top 24

Click on the slideshow to go to the album.

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")

Mariatrost walk

My legs are exhausted. Spending the core of your day hoofing it up and down hills does that to them.
We started hiking up the Rettenbachklamm, the only gorge inside of Graz. The trail was technically closed for repair to some of the stairs, bridges, and boardwalks, but that didn't slow us down! Up hills, down hills... at the top of the last hill, there was an ornate basilica called Mariatrost.

1/3 of the way...

168/3 = 56 = number of days I have been in Austria!

I can hardly believe that my time here is 33% finished. School has taken over a large part of my time now, but I try to take a break from classes/friends/homework/avoiding homework/facebook to sit back and enjoy the fact that I am in Austria. Today it happened at Sorger's on the way home from class (I realized that Sorgar reminds me of the A&W in Creston, what Grandpa calls the "old folk's home")- time to sit down and sip a braun Verlängerter.

(new formatting- click "read more" for the full post)

Lisa visits Styria!

   At 1:00 on Friday I got on a bus to the airport, where I was waiting for Lisa Chen when she stepped off the plane from Glasgow. We stopped at Cafe Binder (where Ruth and I had our first espresso) to treat Lisa to Austrian coffee and Cremeschnitte! We dropped our gear back at the apartment and headed into the city to meet up with friends for coffee at the Star cafe. We went wandered home and talked in the kitchen with Ruth and Mikel for a while before setting the alarm before going to bed.

   Saturday morning: got up and walked down to the market. After some Apfelschnitte and cider we got on the bus. First stop: Hundertwasser Church. So many tiles and colours, absolutely beautiful and kinda funky. We spent about an hour there, went on a tour, etc. before loading back on the bus for a trip to the royal stud farm at Piber. All of the horses at the Spanish Riding school in Vienna come from this farm. The foals are super super cute, and there was one black one who will remain black for his entire life. The Spanish riding school always has one dark Lipizzaner in Vienna. So much 

better than most places, we could pet any horse within reach. The foals are trained for three months in harness and three in saddle. The best in attitude, conformation, and athletic ability are taken to a raising farm and then to the school. Piber lipizzaners that don't make the cut are sold- between €10,000-30,000. All of the horses that we met were so friendly and well-mannered, I just wanted to sit and hug horses!

   The last stop was a thermal spa in Köflach. Lisa and I were both battling sicknesses, and our five minutes in the "Dampfsauna" were the perfect thing to get rid of Lisa's headache!

   This morning Lisa and I did a quick walking tour of Graz before she had to get on a bus. We stopped for tea next to the Stadtpark and then found the double-winding gothic stairs in the Burg/medieval royal family's living quarters. We hiked up the Schloßburg, across the Murinsel, and back through the streets to catch the bus at Jakominiplatz. 

The photos from this weekend are in the photo gallery. There is also a video from Piber posted in the Video gallery. I will add Lisa's pictures when she sends them to me!

I'm thinking about transferring this website over to a blogspot format. Thoughts, opinions, preferences? E-mail or comment :)

Saturday Market

 

        

    What to do on a sunny Saturday when your schedule is completely free 'till 6 pm? Jump on your bike and take a trip to the Market, of course! All things fresh, hand-made, and green :) 

 

    Wrapped chunks of fresh and smoked meat (local, of course!) is passed over counters to be taken home for Sunday dinner. Wreathes and baskets of flowers are proof that spring is almost here! Huge loaves of fresh Bauernbrot (thick, crusty farmer's bread) make your mouth water.  

    Ciders and juices are available in any combination you could want, so long as it starts with Apfel. Apple and Johannisbeere (Black currant), anyone? How about Apple-carrot?

    The sign at the fish stand informs buyers that fish is "Healthy, easy to digest, and quick to prepare. Caught fresh daily!"

As always, click on any picture to see a larger version.

In the past month that I've been here, there are a

 few things that I've noticed about Austrians... Like the fact that they eat Hobbits! (maybe that's just Styrians!)

• The German is soft and the people are friendly
• All of the WC's (Water Closets) are duel flush
• When you walk around downtown, you can actually hear your own footsteps. For a city of nearly 300,000 people, it is absurdly quiet!
• Biking to work in your suit is the norm, just hang your briefcase off one of the handlebars.
• Café/Konditorei
• A shot of regular espresso is a klein Schwartz, always served on a saucer and platter with a spoon, sugar, biscuit, and a small glass of still water. 
• Order a pastry or roll- I guarantee that either will be delicious!
• Don't plan on rushing it. Sit back, sip, chat with the other people at your table. 
• No one to eat with? Sitting down with someone else is perfectly acceptable!
• Drive through? What's that?
• Student card = discount!
• Castles, Deutsch, Parks (which will soon be green), cultures, fun people, Beautiful city! 

Of course, it isn't always heaven. Another 7 things... 

• For the first week I wasn't sure that people were actually speaking German. Steirisch is crazy!
• No WiFi (pronounced VeeFee) at home
• I speak virtually no German at home. Without immersion it is so difficult to achieve a saturation level learning rate!
• No Pandora :(
• Figuring out the Austrian university system- and coordinating courses between two Austrian universities... I'm dreading what it will look like when I try to convert everything back to WSU credit!
• Exchange rate. Yuk. 
• You aren't here! 

In other news, the welcome breakfast on Monday was wonderful, I'm going climbing tomorrow with some other exchange students, and since Monday my chest cold has taken up residence in my sinuses, complete with headache. I'm trying to sleep it off before Venice on Saturday!

End of Sprachkurs

I can't believe that these past three weeks have gone by so quickly! The intensive language course ends tomorrow with written and spoken exams. I am not overly concerned, except that my professor has discovered that I absolutely cannot differentiate between the "u" sound and the "ü" sound. I think I need a speech therapist! In any case, I will miss our class. I am hoping to enroll in another class that Albert (far right, back row) teaches during the semester, either a language and culture course or speaking competence. My semester schedule is still a mess, but on Monday there will be an academic advising session for Civil Engineering students. Hopefully I can get some of this mess sorted out! 

Highlights since the weekend post include:

• Finding Zimtsterne (Cinnamon stars) at a little Konditori next to the Hauptplatz. They are not exactly like Nana's, but close!

• Baking a pseudo-Osterzopf loaf. I didn't have an almond flour, but we still liked it enough to eat a third of it right after it came out of the oven! 
• Going to the exchange student Stammtisch last night. It was definitely more of a "club" feel than the Gemütlichkeit at der Hertzl- which I will miss this week because I ...
• ... Bought a ticket to the Czech Republic! Leaving tomorrow after the exams and taking a train to Ostrava, where my friend Petra is from. Woohoo!

Click on any picture to go to the web album, which has all of the pictures (more than just these!) in their full-size. 

Hope all is well on your side of the Atlantic!  -b

One week in

Things have almost settled into a routine here, as we slowly check a thousand things off our to-do lists. Meldezettle (city registration), student cards, groceries, intensive German language course registration, Austrian bank accounts, bikes, getting to one place from another without a map, figuring out the trash bins, dishwasher, schedules... It really is a blur!

    There was another Stammtisch for exchange

students on Tuesday night, but when Ruth and I got there it was packed- loud and nowhere to sit, so we headed out for a night walk around the city and to find Ruth something to eat. The Wurst stand was still open at Hauptplatz, so Ruth had her first Currywurst. We also stumbled into the old city palace/fortifications in the Altstadt. They were absolutely beautiful at night! We ended up our excursion sipping some regional brew and watching African soccer in a café. Not a bad evening!

   Yesterday Ruth, Ainhoa (said like ayn-oah), and I skipped the Mensa for lunch and hit up Uni Kebab instead. After packing down some Falafel and Döner kebap, Ainhoa and I headed over to the family and youth hostel Kletterhalle (climbing walls) for some bouldering action. €4,50 gets you a two hour pass to the entire climbing facility, but we were totally baked after about an hour! Neither of us had climbed in a few months, so our hands were soft and our cores and upper bodies out of shape. The walls were fantastic, though! So much area to explore, we hardly touched it!

    When I finally got home it was time to do the Hausaufgaben (homework) and make dinner. Spätzle, from the recipe in Aunt Alice's family history (Thanks Nana!!!)



Spaetzle for four

2 eggs, 3/4 c water, 1 t. salt, 2 c + 2 T. four

Beat
eggs and water, add dry ingredients. Beat to a smooth, stiff dough.
Perhaps a bit more flour? Cut from spaetzle board or machine into
rapidly boiling water. When it boils again ladle noodles into cold water
then into a warm bowl or pan. Season with brown butter and salt to
taste.



  

Batter mixed            Cutting the Spätzle noodels off a board

The finished product! Ruth at hers with tomatoes, pesto,  orange juice!

Stammtisch und Cremeschnitte

I can't believe that it has only been two days since I last updated- so much has happened!

The fellow who was supposed to pick me up at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station)didn't show up at 5:00, or 5:30... perhaps it was a good thing that I was too tired to panic! I gave him a ring on a borrowed cell phone and he dropped what he was doing and finally met me at about 7 pm. thought that I was coming in on Thursday, not Tuesday, but by chance the extra key in his pocket (he had picked up another student earlier) was for my room! He hauled my bags and we jumped on a tram and headed into Graz.

My roommate was already home when I walked in my room, and introduced herself as Ruth- originally from the Seattle area but lives in Moscow ID, studies Mech Engineering at U of I, and attends E-Free. I had just flown halfway around the world and discovered that my roommate was from the Palouse.

We were up early the next morning to walk to the KFU campus for our first German meeting. Everyone was broken into groups for oral exams, and then back to the ÖAD housing office in my apartment building to have our Meldezettel (city registration forms) and housing agreements signed. Then back to KFU to pay our course registration fee and find where we were placed. So much walking and waiting in queues! On the plus side, I know the route between home and class pretty well, and made some new friends.





Petra invited us to meet her and her Austrian mentor in the Hauptplatz (city centre) for drinks and conversation at 7, so after a short respite at home I laced up my shoes once again and headed out. We ended up at a Stammtisch (lit. regular's table)at a traditional Steirischer restaurant (der Herzl), surrounded by a group representing Austria, the UK, USA, Poland, Canada, France, Spain, Czech, and more. The conversation began in German, but after 8:30 the restrictions were lifted and a mix of German and English filled the room as more and more people came, tables were added, and food and drinks flowed into the room. I learned from one of the long-time attendees that the Stammtisch had been started in 1945 by a few members of the post-war British administration in Graz to encourage inter-cultural understanding. They're now online at the Anglo-Austrian Society. I headed home around 10:30, but it was still going strong when I left!

Today started with a trip to drop off my Meldezettle at the Hauptplatz. I was a few minutes late to class and was squeezed in between a girl from St. Paul, MN and a chap from just outside of Manchester, UK. Our prof is great and keeps the class moving and all of his students engaged. We represent most of the northern hemisphere- from Korea to the Basque country (no, she's not related to Jone) to the four corners of the US.

Today's highlight was the mission that Ruth and I undertook in the afternoon to find an ethernet cable (for my internet), eggs (pita time!), and coffee. We wandered through the Altstadt (old part of town), found our supplies, stopped by a bookstore, and randomly chose a cafe to stop at as we walked home. The lady there spoke very rapid Steirisch (the local dialect), and we were not sure what exactly happened- we ordered a Klein Braun and Cappuccino, and somehow ended up with this incredible pastery in front of us called Cremeschnitte (we had to look it up online later). Imagine a thin

layer of flaky pastry with two inches of creamy custard and two inches of fluffy heavy whipped cream, and then top the entire thing off with another thin pastry and frost the top. Oh goodness. I definitely made popcorn on the stove for dinner tonight and am still feeling full!



My apologies for another long post- Tomorrow is "tour Graz" day!

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