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)

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.

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!