Sep 29th entry

I just uploaded 2 entries! So make sure you read the one from yesterday before you read this one!!

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today i woke up earlier than i set my alarm (for 7:30) at 7 when i heard some bells coming through my window. I think they are coming from the Uhrturm (clocktower) up on Schloßberg. I took a shower and then went downstairs to eat breakfast (bread, cheese, butter, jam, musli, apple-orange fresh squeezed juice). A bus came for us at 8:30 to take us up to Schloß St. Martin where we got into smaller groups and met in a conference room to talk with eachother and our 'teacher'. Our group's teacher is named Otto. THey tend to speak to us in english and german. We spent a while talking about some lessons we can do with the kids, like providing 4 statements about yourself, 1 of which is false and reading them aloud and having the kids ask you questions about the statements and then decide which one is false. He mentioned to us that we should speak to them with large gestures, clearly, loudly, and slowly. We should exude energy so that they are not bored. We also talked about fears and expectations.

After our group meeting we went to go hear a couple of lectures. The first one was in German and about "Austrians". He provided texts from different sources (books, advertisements, poems) about Austrians to show that there is no ONE type of Austrian (just like american). Also we talked about the meaning of words and how behind every word there are subtler meanings that are associated with their cultural backgrounds as well.

We had a 15 minute break until our other lecture. As people were filing out of the room I went and looked out of the window over the valley (as we are up relativeley high on a hill). It was so beautiful so I decided to pass everyone by that were tlaking to eachother and just go outside and look. I saw my group teacher Otto outside on the bench also looking over the valley. I said "hallo", actually I said "Grüß Gott" and we spoke a bit in German. I told him that it was so beautiful and he agreed calling it "Traumhaft", a great german word meaing "like a dream" sort of. We talked about the various produce growing all around on the hills, like wine grapes and small apples and such. I almost started crying because of how beautiful it was (as you know from Norway I tend to cry at natural beauty I suppose). But also I think i was tearing up because the city down below (Graz) was where I had chosen to live, and yet it was sooooo city like. Big huge buildings and lots of people. Sure there are a lot of young people, but there are just so many people and so many big buildings. I was starting to have second thoughts about my decision after looking over these hills, which seem so beautiful and what I think of when i think of Austria. Otto told me that Leibnitz is a bit more like this countryside than Graz is, which also made me a bit sad.

The other lecture was half german (where we talked about the austrian school system and how students move from the beginning of their school career to the end, what options are open to them, and so on...it is really interesting and different from america, ask me more if you'd like.) and the other half was in english about all the administratorial stuff. This part of the lecture was very overwhelming for me. One of the first things that he asked was how many people still don't have housing. There were about 10 of us who raised our hands. He said that this was unusually large. Of course in order to get your bank account you need to have an address. And also we have to pick up our Residency Permits, which we have to have an address for, and we need to find out where to get it, which I am still not sure about, and also we have to have it before we report to our school on the first day. If we can't show them an Aufenthaltstitel then they might not schedule us to work. We talked about how the Americans have to pay taxes, and also the necessary steps to take if we want to try to get some of the tax money back at the end of the school year. We talked about our Dienstvertrag, which we will recieve on our first day of school which basically is our contract with our school. And we also should have been in contact with our Betreuungslehrer (the teacher at our main school that will help us get around), but she hasn't emailed me back since June when I emailed her, which, because I was accepted later to the program was the earliest I could do so, and by this point it was already their summer break. So I need to get in contact with her, but I haven't had any time because the orientations last ALL DAY, and the internet isn't really working here at my Convent right now either. We talked about our insurance too, which pays for most everything we would need for our health but it won't pay for transporting us to the hospital if we get hurt during our "liesure" time, which means whenever we are not at work. So if we are skiing and we have to be helicoptered to the hospital, that would cost us about 3,000 euros!!!! so they told us about how we might want to think about getting some insurance from mountaneering clubs or something in addition to what we already have. This was a lot of information in a short while. So basically I was sitting there kind of overwhelmed with all this stuff, mostly becuase I didn't have a house yet, NOR did I know if I actually wanted to live in Graz. I expressed my concern to Chris, a Bürse (austrian word for 'guy') from Michigan who I met and talked to yesterday and who is also in my small group, and he said, "well why don't we just go look at Leibnitz tonight when we are done ?" I was like, you know what, yeah.

We then went to lunch which was another catered meal by the Schloß. I got the vegetarian dish which was soup, salad, and a sort of zucchini and grain casserole with sour cream and brussel sprouts. There was also a good dessert. It was quite a bit of food and is really nice that it is included with the 70 euros we are paying for our food and accommidations at the Convent.

We then met back with our small groups and talked about working with the Austrian teachers. We can either be very passive and do what the teachers ask us to do, or they are more than happy (usually) for you to prepare something for the class and propose it to them as well. One good suggestion that a past teahing assistant made was to make an interview sheet for the students around the first class and ask them some questions to see where their english is at, and also to find out what sort of things they want to talk about relating to American culture. We then did a short exercise where each of us had to answer a question handed to us for 20-30 seconds as if we were talking to the class. So we practiced making gestures, speaking clearly and slowly (but not too slowly or unnaturally) and also using appropriate intonation and vocabulary.

We then went with our group to a bus outside of the Schloss which took us into Graz and we walked to a courtyard off Jakominiplatz to have a tour of the city by some Austrian Teenagers who were getting credit for school for doing this tour in english with us. We walked down the main street that I had walked the other day and then onto a strange bridge that goes across the river that is also a small coffee shop. It's very modern looking, as it is a big swirly silver metal creation sitting right on top of the Muhr. I didn't walk on that the other day so that was kind of cool. Apparently the citizens of Graz don't like it very much. We then walked over to Schloßberg, but instead of taking the Kriegstreppe that I walked up to go into the garden, we took a lift and passed by the prettiest part of Schloßberg. We walked down the backside of the hill and then into another open concrete courtyard where noone was and there was not a tree standing. We then walked to a Glockenspiel which when it rang on the hour opened to show an austrian man in lederhosen holding a beer mug and an austrian woman in a dirndl holding a napkin spinning around. It was pretty cute, and I liked this area of Graz (the Innen Stadt) much better than what I had previously seen. The walkways were cobblestones and there was a big historic church that we walked into that had paintings from the Great Plague. We wlaked up some random spiral concrete staircase that went to nowhere, but was cool to know it was there I suppose. The last thing we saw was the Opera house which didn't look much from the outside, but supposedly looks really cool on the inside. I think it would be cool to see an Opera there some time. Our cute little tourgide girl said that the inside was very in-tri-cue-ing inside (she meant intriguing but pronounced it really funny). The opera house was right next to the Stadtpark which actually looked really nice and I'd like to explore it some more cuz I didn't go into it at all and I'm not sure how big it actually is. The Stadt park is about 30-35 min walk from the train station.

Me and Chris walked back to the Convent to check the train times to head out to Leibnitz. There was one at 7:40 which we took. The train ride was 37 min long. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was expecting it to be really small, boring, and filled with old people. THis was the impression that Marc (the past teaching assistant in Leibnitz) gave me, since he said that none of the past teaching assistants that worked there that he knew of lived in Leibnitz, and that all of them lived in Graz. He said that people who lived outside of Graz were always coming in and wished that they had lived there and commuted to their schools. So that is what I was expecting. When we got off the Bahnhof in Leibnitz (which is just one stop away from Kaindorf an der Sulm, the other town that I am teaching in) there was a small walkway with grass adjacent to some small apartment buildings. It was quiet, but I already realized what a change from Graz that was. There was a small sports bar near the Bahnhof, so already there was something to do there. There was also a Sports Center right there. Around the corner was the main street which as we were walking first had a store for firemen and other government uniforms, a coffee shop (which had 3 girls my age in it, so already i saw some young people) and like a hotel, a shoe store, a dry cleaners. As you keep going it gets more and more "city-like" with lights on the street and lots of little shops, food places and such. It kind of reminded me of Göttingen where the street and sidewalk weren't really seperated, just slightly demarcated. The Rathaus (town hall) was a cool old building. I could already tell that I could appreciate the differences between America and Austria more when there werent SO MANy overwhelming tall buildings and street trains and cars and people. IT was quite. And that was nice. Also I didn't see any old people. In fact the people wlaking around and getting of the train with us were young, about our age. I stopped a couple walking down the street that seemed about 23 or so and spoke to them in German, asking hi i just moved to austria and am wondering if you like it here, they said yes, that there is "enough" to do, told me where the bars were and how its busy on the weekends, that they had lived there since they were young, that there was a disco and movie theatre, etc. THey didnt really know where I could find housing, but they were really nice to me and already I had talked to more Austrians that I felt cared about talking to me than in Graz. Yes there are more young people in Graz (since there is no university in Leibnitz as they told me) but is it relaly better if they are all so busy walking from one place to the next and crowing into bars that you cant meet any of them? We kept walking down this residential street which came off the main drag. It was quite. And i looked up and could see the stars. Suddenly I realized that I had only seen stars when i was at the Schloß up in the hills in Graz, since there are so many big buildings around you and lots of light pllution in Graz you can't see them at all, which I hadn't really noticed before. We came across a small river and walked over a bridge which lead directly into a nice biggish green park with lots of slides and swings and play things and benches and stuff. It was nice to be near trees right in the middle of the city. THere aren't trees in Graz except in the parks (of which I know 2) and the Schloßberg, and also down by the river a bit. To be fair I haven't seen the parks too well in Graz though. But thats because they are really out of the way I suppose. THen we came across an even bigger bridge over an even bigger part of the river, which was probably also the Muhr. Crossing this we ended up near a hill, which was one of many I could see in the dark when I stood on the bridge. There was a nice little path through the forest on the hill to walk up, so we did. On the top of the path is a small shrine to mary & jesus.

We walked back down and had some pizza at a restaurant which wasnt filled by any means (it is just a tuseday) but our waitress smiled at us when she knew we were american since we had an accent and asked us where we were from. She was young too! like about 26-28 I;d guess. There was also a group of young turks there and 2 late 20s girls that came in while we were eathing. there was one older guy at the bar and a middle aged (early 40s) couple that sat behind us. THey were playing german music which was also cool. I mean, she seemed interested in us because i bet they dont get many tourists unlike Graz where they are used to that. I mean the austiran guy that sold me my phone legitimately seemed annoyed with me when i was asking questions about the plan becuase i didnt understand it all the first time he said it. Probably because there were a couiple people waiting behind me, which is understandable when you have other customers. I asked her for the check and also if she knew where I might be abel to find a place to live. She didn't know but she called over a guy from the movie theatre which was attached to the pizza shop and he came over and talked to me and told me that i should go to the AltePost and how to get there.

I'm not sure if i was unclear that i needed a room to live in for a long while or if he thought i needed a room just for the night but the altepost is a hotel right off the main street (which had more small ground floor shops and was across from a bar showing a soccer match). i went in and asked if this was the alte post and she said yes. I asked if she knew where i could find a room in an apartment and she told me to talk to the owner of the hotel, who she brought me to! So I asked the owner, who I referred to as "Frau Chefin" mrs. owner which I wasn't sure whether that was right or not, but we had learned in our orientation today that you should ALWAYS adress your colleages as Herr/Frau Professor, so i just took that knowledge and applied it here. She seemed kind of stern and I thought she wasn't going to help, but when I asked her she was like "I don't know but come with me" (in german obviously). she takes me into a bar where the middle aged people in there are obviously loooking at us Americans speaking german with an accent and she tells me to talk to this woman sitting at a booth. She introduced me to her and then left us to talk. This woman told me that I should give her my phone number (which i didn't know, cuz its on a box at home) and she might be able to help me. I had no idea who she was or how she could help me but she gave me her card and asked me how much I was willing to spend. I said 350 euro a month. She said that its more expensive here and that lots of Leibnitz is owned by rich Italiens.

We had to get back to our last train that night back to Graz which was at 10:22 ( i should check what time the last one from Graz to Leibnitz is, just to see how easy it would be to go into the city for the night). I was overwhelmed the hospitality and charming (not so charming though as really cute cute old towns in Germany, those are sooo cute! but compared to a big city like Graz) nature of this city. I like the nature and I like how much I noticed. There were obviously things going on there. I saw a huge poster for a Jazz fesitval coming up in the next week, where a new musician plays every day, I saw posters for some hypnotist coming on the 2nd of October, I saw signs for a Film week coming up at the movie theatre that was about global poverty and hunger and also signs for a town hall meeting about being more sustainable and green. THese are not things that I might normally search out for myself, but they were advertised well, all were coming up in the next month, and I like the idea that I could go to all of them and learn something new about austrian culture without having to go search things out in Graz, which I am SURE has lots going on, but if there are signs about things they are hidden amongst all the other stuff in the city.

I really need to talk to someone about this! Mom and Dad! Ben! I want to skype with you guys as soon as I have internet more readily. I didn't have much luck looking for houses in Graz today. Not much is available (but I don't know how much is available in Leibnitz either). THe director of the Fulbright Program is coming on Thursday, so i am hoping to talk to her about whether or not it would be hard to switch my residency permit to Leibnitz. Although I'm still not sure whether or not I want to live in Graz or Leibnitz, I think I would prefer a more Naturey small town to a large cultural huge buildings and people and stuff town. I like the people I met in Leibnitz, and the greenery, even if it is small and kind of sleepy. I saw a sign for camping too! I have not seen anything like that in Graz, where people are really fashionable and shopping at H&M (no offense Shanny).

I love you all, and am still busy and kind of worried and confused. I can't wait to settle down somewhere.

Sep 28 2009 entry

Dear Friends and family,

I have been soooo busy the past couple of days because of orientation. They seriously have us scheduled to do things all day from 8 to 8pm. I also don't always have access to the internet (which is kind of dodgy here in the convent). Please enjoy this entry that I wrote from my day on 28. September 2009.

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today i woke up at 8am, which means I got about 9 hours of much needed rest. I left the curtains open so there was a nice morning sunshine in my room. i woke up and looked out the window onto the street below me, which was filled with cars and bicyclists in their bicycle lane. Graz is a large city, larger than I think i would like at this point. But I will see how Leibnitz looks next Monday, and hope I made the right choice by living here instead of there.

I got dressed and packed up my stuff and went down to the lobby to check out. They kept my bags for me so I wouldn't have to carry them around all day. I went first to the T-mobile store to get a cell phone so I can start calling people and asking about rooms for rent. I walked down Annengasse which seems to be a pretty major road here all the way to the Mur river, which I crossed, and then a bit further to Herrengasse which I turned on to and where the T-mobile store was located. It took me about 20-25 minutes to walk there, which is good to know since many of the houses I am looking at online seem to be about this far or further away. There were trains running all the time down this street that were going straight to the bahnhof though, which is nice if I decide to live further away. The street cars seem to be very efficient and go almost everywhere I went today.

I went to the T-mobile store because I read online about the different cell phone companies in austria and one website said that t-mobile was cheap and lots of austrians used it. It was located right next to another cell phone store which was painted all black and gold and selling really fancy looking stores. T-mobile was cute and looked more "preiswert" a nice german word which doesn't really have an equivalent in english. it means worthy of its price. It was quite a task of my skills to talk to the guy at the counter. We spoke all in German and i told him that I just moved here and that I needed a phone. He told me that the only contracts they have were 2 years and provide 500 minutes (or more) per month. I knew that I didn't need that and asked him about paying as I use minutes. Since I'm not really familiar with this concept even in English it was kind of hard to understand just what I needed to do to put money on the phone and where to refill the minutes. Plus he was using words like "Klax" which is a word I'd never heard that means the minutes you have to use, and also that I can get more minutes at the t-mobile store or at a "Trafik", which I didn't know what that meant until I saw it on a sign later in the day, which is basically a tabacco & other stuff store. I didn't have too much trouble understanding him though or telling him that i just needed the cheapest phone (39 euros) and that 9 cents a minute sounded good and that I wanted 20 euros to start. I was very proud of myself for this transaction.

After I was done I didn't want to go back to the hotel yet, as it was only like 9:45 so I wandered around a while before deciding to walk along the Mur. I really like the river. I found a staircase that went down to the river for pedestrians.

I walked along the sidewalk down there for a while passing some pretty sweet graffiti and even a little rock climbing area someone had made. (see the ones on the ceiling!?!)

I think that this might be from building that was torn down somewhere in the city.

After a while the sidewalk became a dirt path and then a small trail.

I kept walking until I saw a group of construction workers chillin under a bridge, who had signaled to a runner who went past me to go up a little trail. I just followed her lead and came up near a kindergarden where I could hear kids playing. I was near the Schlossberg and so decided to go over to it. I passed by the tram that went up the mountain, but figured I'd take it some other time. But then I came across the "Kriegstreppe" which went up the mountain.

I walked up them after reading a placard that said they were built by Russians who were being forced to work during ww1. about 200 steps later I had a great view of the city and a really cute litte garden to walk through.

There were placards talking about all sorts of different elements of the history of the little castle and the clock tower. it has been an imprtant site for a long time, acting as a military stronghold. They almost blew up the clocktower, can you believe it? They were worried about it falling onto the city below though, so they didnt. I am so glad, or else it might have become Schloss Mall or something. Most of the people up there seemed to be tourists, but it was nice to explore a green area with a cool view. It was pretty large and I walked around for a while up there.

This must be towards the USA too!

I went back down and decided it was time to eat. I walked past a dance school which has mostly Salsa and traditional "Wiener Walzer" which i guess is the traditional form of waltz from Vienna. Maybe I'll check one of those classes out. I also passed this Second Hand store. (Agape meine Liebe!)

I wanted a meal but I'm still not sure where to eat yet. It seems like the restaurants are only frequented by Old people and other than that there are Dönner places (basically schwarma turkish places, which there were a lot of in germany too) and bakeries (also many in germany). I just went to a bakery and got a small roll with mozzarella and tomato and a coffee, which was served cappucino style. There was a dude in there who just got Buttermilk and apple juice. I can't imagine drinking buttermilk from a big carton like that. blech.

I walked back to the Hotel and used their computer to look up some rooms currently being offered.

This is a cafe in the middle of the Mur river! It also acts as a bridge.

This is the Kunsthaus (art museum). It lights up at night. They call it the "Friendly Alien".

There was one which was just above Jakominiplatz, which I hadn't been to yet, but which was further down Herrengasse, where the T-mobile store was. I had seen this ad about 2 weeks ago so I thought they just reposted it and that it was probably already rented, but I called them anyways. Katharina answered the phone and told me that I could come by and look at it. So I walked all the way back there and after getting a little lost in the hustle and bustle of Jakominiplatz fou

nd the house. The door to the apartment was in a small alley which smelled like urine but I thought, meh it doesn't matter if the apartment is nice. I went up and met Katharina and her 3 roommates. She showed me the kitchen which was normal sized I guess with a window and a table with 4 spindly chairs and a stove, dishwasher, and the smallest refrigerator i have ever seen. its smaller than most personal fridges, about the size of your fridge in Santa Cruz, ben. This was also the "common" room, which kinda sucks. No TV! not that I watch it that much, but i mean i'd like to see Austrian news and tv shows every once and a while. No couch! The room I would be staying in would be right next to the shower room, which isn't inherently bad. The showers and toilets are commonly separated in Austria. inside the shower room there was also a washmachine, which is cool, and some drying racks. "My" room was not going to be furnished either, which means I would have to buy a bed, shelves, desk, AND closet, as there was none. The rooms were all right next to eachother and there was a long hallway where each of them came off of. You could hear the strassebahnen, street trains, outside and they said that they lived right above a Disco, which means loud music and drunk people on the street right under our windows. Basically this place didn't sound that great and even though the roommates were nice, I couldn't imagine living there a whole year. It didn't feel homey at all. So i told them i was going to keep looking but gave them my phone number. Katharina called me tonight and told me that they "decided to choose someone else." which was fiiiiine with me.

I decided that I should try to figure out the strassebahn that I had been avoiding all day, since i was kinda tired from walking so much. I noticed that people were just going on and it didn't seem like anyone was paying at all. maybe they all had passes, but i doubt it. I took a train that went directly to the train station and went back to the hotel. I looked at more room adds, but not with much luck. I want to live with girls, but if there are an equal number of girls and boys thats ok too. I also want to live somewhere with at least 2 other people, but maybe i'll look at something if it comes up with just one other girl.

Random car I encountered during the day. It's to support Green energy.

At 3 I got my bags and went to the orientation. I just walked there, as it was only a few blocks away. People were looking at me strangley with my rolly suitcase and big backpack, but whatever. I got the place where im staying which is actually a convent. I said hello to the nuns at check in and got my own single room!

I went downstairs to where there was some coffee and had a cup and sat down and read a little. and this, my friends is crazy. Who is the very first person I see walking down the stairs in front of me? The douchy guy from Marin!!!! I was shocked. I was like "hey I know you" and he was like "you do?" he didn't recognize me and i had to remind him. God. What a douche. I hope he doesn't find this blog. hahaha. I went outside and sat at a table with some people who were already there. There seems to be people from all over america. They were from Oregon, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Camp Pendleton, Ohio, and Bethlehem ( I forget what state that is). One of the orientation leaders (who are people who did this program last year and decided to stay for another year) was also from London. I found out that there were actually quite a few english people there, but they aren't with the Fulbright program, they are mostly students of a foreign language at a university and as part of their program they are required to do their 3rd year of study abroad in a country that speaks their language. A couple I talked to said they feel that the Americans' German is better than theirs, but this is probably becuase most of the people from America have studied abroad before.

At 5:30 a bus came to take us up to Schloß St. Martin which is a small castle where half of the participants are staying. On the bus this guy sat down next to me and we introduced ourselves. I told him I was from San Diego and he said he had a friend there who was from Scripps Ranch. I was like What? thats where I'm from! he asked me what school I went to, and I said a private one. He said his friend went to a private school too near fashion valley. At this point i was like well, he could have gone to parker or uni, maybe bishops. He said Parker, I was like what mee toO@@@@ He was like do you know Hal Cavanagh. I kind of laughed really loud and a couple people turned and looked, but I couldn't help it! HOw bizarre is it that some random person that sits next to me on a bus in my Austria Program knows HAL, a kid in my class from high school. BUt this is not the end of this bizarre "small world" story. He told me that one of his best friends at Occidental was also from san diego, GYON. holy crap. Gyon is ben's friend from elementary school that I have heard so much about. God. I almost couldn't handle it.

At the castle we mingled a bit and then had dinner. I sat at a table with a girl from Scotland, one from England, another from the States, and a guy from Michigan who had the chicago "a" accent. you know, cAAAr. We had a mushroom quiche and some chocolate-banana dessert. After we all went into a room where we were introduced to some teachers and the orientation leaders, and the woman running the orientation. We (luckily) didn't do any icebreakers, although we did do this one thing where we had to get up and talk to one person we'd never met for 5 min. and then we were shown a list of 5 questions. Do you think they are an Opera Person, a person who cares about Fashion, a Morning person, etc. Of course we didn't know any of these things about the other person, but the excercise showed us how we make assumptions about peoples character just by were they come from or what they look like, or how old they are. I think this was a good excercise.

Afterwards we went out to the courtyard and had a glass of austrian white wine. i spent the whole hour talking to 2 british people, a guy and girl from Bristol, who were really nice and interesting. I liked hearing the differences between our english and also why they were there and such. One thing that was funny is that they say "maths" instead of math and also when I asked how many german classes they have taken, they didn't understand what I meant. Apparently to take a class in british english means to teach a class. they say either " i have attended a class" or "i have sat a class" which just sounds really weird to me. they also "sit tests", rather than take tests. also the concept of taking a german class didnt make sense to them because they have to apply to college with a major in mind and their whole school career is based around that major, so to take a cognitive science class, for example, for fun is just unheard of.

The bus went back at 9:30. I went outside to catch it (i wonder if brits say "to catch a bus"?) and looked up at the night sky. It sounds cliche but I actually looked at the moon and thought of how i had just seen it the other day in America. It is the same moon. I like that. When we got back they told us to be quiet, as the nuns are sleeping. Some people were going out for drinks at 10, but we have to get up and eat and leave at 8:30 and I really wanted to leave time to write my blog tonight.

We don't have internet at the convent here, but we do have internet at the Schoß where we are meeting for the rest of the orientation, so I will check emails and post my blog there.

I love and miss you all.

Tschüss! (i'm so glad they say that here! its like bye and we used it all the time in Germany, this can be your word of the day Hilary!).

Leaving Syracuse, Arriving in Graz

what a long day. I left Syracuse (after a nice visit with Hilary) in the afternoon, around 3:30 to fly to Philadelphia and then from Philly to Frankfurt. On my way onto the airplane they had a few different "Zeitungen" (newspapers) that were in German to read. I picked up "Die Zeit" and read through the Magazin portion of it on the plane, underlining words that I didn't know. I'm going to look them up at some point. I am suprised at how much German I have actually retained for not speaking it in a formal class for about a year. I spoke to all the flight attendants in German too, just to get comfortable with speaking German again. The flight was alright. The food on Lufthansa was much better than United food and they make nice dark strong coffee too. I didn't sleep more than maybe an hour total on the whole flight. It was hard to fall asleep with people on either side of you, and one woman whose head was like half way into my space. I didn't want to push her away though. Instead I just listened to music and read. There is an important election going on in German right now not just for the Bundeskanzler but also for the major party in the parliament. Looks like CDU is winning, which means that Angela Merkel stays in power. I'm not exactly sure what that means for Germany, I should look that up. The SPD is losing power, which is a dissapointment for that party.

When we landed it was about 8:30 am and my flight to Graz wasn't until 5!!! Dad mentioned that I could go take a train out into Frankfurt and wander around, but I knew that everything was closed (as it is Sunday) and also I didn't really feel like going out of security again and finding a place for my bags. I went to the gate for my Graz flight and there was a Passport dude. He asked for my passport and where I was going. Then he said "Können Sie mir deine Papier zeigen" meaning can you show me your ticket, but I thought he said "Wollen Sie bei mir bleiben?" which means do you want to stay with me and I was like, no i'd rather go to Austria and he just looked at me pretty blankly and asked me for my ticket again. I felt pretty dumb, but that was one of my first close-German contacts in a while so it's not so bad. He told me I was too early and that I'd have to wait until about 2:30. I wandered around looking at stuff and sitting and reading and trying not to fall asleep. I took a few short naps as well.

Finally! The time came for my flight to Graz. I had not seen any people my age at all all day until the flight to Graz. I thought maybe some of them were Teaching Assistants too, since I could tell they were english speakers, but none of them were at the Train Station when we got to Graz, so I don't think any of them were.

Flying into Austria was awesome. We passed over some really pointy craggly mountains that poked through the clouds.

Graz looked green and cute from above too. The river (Mura) that runs through it is bigger than I expected.

When I got off the plane in Graz I talked to my first Austrian. She was at the Information desk and i asked her where the train station was. She told me in german, and I understood her!! But I can definitely tell that Austrians have a different dialect/accent. I think she probably heard that I was speaking High German (the german they teach you in school) and was trying to speak clearly for me though.

As I was walking to the train station with my bags I passed an old couple. They spoke to me in High German and asked me if I needed a ticket. I said yes and they just gave me theirs. It was really nice of them, and it saved me having to figure out how to use the ticket machine, although it didn't look that hard. The next train wasn't coming for another hour and 15 min though! maybe because it was Sunday.

So I waited around and watched the sun set. A group of teenagers came over to buy some food from the vending machine and were playing around with the ticket machine and smoking cigarettes. I was listening to them talk to eachother and it was really interesting. They were speaking heavy dialect with eachother. I understood some things they said but a lot I didn't. I think I heard them say "net" instead of "nicht". I can't really describe how austrian german sounds different from high german, but it reminds me of bavarian german.

I really can't believe I am here. It is so surreal. I wish I had someone to share this new experience with though. It was weird traveling in an area I have never been completely alone.

When the train came I got on and went about 5 or so stations to the main train station "Hauptbahnhof". It was dark at this point, and I couldn't really hear them announcing the station names so I was peeking out the windows at every stop. The train dude came by asking for tickets of those who had just got on. I am very glad that I know German, or else I think it would be so hard to travel around.

As I was getting off the train the door closed on me and it didn't automatically open, I had to grab the handle with my arm that wasnt squished to open it. It was kind of embarassing. But not as embarassing as when I came out of the train station and put my bags in a cab and got in and asked to go to the Hotel Daniel, which the driver chuckled at and told me it was just right across the street. It looked farther on the map!

I wanted to explore the city a bit tonight but I didn't get to the hotel until 8:30 and instead talked to my parents and got some pizza, which I got at the train station right next door. Interestingly, there were people smoking in the train station at the pizza place. I don't remember people being able to smoke indoors in the German train stations. Yeah there were places to smoke on the platforms, but not inside as far as i remember.

I think I'll just chill here, shower, and plan my morning tomorrow. Perhaps get a phone so I can start calling people about finding a room to live in! Orientation is tomorrow at 4:30.