Less than 3 weeks

I am 16, going on 17! -- The actually Gazebo that was danced in during the Sound of Music! A picture of the mountains in Corinthia. It was absolutely beautiful!

The view from Michi's house. That mountain is the highest in Corinthia. You can't see it in this picture, but the mountain that is just behind that one that you can see on a clear day, is actually Slovenia.

Once again it has been a while since I have blogged. But lucky for you, in the last 18 hours or so, I have read through 100 pages of European/Austrian history and taken notes on it. Blogging seemed like a nice 20 minute break or so. It was either that or start trudging through the 119 pages I have left. Needless to say, I'm blogging.

Shortly after my last post, I gave a presentation to my Business German course about the state of Wisconsin. I don't know how much German I actually spoke because some things just don't translate or Germans use the English word, but they were absolutely flabbergasted at the idea of how cold it could get in Wisconsin and all the different type of weather we have to deal with. My teacher could not understand how we could be an agriculture state when it only stays really warm for three or so months. I tried to explain to her that we are not able to grow absolutely all crops, but she just didn't get it since Austria is able to grow pretty much everything.

Since my last post I have had a chance to visit Corinthia, which is in Southern Austria. A friend of mine, Michi is from there and I was able to spend a long weekend with her family. Her family, i felt, was more "Americanized" than Astrid's family in upper Austria. Michi's family had 3 cars and a large house that was recently built. She lives on the top of a mountain in an 800 person village. In order to get to any sort of civilization outside the village, one has to drive down these small narrow mountain roads. The people are so used to driving them, they just fly up and down them. It is quite scary. You can look over the edge of the road and it is straight down. I don't know how these people could do that in the winter. I think I'd just live at the top of the mountain for six months!!! While there, I was able to go to a festival called a "Feuerwehr Fest" and it was bascially like being in the beer tent at the local fair. All the fire stations in these small towns and villages are volunteer, so it is through these small festivals that they are able to raise all their money. I was also able to go to a place called Minimundus. It has tiny replicas of important places from all over the world. It was really cool. I also was able to go to a castle and I picked up a cookbook full of typical Austrian foods!

The following couple weeks mostly just were about school. On the 31st of May, I took my Cross-Cultural Management exam and am happy to report that I received an A in the course! Woohoo!

The first week of June, Kirsten and I had a couple days off so we went up to Salzburg for a night. We went up on a Tuesday afternoon and stayed in a hostel. It rained the entire time we were there. Although, we did expect the rain because it rains so much in Salzburg, there is an actual name for the rain there in German. The hostel we stayed at was really nice. We were having a beer in the bar there and I turned around saw that a guy was wearing a Badger football t-shirt there! I asked him if he really was a Badger and it turned out HE WAS! He had been working in Jordan the past two years with refugees and was going through Europe before he was heading home for a year. What a small world! And being proud Badger fans, we did sing "Varsity" in the bar. People looked at a funny, but we didn't care! So, the next day in Salzburg, Kirsten and I went on the Sound of Music tour and were able to see most of the places the movie were filmed. Because it was raining so hard, that is really all we did in Salzburg and then headed home.

The following Friday, Kirsten and I finally made it out to the castle in Graz -- Schloss Eggenberg. It was a really cool castle and everything architecturally was depicted about the calendar. For example, there were in total 365 windows, 12 rooms on the 2nd floor -- the first 6 were the day rooms, the 2nd 6 were the night rooms, etc. The grounds were absolutely beautiful. There were roses everywhere, of every different color! Kirsten was able to feed a peacock too! (I also saw an albino peacock for the first time in my life!) Also that first weekend of June I was able to see my first boxing match ever. Kirsten and my friend, Andy, does Kickboxing and he had a match in Graz. Kirsten and I watched 4 hours of boxing, kickboxing, and thaiboxing. It was crazy to see women do these sports too!!!

Last Wednesday I was able to go and tour a magazine producation factory. It is named "Die Kleine Zeitung" (The little magazine) and found out it is the most efficient production of magainzes in Europe with the number of pages it prints off in an hour. Last weekend then, the World Cup started and we have been watching most of the games since. World Cup madness, is what I like to call it, has taken over Europe. For the last World Cup, I was in Germany, so it is interesting to be in Austria because Austria doesn't have a team in the Championship. They are crazy about it anyway! Last Saturday after England and the U.S. tied their game 1-1, Kirsten and I went to a "Best of the 80's" Party. It was so awesome. It is definately the best party to go to in Graz! It is too bad that is our last one, since the next one is on the 19th of July and we'll be home by then!

Now, for the next 10 days, I am going through Austrian history notes in preperation for my final on the 25th, writing a 15 page paper comparing Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream Speech" to the 1960's for my U.S. Cultural Myths course, and preparing for my Business German final on the 24th. Whew! It's going to be a busy 9 days! But I know I'll get through them and they will go fast! The other day Kirsten and I were walking out of the grocery store by our dorm and an Austrian guy turns to us and says in English, "Listening to you is like watching a reality TV show on MTV! It is so awesome!" Oh, the it's the little things in life that make you laugh!

Exactly 20 days until I come home and it is definately a very bittersweet feeling. I'm anxious to get home and see all of you and tell you all my crazy Europe stories, but I'm hoping the time goes slow because it is impossible to wrap my head around the idea that I have to say goodbye to my friends that I have made here. I had a dream the other night that I was driving my car again back in the States and because it had been so long since I drove, I didn't remember how and I ended up hitting a tree! I hope that isn't what's going to happen in reality!

There is my life in the last month. It's still been quite the adventure!

I want to finish this blog by wishing my mother a very very very Happy Birthday today! Alles gute zum Geburtstag! (Which, means happy birthday in German) I hope you have an absolutely wonderful day because you completely deserve it! I love you so much and I'm coming home soon!

It's been a while...

So...I am still alive! :)

I just realized today, sitting down at my computer, that it has been over a month since I have posted something. -- My apologies. It just seems like it has gotten to the point where my day-in and day-out of my life really doesn't change all that much. Spring break ended up bein ga lot of fun. I spent 5 days with my roommate at her house and then I came back and celebrated Kirsten's 20th birthday with her! We threw a big party and introduced the Austrians to jello shots!

Since then, I've just turned into a student again. It seems like the last couple weeks it's just been test and presentations. And it will be like this for the next couple weeks. June should slow down a bit with just finals here and there, but not any presentations, which is nice. I'm still enjoying my time here in Graz, but I'm getting ready to come home. I miss my family and friends and anxiously awaiting to see their faces again. :) It will be sad to say goodbye to my friends here, but we're making plans to see each other again, so I know it's not a goodbye forever.

I've also realized in the past couple weeks here that I want to do my graduate study work in Cross Cultural Management. I find the field very interesting and very essential in the ever-changing, fast-paced globalization that is occurring. There's quite a few programs out East and specifically, there is one at University of Maryland that I'm going to look into. Hopefully I'll be able to find some sort of research assistant position and have my schooling to help be paid for.

I hope everything is going well back home! The weather has finally gotten nice here in Graz and it looks like it is finally getting nice back home! Have a great beginning of summer! I'll see you in less than 7 weeks! :)

Spring Break so Far

So, I am 6 days into my spring break and it really hasn't been boring at all. I resolved my issues with my wallet being stolen -- after cancelling all my cards and spending 2 hours at an Austrian police station. I got my new Uni Graz ID card, so now I don't have to always carry around my passport. At this point, I'm just waiting for my new credit/debit cards to arrive. Meanwhile, I have been enjoying Graz with my Austrian friends.

Saturday, I spend the day in the city drinking coffee and doing a bit of window shopping. Sunday, I went to the best little cake shop with my Austrian friends and then we watched a couple movies that night. Monday, I spend the day in the park and then had an Austrian BBQ. I knew that Austrian men could eat a lot of food, but this was about an hour and a half of boys eating. It was quite impressive. The food was really good. Tuesday and Wednesday were lazy days and today I went shopping at H&M. I got 3 new shirts and a dress for summer. I just cannot believe how cheap the clothes are at H&M. Not to mention, it is really nice having 2 H&M's about 5 minutes about from each other isn't bad either. I, then, went and had a smoothie with a girl on my floor.

I also realized today, that I need to go grocery shopping because everything -- including restaurants -- is closed all weekend because of Easter. A lot of places are actually closed through Monday because of Easter Monday. I don't know how people do this. What happens if you forgot to buy something for your Easter dinner and you don't realize it until Saturday???!!!

I don't have a lot of plans for the weekend. Tomorrow, I am cooking dinner with a friend and then the weekend will be full of surprises. I have about 100 pages of Austrian history that I have to read through. I suppose I could do that. (If I become motivated.)

Well, that's about it for now. I hope everyone is enjoying the weather back home. It's warmer there than it is here. Have a great Easter!

Lessons Learned While in the Last Day

So, in the last 24 hours I have learned a few lessons that I thought I would share, due to my wallet being stolen in a foreign country:

1.)There is no reason to bring your U.S. Social Security card to Europe. I will now have to watch my credit for the rest of my life. (70+ years)

2.)Even though cash is used pre-dominately in Europe, never carry a lot with you. Thank goodness I didn't have a lot in my wallet.

3.)Put your pin number for your Austrian bank account in your phone. Do not keep it in your wallet, thinking that your wallet will never be stolen.

4.)Bring 2 credit cards and a check card to Europe. Keep the check card and 1 credit card in your wallet, but keep 1 at home just in case the other two are stolen, you are not without some form of money. I didn't have a 2nd credit card.

5.)Only take out necessary identification. There is no reason to carry around 2 school ID's and your driver's license in a foreign country.

6.) The only insurance card you need to carry around in Austria is your Austrian Health Insurance. There is no logical reason why a person should be carrying around her U.S. health insurance card.

7.) Make copies of all the above documents. I did not.

8.)I am lucky that my passport was not stolen and I am physically fine.

And the most important lesson I learned in the last day,

9.)You are always going to need your mother. I am so thankful for mine. I have the most wonderful mama in the world, who will wake up at midnight to answer the phone when her only daughter calls her crying about her wallet being stolen in a foreign country. Even more credit to her that she doesn't panic and just tries to calm her daughter down.

I will keep everyone being posted on how I get this situation figured out.

New Pictures

A beautiful picture of Graz with the Alps in the distance. One of the sunniest days yet!

Me at the top of the hill!

Another pretty sunny picture in a park in Graz. That's a church in the distance

This is the picture of the circle outside my dorm. Monday, it was 60 degrees and sunny. The best day yet!

Me on my first day of school! (I had to take this one for my Mom!)

Another Beautiful Day in Graz

I would just like to start by saying that it is the third day in a row here that it has been about 55 degrees. People here are starting to believe that Spring is here. :) I saw that it is quite cold back home. :(

I'm still doing well here. I'm finishing up my German Intensive Course this week. I have my written and oral exams tomorrow. They shouldn't be too difficult, just a bit time-consuming. Also, our Austrian friends finish their exams tomorrow, so we'll probably be going out with them.

Nothing exciting is really happening here. I feel like I am finally adjusted to life here, although it is hard to look at the same four walls all the time. I was just never a dormitory person. It's nice though, now that the weather is better. That's all for now. :)

Guten Tag from Graz!

I apologize that I have not been blogging as much as I though I would have time for. I feel that I'm on the go all the time and when I am in my room, it's to sleep for a bit and get up and do it all over again. With that said, I am still having the time of my life. This has been the best experience. I'm still meeting a lot of new Austrian friends. In the last few days, I've met a girl named Lisa, and I'm pretty sure that she'll probably be my best friend that I make here. She is such a sweetheart.

Yesterday, we celebrated Fasching. In English, Fasching is Carnival. It's like Halloween. We were able to dress up and go out with all of our friends here that we've made so far. And once it got dark, there was a big party in the middle of downtown. They had multiple stages with music set up and light shows. It was a lot of fun.

This week we have a lot of orientation stuff and learning how to enroll in our classes. It is not the most exciting of afternoons. Tomorrow, I'm meeting a couple of my Austrian friends for coffee who are international business majors, so they're going to help me pick out classes.

I'll try to keep up on my posting better. I hope everyone is doing well on the other side of the pond. Skype is probably the best way to get a hold of me if you ever want to chat! Just remember the 7 hour time difference!

A Few More Photos to Share

Architechture in Graz

The Opera house in Graz

All of us out at Propellor enjoying the super bowl

The main square of the city

Architecture and the mountain in the background with a fresh layer of snow

My Week So Far

This week, I am feeling the frustrations of being in another country with a dialect that is different from my language that I feel I'm just not quite completely grasping. The systems between the universities here are so different. At U.S. universities, housing and everything is taken care of when you enroll and you just have to send in a few forms. Here, on the other hand, the housing companies are completely different from the university. You can't write a check here. You have to either pay in cash or have the money wired. Also, we had to sign up today for Austrian health insurance (it's mandated by law -- everyone here has it), but the bad part is I'm covered under my parents health insurance in the U.S. and the U.S. government requires that when students go abroad they buy some international health insurance. I am triple covered right now. Ugh. So I had to pay for the international health insurance, and now I find out I have to pay 25 Euro/month for my health insurance here.

Another frustration is the language. Kirsten and I have been slacking a bit on speaking German. It it just so easy to come back to the dorm and speak English because everyone does. But we decided that we were going to try and speak German because classes are getting more difficult when we only speak 4 hours of German each day. So, we came back here and started speaking German, and we were told by some of our friends that they don't understand our German. I don't know how it's possible. When I speak German in class or to my roommate, I am quite understood. Oh, I'm sure my language will get better, it is just frustrating today. Yesterday, for me was worse. Kirsten is having her bad day today.

I just found out about 20 minutes ago that Graz has a Hooters, yes a Hooters, just like the U.S. Also, when we were walking around downtown yesterday, we found a Chi-Chi's mexican restaurant. It was really cold walking around yesterday, but today it is even colder. Tonight we have a social with the other international students and our buddies(mentors) and then I think we're going to go out a bit to celebrate Trevor's 21st birthday. 21 isn't a big birthday here, but we think that Trevor still needs a taste of what we would be celebrating if we were back home.

Okay, that's good for now. Oh yes, I did get to watch the Superbowl Sunday night. It got done here at 4am. Needless to say, we were a bit tired the next day when we had to wake up for classes that started at 9! I hope everyone is staying warm back home!!!! :)

Austrian Nightlife

The previous two nights, Friday and Saturday, Kirsten and I were able to explore the way Austrians pick each other up in the bar. We went out to a dance club, both nights, called Gekko. It is very interesting watching the young people here interact. It is quite different from the U.S.

I feel that in the U.S. women pretty much control the bar (i.e. in big groups, guys come to them, etc.) and guys go out in pairs looking for girls. In Austria, it seems to be completely opposite. (Now remember, it was my first weekend here.) Guys and girls both dance here to songs, but guys dance in big groups, while girls seem to pair off more. And not only do guys dance in big groups, but when Kirsten and I tried to join them, it was like they didn't want us to. The guys always had their arms around each other. Kirsten kept saying, "Oh, look! They love each other so much!" I think eye contact in bars is a big thing here. Austrian men seem to be shy/intimidated by girls. There are a couple that would have a pick up line, but then they wouldn't know what to say next. It was a bit entertaining.

Last night, the Austrian girls didn't seem to like us all that much. We're chalking it up to being American and actually being able to dance, but we're going to have to figure out this one further. Everytime that we would leave or go on the dance floor, very subtly, but obviously an Austrian girl would shove or elbow us. It was so odd. I feel it was quite similar to catty American girls, so I'm really not worried about it. They were just jealous. :)

So yes, it was quite interesting. Friday night we stayed out until about 3am and then last night we got in at 4:30am. The clubs open here around 9pm and are open until about 6 or 7am. It is the craziest thing. At 4:30 we were so tired, we just couldn't dance or move anymore, but we looked around and the party wasn't dying. My mentor and her friend came out with us and when we were leaving, they were going to leave, but once we went outside they said they were going to go to the next bar. I don't know how they do it, but I'm eventually going to be able to! I'm going to have to build up my stamina!

Okay, I can't think of anything else about the nightlife here to say. But I do get to watch the Superbowl today! They're showing it at a bar not far from where I'm living at 10pm tonight. Go Saints!!! (Now, if only I had my Mackenzie jersey here with me.)

Almost a week

Here is a picture of my roommate, Astrid, and I at a social for our international group. A group of us out on the 2nd night at the classiest bar I've ever been to.

They have toilet paper in every color. Kirsten and I chose pink.

A view of Graz

A picture of Graz

So, laying here in bed at 4am I have just realized that I have not blogged from Graz yet! I did just get a constant stream of internet today, so it isn't completely my fault! It is wonderful here in Graz. I absolutely love it! It is better than I thought it would be. I have met some of the nicest people. They are willing to help me with anything and everything. My roommate is very nice and always is willing to do something. Life is a bit crazier here than in the U.S. when it comes to going out. Yesterday and today, for example, Kirsten (the girl from Eau Claire I'm with) and I took naps in the early evening in preparation for our nights out on the town. Young people don't go out here until 11pm or 12am and stay out until 5 or 6am. Needless to say, we are having a hard time adjusting to that. We have typically been going out around 10pm and coming back around 2:30am. We are just used to the American way I guess!

Class is going really well. I'm taking the cultural immersion class everyday from 9am-12:30pm. My professor really seems to like Americans and likes to speak with us alot and ask us questions about our culture. It's actually quite interesting how interested he is in American culture. At the university here, people can actually study American/English culture and declare it as a major. I think that's really cool. Okay, well now it is 4:30am and I am quite tired. I will try and keep up better with this. I did get a cell phone and have been in contact with my mom more often than anything. So if you want to get a quicker version of how I am doing, you can always ask her :)

I hope all is well for everyone...oh yea, it's snowing here. :-P

In Munich!

It's currently 10:33 am where I am now. I'm waiting for my last plane to Graz. It takes off in about an hour and a half. Currently, it is 3:33am back home when I am typing this. I am soooo excited!

The flight over was...long. I sat next to a Croatian women that did not speak German and spoke limited English. She had leg cramping and kept trying to get me to help her even though most of the time I didn't understand. I don't think she understood that when I had my earplugs in watching a movie or listening to music that I just wanted "me" time. During the flight, I realized that I forgot my extra pairs of contacts back home and my stuff to get around campus that I recieved from the university. I will have to email my Mom and ask her to send me all that stuff! Oh, the joys of packing a day before I leave. I just have to say I'm glad that the long leg of my trip is over with.

I hope everyone is sleeping well. I'll post once I get to Graz! :)

Now less than a week away!

I am exactly 6 days away from my adventure beginning! I am sooo excited! I have had bits of anxiety creep up here and there, but I feel that as soon as I am organized with my packing, I will feel a huge sense of relief. I have to just keep reminding myself that Austria is an industrialized country, so if I forget anything, I will be able to buy it there. :)

This is going to be an extremely busy week for me. I am in Wausau today and tomorrow, then heading to Eau Claire on Thursday. Friday and Saturday during the day I will be up in Minnesota visiting my Dad and then returning Saturday night. Then on Sunday, I have laundry and packing to do. Then Monday, Mom, Mark, and I leave for Chicago around 9am. Whew...makes me winded just thinking about it!

That's all for now! My next post will probably be from Europe!!!!! Bis dann! (Until then!)

Less Than a Month Away

(A picture of Graz -- where I'll be going to school.)

I am exactly 27 days away from my trip to Austria. I will be flying out Feb 1st from Chicago, connecting in Munich, and arriving in Graz about 10 hours later. I will be there for 5 months (returning July 6th).

I can't even describe how excited I am. At this point, I have felt no nervousness. Over the course of the semester, I will be blogging on here to let everyone know how I'm doing, what I'm doing, and posting pictures of my trip. This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!