Week number one!

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I won't say it was a 100% easy start! On the 1st of October 2007 I arrived in Graz and was (thankfully) met by my mentor, an absolutely amazing lady called Ines. She took me to my new home, a student home called Green Box, where I found out that I am living in a flat with four boys. And it was really really dirty. Like, really.

But I am a trooper and I settled down to clean my room that hadn't been cleaned by the last occupant or, you know, a CLEANER. I can't say that I slept amazingly well that night!

The next day I was thrown straight in at the deep end in a staff meeting with my colleagues. I can say right now that the breakfast provided at a Kinderbuero staff meeting is no mean affair. You can live very well off a Kinderbuero breakfast, and save some for lunch, too. I have quickly learned (as I'm sure every European Volunteer does) to deeply appreciate every free meal provided in my life, and the Kinderbuero breakfast is a king amongst free meals. After finding out that I would also be taking a Pilates class once a week with my colleagues, and discovering that my mentor brings her (small and yappy) dog to work, I was hushed out of the office to find my feet in Graz.

So, after getting to know my coordinator at Logo, the organisation responsible for most of the Graz volunteers, I spent basically the whole week in various offices filling out different pieces of paperwork. I also went out a few times in a bid to meet new people (it's not that easy to meet people in Austria - Austrian people are very reserved!), and ended up in a metal bar, a random party, a traditional Austrian pub where you can hammer nails into a log (???) and drink pumpkin seed schnapps, and perhaps most impressively for a first week in a foreign country, on an accidental date. An excellent start . . .

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Photos

My Bed.
As you will shortly see, everything in Green Box is, erm, Green!

My Flat.
Also green!

Our View
Step out onto our balcony and this is what you see. Or saw, before all of the leaves fell off the trees . . .

Green Box
My 'home'.

Graz in all it's Green Glory
Way back when, before Autumn hadn't done it's worst.

Date Man
I ended up going on a kind of accidental date with this man. And then a second one to try and undo the damage from the first one. It's a complicated story. He was very nice though.

Drinking Games, Austrian Style
I don't remember this girl's name, but you can see from her face that this game is extremely difficult!

Comments

[Deanna]

dude, your green flat is way nicer than Waveney!