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Published: November 30th 2008
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I emailed this out to a few of you, but apparently it didn't go through on some. Here it is, if you haven't seen it! It means, "Drunken ideas the next day are usually total shit." I got quite a kick out of it.It's been a crazy and hectic weekend, but overall a good one.
Friday night I just laid low. Didn't really have anything to do or anyone to play with. Thomas was off with the Frenchies , and Libor had his volleyball class and went out with some of the people from it after. I ended up going for a little tour of the city on my own, as it was heavily snowing and I wanted to see everything lit up for Christmas with the snow. It was really really nice, and we ended up getting several inches of snow. I also ended up hanging out with Martyna and Agata for a little, which was fun, though difficult when they'd randomly start talking to each other in Polish. Oh well.
Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn and Libor, Thomas, and I had to run to Jakominiplatz. We caught the 8:50 bus, along with Martyna, Nico, Claire, Anouck, and Mai, to the village of St. Radegund, in order to hike Schöckl, a mountain there. Thomas, Nico, Claire, and Anouck are all from
Schnee!
Snow! Lots and lots of Snow! France, and Mai is from francophone Belgium, and so we pretty much spent the day listening to blabber in French. When we were on the bus home, the 5 of them ended up getting off at a stop before Martyna, Libor, and me, and the 3 of us looked at each other and at the same time all said, "Thank God I'm not from France!" It was overall a lot of fun, though. Tons of snow on Schöckl! We arrived there at about 9:30, and we chose to take a path that would take us about an hour and a half (well, it was actually the only path open to us, but it still sounds nicer to say we chose). More than two hours later, we had still not made it to the top. Every Saturday at noon, there's a siren that goes off from the Landeshaus in Hauptplatz, and oh my God is it loud. It sounds like an airraid horn (to the point that whenever we hear it, Libor and I yell "DIE DEUTSCHEN KOMMEN! DIE DEUTSCHEN KOMMEN!" (The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming!). Even on Schöckl, 12km outside of Graz, we STILL hear the siren,
Lendplatz
This was a little bit after it had started, so there wasn't too much...yet. if you can believe that. By that time, we were all pretty tired from the hike and also quite hungry, but luckily we were in sight of a building! Yes, well, turns out that building was a restaurant. Past tense. So, about 20 minutes of more hiking and we arrived at the top, and there we ate lunch. We ate inside since it was more than a little bit chilly standing on top of a mountain, as you'd imagine, but Libor and I were the first to arrive at the restaurant (we took a more direct route since we were hungry). Martyna also shortly joined us right after. The 3 of us waited for the rest on the deck of the restaurant, and Libor and I uncovered in the snow a little plaque-type thing describing what we were looking out at. It had an outline of the physical terrain, and the mountains we were looking at. In one view, we were looking at : Carinthia, the state next to mine in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary. Four countries in one view! That's pretty insane, not going to lie. However, we unfortunately did not get to fully
Mariahilferplatz
A Gluehwein stand in Mariahilferplatz, surrounded by trees. revel in this view, as we were actually so high up that we were above the cloud cover, and thus, we would have seen 4 countries together. It was, though, really cool and really pretty to see everything from above the clouds. Anyways, the French finally caught up with us , and we went in to eat. It was a nice little restaurant, though again got really obnoxious that Libor, Martyna, and I sat in relative silence. I tried some of Libor's gulasch soup, and I got actual gulasch for myself, which was the first time I'd ever eaten it. It was actually pretty good, though I preferred it in the soup form, and so now I know for next time. After that, we finally dragged the French away , and we were going to start to head back down. However, fog had moved in really fast, and was getting thicker with every passing second. We decided it probably wasn't the safest and
Stars
Behind the Kunsthaus. The regular streetlights have more or less been replaced by stars, trees, anything Christmasy you can think of. smartest idea to go back down on foot, and so we caught the lift back to the bottom. Also went a lot quicker . We had to wait for an hour before the next bus came, but then we hopped aboard and were back in Graz in 40 minutes.
Last night was fun. Libor wanted to try cooking some Czech food, though he'd never made it on his own before. Unfortunately, he tried a ton of times, but the bread we were using kept burning and neither of us could figure out why. We finally gave up and just had an assortment of breakfast foods for dinner, as that was all we both had in the apartment. He cooked eggs, and I actually did try a bite, which subsequently made me remember why I don't eat eggs. But hey, shut up, at least I tried it.
After that, we headed back to the Kunsthaus, with Martyna and Agata. We decided this week it was better to go in even numbers, and we got our salsa on. Luckily, Agata also has no idea how to dance, and so she and I attempted our hardest
Murinsel
Every international student here has a picture of the Murinsel lit up at night. Now I do, too. to dance some salsa. It hit the point that the instructor came over to us and was trying to help us, but could hardly speak he was laughing so hard. However, with time, we both got a lot better. We ended up all switching partners, and so I ended up with Martyna, Libor with Anouck, and Nico with Agata. The 3 groups all suddenly clicked, and the instructor couldn't believe how well we were all dancing. It was actually kind of cool, 'cause the other people there were stopping to watch us, 'cause the 6 of us actually looked like we knew what we were doing. The instructor actually taught us a few complicated dances, too, and we were all able to do them and actually do them well. How wild. We just hung out there for the night, take intervals to sit and relax and chat between dancing, and it overall a great time. Tomorrow night at a club by school, there's a free salsa thing going on, so we're all going to go to that.
Today was a pretty lazy day overall. Just hung out and did stuff around the apartment and my room, cleaning and
doing laundry and whatnot. However, the afternoon and evening was awesome! At 15:30, Libor and I met Anouck, Thomas, and Claire at the Rathaus in preparation for the Krampusumzüge. Now, you're probably wondering what in God's name a Krampusumzüge is. Well, I shall tell you! It's actually a really, really old belief in the Alpine Region, going back to before Christianity in the region. The villages in the mountains were obviously quite isolated from one another, and, like all ancient peoples, quite superstitious. They believed that demons lived in the forest, and that the demons would come into the villages and try to capture the children, especially little girls, and try to harm them, etc. The children had to be very good and obedient, etc., to prove to the demons that they shouldn't be taken away from their parents and families. The word Krampus comes from the Old Germanic word meaning "claw," in reference to the sharp fingernails/claws of the demons. However, when Christianity began to attempt to stamp out every other culture in the world , they failed to stamp out everything. Thus, as we all hopefully know, Christmas is celebrated on December 25th
Alleyway
One of the little alleys leading to Hauptplatz. because that was the Pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice, though it's commonly known that Jesus was most likely born in March. Well, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and you can take the Alpine beliefs away. The Krampusse remained, despite Christianity. As many of you also might know, Santa Claus does not actually make the rounds for the entire world, or at least not for Europe. December 25th in Europe is really not all that special. It of course is observed and has its meaning, but not to the extreme we go in America. Instead, December 6th, St. Nicholas' Day, is the big one, and then the Epiphany in January. Well, those clever Christians decided that if they couldn't get rid of the Krampusse, they'd attach them to St. Nicholas. Thus, when St. Nicholas comes to Austria on December 6th, he is always accompanied by the Krampusse. Austrian children need to prove to them that they are good and obedient children, and that they've behaved for their parents, or they risk being taken away by the Krampusse and being attacked, beaten, etc. Makes the coal sound a lot nicer, huh? Anyways, as St. Nicholas' Day
Snow Fever
Everyone was quite excited for the snow, regardless of language. is next Saturday and today is the first Sunday of Advent, the Krampusse took Graz by storm.
We met at 15:30 to get ready for the invasion at 16. While we were waiting, it started to torrentially downpour, much to our dismay. We were all pretty mad about it, and griping as we huddled under an overhang from one of the stores by Hauptplatz. As we cursed our unfortunate luck, we started to hear a low rumble in the distance. It was just far enough away that it actually was a little foreboding. Everyone subsequently heard it, and the chatter started to die down, as we just listened to this steady beat slowly approaching, which matched the beating of your heart. It was overall a very stressful and odd feeling, as you could feel Graz starting to change, and a legitimate fear covering the city. The rain started to lighten up, and we ran to the street. We looked to our left, the entire group of thousands of people together on the street, in the direction of high-pitched, truly terrified female screams. The sky suddenly lit up in bright pink, and we saw in the distance fire and smoke,
Sporgasse
Blurry, but you get the idea. and a mass of things approaching us. Teenagers were gathered in the path of the approaching horde, trying to prove to one another they wouldn't be afraid. Adults even gathered in the streets in protest against the coming terror. As the drumming got louder, the pink explosions brightened, and the smoke thicker, more and more men, women, teenagers, and children started to flee, all with legitimate looks of panic on their faces. Some were jogging, others were sprinting. Either way, you knew they didn't want a part of what was coming. And then they arrived.
The Krampusse are monsters that always have horns and have long shaggy fur. They have long claws, and bright eyes. They wear bells around their waists, which add to the panic and confusion they bring. As they started to invade the city and Hauptplatz, it was definitely no longer 2008 in Graz. It was a new world, with people of all ages legitimately afraid, even though we knew it was all an act. Even as Libor and I stood there , we flinched, jumped back, ducked, and held our breath whenever a Krampus turned their eyes our way.
Mausoleum
The Hapsburg Mausoleum, lit up with falling snow. We had a little girl next to us who was probably no more than 3, and she was totally terrified. She just kept shrieking, "NEIN. NEIN. GEMMA NACH HAUSE, GEMMA NACH HAUSE." For about an hour, demons flooded the city, and attacked men, women, and children, testing them to make sure they were true, good, and just. It was probably the coolest thing I've seen and experienced since being in Austria.
When the final demons had gone by, we heard loud explosions and a huge commotion coming from the Hauptplatz, and as we quickly headed down there to see what was going on, we found the entire Hauptplatz lit from the glow of the Christmas tree, finally lit for the Advent season! We reveled for a little in the joy of being in Austria and the experiences we're having, and then headed home. The French went off to have a French filled night and eat dinner together, and Libor and I came home and he cooked some chicken.
Overall, it's been a very tiring and active weekend, but such an awesome weekend filled with lots of laughs and lots of
Heinrichstrasse
Walking to Hauptplatz, also the sight of the Krampusumzuege. frights. It's now officially Advent Season in Graz, and we're on the countdown 'til Winter Break. If you need me, I'll be enjoying my postcard perfect forgotten city snuggled away in an unvisited region of Austria.
So take that, Fraulein Maria.
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Mom
non-member comment
Wow! Scary......monsters!!!!! Glad you took the lift down!