Blogs from Köflach, Styria, Austria, Europe

Well it looks like I might be taking a small trip to Croatia this weekend. It's a lovely place; I've already been to places like the capital city of Zagreb and the horrifying tourist trap of Dubrovnik (but luckily when I was there the wind was so awful and it was so cold and rainy that most of the tourists apparently decided to go elswhere. Or maybe they were all just curled up under the covers in the beds of their hotel rooms, who knows). To tell you the truth, yesterday when I woke up I hadn't had a darned clue I was planning on taking a trip to this former Yugoslavian country, but alas, by the end of the day I found out I was going to have to. You see, in order to get ... read more

Today I decided it was time for me to speak my mind. Usually when I am confronted with a controversial topic, I tend to let the other person speak their mind, and if I disagree, I usually just keep quiet. I've been here in this small Austrian town now for about 7 months, and frankly that's too long for me to let people make perpetually offensive/racist comments and let them go on with their lives without thinking that they had said anything offensive. Im Gegenteil! Tonight I was horribly offended by the dinner conversation. For Easter Break I intend to travel through the former Yugoslavia with 2 other people, both whom I would describe as highly intelligent. I would never step into such a foreign realm without being sure that I was in safe accompaniment. We ... read more

I can't seem to get my "location" right, but I'm still here in Austria, die Steiermark, Bezirk Voitsberg, and even better, in Koeflach. The "o" in that word there needs two dots over it and sounds like an "ee" sound but with your lips rounded, so that it ultimately sounds like something ridiculously Germanic or scandinavian. I'm still working on the vowels here. Looks like you'll never find out how I got down the mountain in detail, but for those of you who are curious, I used my two legs and sometimes an arm for support. We cut off 3 hours by going down the mountainsides sometimes. And if you slipped, you slipped on some puffy snow so it didn't hurt. The way down was so much easier, but at the last stretch I was so ... read more

Hello. I'm not a computer person so although I have a few photos I'd like to share, I can't, because I'm computorily challenged. At 23, I should be well computered. Sadly I'm not, for I hate them when they randomly turn off or erase my entire email. Modern times, these days. It's like a complicated relationship, you don't like it all the time but you need it. This is, however a TRAVEL blog, which means I shouldn't be blabbing on about computers. I'm not actually travelling either, because I live here in Austria, and will be living here for the next 7 months or so (perhaps longer; it depends on how well I can handle myself around all the racist homophobes). Generally, however, I have no complaints and find myself to be happier and more satisfied ... read more