Blogs from Styria, Austria, Europe - page 6

Here it is, the one I've been dreading, the one to end this wild ride. It's hard for me to believe that I'm leaving Graz in 7 hours, and won't be soon returning. It's truly leaving home to go home. The last few days, weeks, months, I don't think I could ever put them into words. I've tried my best to keep you guys updated, to share my experiences with you, but even then, my words often fell short. I've seen sights of breath-taking beauty, I've been startled by scenes of bruteness. I've found myself in several sticky situations, and somehow managed to finagle my way out. I've conquered the Alps by foot, bike, ski, raft, car, bus, and plane. I've lain in a field on the side of the mountain as the bells of the ... read more

Until now I do not think we had found our holiday spirit - our minds were still whizzing and whirring to the beat of the working week I think. In Graz we started to unwind and change our thinking a bit. We stayed at the Hotel Daniel, near the railway and tram interchange. The hotel was a funky looking place, modern and cheerful. The surrounding area was interesting, almost next door was the 24 hour, non stop sex show and numerous bars on the way to the tram/rail station. Aside from a few drunks, and some street people, it was ok. Graz has a long history and is the capital of Styria. Also, it is the home of a building that looks very much like a bodily organ (perhaps a set of lungs), it is also ... read more

Happy Mother's Day! We're now about to hear about Matthew's adventures hiking in the Alps! My friend L'ubomír from Slovakia had some friends coming to town this weekend, so he asked a few of us if we wanted to go to Baerenshuetzklamm, a really cool place to hike about 40 minutes north of Graz. We all said yes, and so yesterday morning at about 11am, two cars pulled out of Graz and headed north to Mixnitz, a small village in the mountains. On the trip was: L'ubomír + 3 friends , me, Libor, Jana , Jevgenij , Ana , and Monika . We were all feelin' good and excited to go, all had lots of energy for our small hike. About 45 minutes later, climbing a nearly vertical slope, having sweat out every singl... read more

Greetings all, Since I haven't written on here in a while, I'm certain my avid readers are chomping at the bit. Anyways, tonight is the night that begins my Easter vacation and adventures. The last few weeks since Rachel left have been insanely busy, as I have so much work to do this semester, what with having many more classes than last semester. I have classes in 3 languages outside of German, which is also a challenge, and then the last week was spent doing at least 6 hours of research a day about the Russification of Finland in the 1800s and then Finland's freedom from Russia in 1917, culminating with a 45 minute presentation, in German no less, on Tuesday for a group of 20 Austrians. Needless to say, Monday night was a sleepless night. ... read more

Greetings all, It's been a bit since I've updated this thing because I've been all over the place this past week with none other than Rachel Greene and Michael Banks on their maiden voyage to Europe. Since it's been a while, I'll catch you up on some things. On March 2nd, we started school here, our summer semester. So far, my classes all seem pretty interesting, and, if you're wondering, these are what they are: Monday: Sprachen der Welt ; a general overview of the major language families, linguistics, etc., basically all stuff I already know but interesting nonetheless; the professor speaks in really really thick Austria, so it's kind of a challenge to understand everything he says, but so it goes. Tuesday: Skandinavien und der Kontinent im 20. Jahrhundert ; this class should be really ... read more