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Published: June 28th 2009
The Czech
We took pictures of this map so that we at least had something if we couldn't find a regular map that we could have with us.Hi all!
I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update, things here have been a whirlwind, and I've had hardly enough time to sleep.
On Wednesday, June 17th, Libor and I celebrated the approaching summer by waking up at 5:30 in the morning. Weird, huh? Well, we scadaddled to the Hauptbahnhof, where we purchased our tickets, destination: Ljubljana. For those wondering, you pronounce it Luh-yoo-bluh-yana. It's the capital of Slovenia, that tiny little country with which Austria shares one of its borders. Anyways, we pulled out of Graz at 6:30am, arrived in Maribor at 7:30am, had a half-hour to kill, and then boarded our train headed for the capital. After a run-in with the conductor , we got comfy for our 2 hour ride south. At about 10:15am, we rolled into the train station and heart of the capital of one of the former Yugloslav states.
As we were both jonesing for something to eat, we decided to get something from the closest place we say...which turned out to be McDonald's. After savoring the local cuisine, we procurred a map, and headed into
The Church
That "little" church we'd found was really not so little. the city. It was a nice city, but I don't need to rush back any time soon. As it is, Slovenia is for me a kind of odd place. I can't figure out why, but something just feels a little "off" when I'm there. That's not to say it's not a nice country, 'cause it actually is quite a pretty place. Slovene as a language is also odd for me, as it's Slavic, but doesn't really sound it and is just sort of different. Of course, I'm learning one of the most complicated Slavic languages, Czech, and Slovene is nowhere near as complicated, though still in the same language family, so that could be why it's sort of odd. Czech contains a lot of things that the other Slavic languages have either lost or not developed, but that's another story.
Anyways, after heading into the city with our map, we came up with our attack plan, drew our cameras , and allowed the picture-taking to commence. The most important sites of the city were marked with numbers, and we had about 7 hours before our train headed back to Austria. We were at the beginning
a little nervous as to whether we'd see everything. Forty-five minutes and 90%!o(MISSING)f the city later, confusion set in. We were both startled by the fact that we'd seen the entire city so quickly , and didn't know what to do. We'd seen most anything, from the "Skyscraper" to the American Embassey to Slovene Parliament, etc. Anyways, after seeing all these major spots in such a short time, we were both very confused. As we climbed up to the castle, we chatted about it and decided it must be so small and odd because it wasn't supposed to be a capital. When Yugoslavia split up and the new countries were formed, the biggest cities of each country were in turn chosen to be the capitals, even if they weren't particularly ready for it. Thus, Ljuljana
had the title sort of dumped on it, and we figured that was the reason it was small and whatnot.
Anyways, we kept climbing to the castle, explored there a little, and then headed back down into the city to sit at a cafe and get something to drink. We then headed back to the other side of the city to the city's park, where we strolled a bit and sat on a bench to take a rest. With 3 hours until our train left, we decided to mosey back into the city, where we grabbed a kebap for dinner, which was the worst either of us had ever had in our lives, and then headed to the train station to kill time before we left. Our train left Ljubljana at about 5:30pm headed for Maribor, and, once again after a half-hour stop, back to Graz. We got back at about 9:30pm, and were both very relieved to be back in our city, which by all accounts is much more interesting than Ljubljana.
On Friday the 19th, I had my first major exam, Old Church Slavonic and the History of the Slavic Languages. In a classic Austrian professor
Presernov Trg
Presernov Square, one of the main squares of Ljubljana. move, the exam was 7 questions, 3 of which we'd barely studied in class. The Austrian professors hate their students, and have a fine way of quizzing you on things that you can't possibly know or have learnt, which is a real treat. After BSing my way through the exam, I headed to the main building of the university to meet up with my friends, as our friend David from Graz was giving us a personal tour of Graz. He's studying to be a tour guide in Graz , and wanted to get a little practice, as well as show us a few cool things about the city before we left. Also, to get his license, he has to prove proficiency in another language other than German, and so he was still back and forth about whether or not he should choose English or French. Our tour was of course in German, and then he would ask me how to say several things in English , or to translate certain things into English to hear how it'd sound. He did the same with some of our French friends who
Ljubljanica
The river that runs through Ljubljana. were there. Anyways, the tour started at about 3:30, and we were still going at 9:30pm. We actually learnt a ton of cool things, like where the Medieval and then Renaissance walls of the city stood, that the legend in Graz is that there's a mass grave under the fountain in the middle of the city's park for victims of the Plague in the Middle Ages-a fountain which was a gift from the French and which is a smaller version of the fountain on the Champs Elysees but exactly the same. We visited several courtyards from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and got to see a model of Graz in the 1800s that you usually can't see. We visited the Styrian Parliament after hours, and broke into a seminary. Overall, it was a fun and interesting day, despite the disastrous exam. At the beginning, we were a group of about 12, and then at the end, it was just David, Libor, Martyna, Mio, and me. Our friend Milena, from Austria with whom we'd been on the Weinstrasse, came and joined us. We sat there and drank a beer while counting down to my 21st birthday .
THE SKYSCRAPER
All 13 stories... Anyways, at 12, we said a woohoo it's my birthday and were promptly kicked out of the restaurant.
On my birthday, I slept in a bit, and then was greeted in the morning by Martyna, Anouck, and Darija with a cake and candles singing me Happy Birthday . The four of us, Libor, and Thomas sat and had a breakfast of cake, and then I set in for a lowkey day. It was absolutely downpouring, which made it all the more impressive that Anouck made the treck, since she lives about 20 minutes away by bike, whereas the rest of us all live in the same building. It was pretty lowkey since there was not much to do, and I worked a bit on the puzzle that Libor's parents gave me for Christmas . Olga sang me Happy Birthday in Catalan, and Borja in Basque. My friend Veronika from Prague made me such a cool cake , and so she came over with our two Slovaks, Lubo and
Opera
Undergoing renovations. Ivan, and I made hamburgers for them and Libor, and we celebrated my birthday. My friend Jana from the Czech Republic then came over as well for a burger, and then Agata and Benedicte joined for cake. At 9pm, we set out for the Hauptplatz, as I'd sent all my friends in Graz a message to come join if they'd like. We met up with some friends there, and then headed back to the restaurant where we'd been the night before, where I drank my first legal beer. We hung out there until they once again kicked us out at midnight, and then went to a small bar around the corner just to sit and chat while my birthday wound down. Overall, it was a great birthday and a lot of fun, despite the terrible weather!
Since then, I've been inundated with exams. I had an oral exam for my lecture, Languages of the World, which was the oddest exam of my life. We were put into groups of 5, and were supposed to choose a topic beforehand, though we didn't know who was in our
Narodna Galerija
National Gallery. group. The 3 exchange students in the class (a girl from Wisconsin, a girl from Finland, and me) had decided it was best to do the exam together, and had decided beforehand to talk about Europe. It was very odd, because it lasted a half-hour, and the majority of the time, the professor just spoke. He then asked us what the language families in Europe are, and then basically gave me an interview: "Where are the Romance languags spoken?" "Uh...where the Roman Empire was." "Where are the Celtic languages spoken?" "Scotland, Ireland, Breton, where the Celts were." "What do they speak in Albania?" "Albanian." "And in Greece?" "Greek." Hard to believe it was a real exam, but oh well, I got an A on it. I had my Swedish exam the same day, which went well, though sad to say bye to Martha, my teacher from Minnesota, who's one of the coolest teachers I've ever had. On Thursday, I had my final exam, Norwegian, which was a disaster. We had to do a written and oral part, and it was on stuff we'd never even learnt. The approach my professor took was to gain a passive knowledge of Norwegian. Since
Parliament
Everything important happens in Slovenia...so I'm really not sure what happens here. we can all speak, read, and write German, we can also read Norwegian. That doesn't mean we can say a word, understand it spoken, or write anything. However, if you read slowly, you can figure out the meanings. Thus, we could understand that, "Jeg var i Norge," means, "Ich war in Norwegen," which means, "I was in Norway." However, we had to translate on the exam from German to Norwegian, which was impossible--thank God I took Swedish since Swedish and Norwegian are very similiar and I could write in Swedish. We then had to do an oral exam in Norwegian, where I pissed off my professor by speaking in Swedish , and then I was drilled with questions about the history of the Norwegian language and then about Norwegian literature, where I gave her a death stare and flat out said, "I don't know, you didn't teach that, I can't answer that." Either way, I somehow pulled off a B, so I can't complain.
To celebrate the summer, I went on to lunch on Thursday with Libor and Martina [our friend from
Ljubljanski Grad
The Castle of Ljubljana. Graz] to celebrate the return of Hrvoje, our friend from Croatia who lived next to us and with whom we'd gone skiing. Later in the afternoon, a friend of Libor's from Brno, Sonya, arrived, and since then, we've been showing her the city and what-not, which has actually been kind of nice, as we've been visiting places that we haven't been in a while, so it's a nice way to wrap up the time in Graz.
Yesterday, Agata came over to hang out for a little, and then we said bye to her, as she left last night and is most likely arriving just about now at home on the northern coast of Poland. This morning, Libor, Olga, and I woke up early to see Borja off, as he went back to Spain today, which was sad. Caroline, our roommate from Reims, France, leaves later in the day. Olga, Libor, Thomas, and I are all leaving on Tuesday, which is going to be really sad. Tomorrow, Libor and I are going to spend the day going to a million offices around Graz, as we have to disenroll ourselves from a hundred different things.
Anyways, enjoy my pictures, I
National Theatre
For some reason it was green. have to get going, have lots of stuff to do and people to say bye to today. Can't believe it's ending! I'm going to write one more blog before I leave Austria, so be on the look-out...
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kristy
non-member comment
What a great way to celebrate your birthday! I am so thrilled that you've had this experience and that I've been able to vicariously experience it through your awesome blogs! We can't wait to see you and hear more about it! Safe travels! xoxok