Sept 29 – Audition Results/Bike Ride/Duets

Got some rather disappointing news today – unfortunately I didn’t make it in to the music university (KUG). I’ll still have all my regular studies at the main university (University of Graz), but I had really hoped that I could do some playing at the KUG. But it was a really good experience to prepare for the audition, and I got a chance to see what their music school is like.  I think I’ll just have to find some other musicians at my university and organize an ensemble. J

I had a lovely bike ride today. I rode to the university to pay my German course fees (I’m taking more language courses and an Austrian history and culture course!), and didn’t have to wait in line at all! Last time, I was there for 2 hours before I could pay my course fees, but I was lucky this time around. I was out by 9:10, and decided to take a bike ride around the neighbourhood. The area around the university is really beautiful. There are a lot of old houses and mature trees. Their leaves are turning yellow and orange. In the area, too, is a botanical garden. It’s one of the University of Graz’s projects and you can enter it just like a museum. I’m really excited to go visit it – might stop by on Saturday.

Best of all, I got together with E tonight to play some traditional Austrian folk songs! She plays violin, and bought a songbook at Aufsteirern so that we could play some duets. Since most songs have two voices (usually a harmony in thirds), it works out very nicely. We are thinking of making a video or two once we’ve practiced more. J Then we saw “Ein Freund Von Mir”, which was very fun and good practice, since there were German subtitles as well as spoken German language. A very productive evening. :-D

Sept 27: Return of the Pub Quiz!

Pub quiz again tonight! This time, the picture round was identifying mathematical formulas. The connection was hard, but we managed to get some decent answers for some of the other rounds. And there was a music quiz this time, with live music! I didn’t know any of the songs, but it was really pleasant to sit and listen as the guitarist cycled through the 10 different song selections.

Sept 26: Birthday for A (Finland)!

Today, one of our friends from Finland, A, celebrated her birthday! It was a lovely party. Our friends M and N were there too, and we had homemade pizza and a jam roll cake that M had made. Everything was so delicious! Making meals together with friends is one of the best ways to spend an evening, I think. J

More Stübing Photos

Here are some more photos of the museum:

Musical instruments including a hurdy-gurdy (top left) and violin.

Looking out to a balcony in one of the larger farmhouses.

Such a beautiful day!

Everyone walked along a single path to see all the buildings.

Sept 25: "Heritage Park" Museum in Stübing

Today, I went to Stübing, an area about 25 minutes outside of Graz, to visit the Freilichtmuseum – the “open air museum” that shows what farming used to be like as much as 400 years ago. It is pretty much like Heritage Park in Calgary, but showing buildings from the 1600s. ;-) It is incredibly beautiful there. And the smell of fresh air!!! Today was a special day, because the interpreters were showing various crafts and activities that farmers and their families would engage in. I saw some wonderful lacemaking. It’s so detailed, but the lacemakers have done it so long that they say they can watch TV while they’re finishing a piece. ;-) There was a man playing some kind of bagpipes, and a full band playing traditional songs. The gardens were really beautiful, and most of the flowers were still in bloom. Lots of dirndls and lederhosen there – I guess many people take this as an opportunity to wear their outfits after Aufsteirern.

We also got to try more food – honey pastries, cakes, topfen (like cream cheese) spread on bread, and more Sturm… There were also demonstrations of how to crack a whip (not on the animals!), and afterwards, one of the interpreters offered us a taste of his homemade plum schnapps. All I can say – if your passages need clearing out, you’ll never be stuffed up again after a sip of that!! ;-)



The entrance




One of the many gardens in front of the buildings.




The band playing traditional music.



Bedroom in one of the larger farmhouses.



Our coordinator trying the schnapps!



Happy M at the end of the day. :-)

Sept 24: Farmers' Market Fiesta

We finally have some pictures of the farmers’ market in Lendplatz! We went again today, and had a brunch feast. I’ve become especially attached to a pastry called Topfentascherl. Topfen is like cream cheese, and I think the term “Topfentascherl” basically means “topfen purse.” (Correct me if I’m wrong, E & P!) It certainly looks like a purse when the pastry is all bound up around the topfen, which in this case is lemon-flavoured and sweet…:-D

The braided loaf is called Milchstreizel, and is a kind of raisin bread. Very tasty. Especially with Nutella. ;-) We also picked up carrots, beets, pears, and plums.



Lendplatz Market



 





Milchstreizel.



Pastry with meringue, Nutella, and a raspberry, the finishing touch. :-)



Bottom left: Milchstreizel. On the purple plate: Topfentascherl (left), pear pastry, and plums.

Another shot of the Lendplatz market.

Sept 23 - Further Friseur Fun

German test today! The final for our intensive course. I thought it went really well. We had a written test and an oral component. Afterwards, I took a walk around the campus to explore some buildings I haven’t been in yet. Took a look at the physics building – they have some REALLY cool instruments ranging from the 1700s (?) to present. I shall have to take pictures. And bring a dictionary. My German physics vocabulary isn’t quite good enough to translate all the labels. Briefly saw their astrophysics section, but they didn’t have as much on display as the experimental physics floor. I then successfully found a power outlet and settled in for some serious blog catch-up. ;-)

Residence permit application in the afternoon, and then home via my lovely yellow bike. Guess who I saw in the street on my way through the old town? Our Finnish friends A and M and our English friend N, immediately followed by E. This was NOT planned! (Apparently Graz is small enough that you have a fairly good chance of running into friends at least once a day, even if you’re new in town!)

Anyway, somehow we agreed that I would cut N’s hair to get rid of the split ends. Turns out that A and M also wanted their hair cut, so we all trooped back to the apartment. The walk was a little farther than we thought after an exam and an orientation session! But when we got back, everyone lined up to get their hair done. I think my layers are a bit chunky, but no one left with their hair too badly damaged. ;-) One of the other residents of our apartment also found out we were giving free haircuts, so he got his done too. Maybe we should open a business in Fröbelgasse 34/19. Payment in chocolate would always be welcome. J Then it was my turn. Tiny did the honours, and gave me a marvelous haircut. Nothing too drastic, just a bit of a change. See the pictures!

Changed my computer to Region 2 so we can play German/Austrian DVDs. We watched Chocolat tonight (in English though – we were feeling kind of lazy), but have plans to have Austrian movie nights with E and P. Very soon. J







N getting ready for a cut!





Work on the bangs...




M gets a trim.



The final cut!

Sept 21 - Audition Day/Chocolate Cravings

Got up at the crack of dawn (6:00!) to get ready for my audition. I’m not a morning person, as I’m sure many people can attest to. ;-) I heard that practice rooms would go very fast, and was advised to be there at 7am. I arrived at 7:15, expecting to see a queue of students, but there were still practice rooms free! J It was actually a really relaxing morning (as far as auditions go), since I had three hours to warm up gradually, drink tea, listen to music…and the practice rooms are really pleasant. Lovely view outside the window.

The audition itself was pretty good. I played the Prelude from one of the Bach Cello Suites, and a viola concerto by Hindemith. The concerto is based on medieval German folk tunes, and is called “Der Schwanendreher” – the Swan Turner! Think it had something to do with hunting swans and roasting them slowly over a spit…;-) Anyway, I was very happy with my Bach. The Hindemith could be better, but it always can be better. ;-) However, I had my Hindemith piano score shipped here from home, because they said that the audition would be accompanied. But even when we started 15 minutes late, the pianist hadn’t arrived! So I actually didn’t need to use my piano score…:-S However, it was wonderful to have it while I was practicing, because it helped make my part make more sense in relation to the accompaniment. Working with the score gives a much fuller picture of a piece…

I’m not sure when I’ll hear back about my results, but you will soon know. J

By the way, Tiny and I have developed a slight addiction for Milka chocolate over here. We’ve gotten spoiled, because the chocolate at the grocery store is not only relatively inexpensive, but is really good quality. I’m going to be in so much trouble when I get back to Canada…

Sept 20 - The Little Things Are Best...

Had a lovely conversation with Sara Makarenko, who had her birthday today. J The other highlight of the day was successfully locating a copy shop. I was able to get a photocopy of my study, and the shop was only 3 addresses down from the music university! Isn’t it funny how the tiny little accomplishments leave you with such an immense sense of achievement?

Sept 19 - Theory Exam

Today I had my theory exam – the first part of my entrance exam requirements for the music university (KUG). My exchange program is with the Karl-Franzens University (University of Graz), which is the main university for most of the humanities and sciences. However, in terms of music, it only has musicology, not music performance. I am planning on taking musicology at the University of Graz, but was really hoping to take lessons and/or orchestra at the KUG. Therefore, I took the entrance examinations to see if I could qualify for studying at the KUG in addition to my regular philosophy/science/musicology courses at the University of Graz. Wow, sometimes things are a bit complicated over here!

Anyway, the exam was slightly stressful. While the material was, on the whole, fairly basic, having the instructions in English and German was a bit confusing. They were mostly identical, but there were a couple questions where the translations diverged. And then there were additional notes about the format in German which were not translated into English…yikes! But on the whole, it turned out well, and it was a very good experience. I did pass the exam, so I could “move on” to the next part of the entrance exam, which was the practical audition on Wednesday.

I will have to visit the music campus again to take pictures of the little wood/park area by the main building. It’s such a peaceful patch of green in the middle of the city. I’ve seen people walking their dogs through it, and it would be a lovely place to eat lunch. J

Sept 18 - Aufsteirern Adventure!

Today was really the highlight of the week. Aufsteirern! You probably have seen the photos I’ve posted up already, so you have some idea. It’s an enormous festival celebrating the traditions of the Styrian province (Graz is the capital of Styria, or “Steiermark” in German). There’s lots of food and drink to try, from different kinds of –wursts (we tried Bratwurst mit Senf und Semmel – Bratwurst with mustard and a bun) to Sturm, a light alcoholic drink that has a dangerous reputation for being drunk far too fast. ;-) Many musicians and ensembles are playing in the street, and you have the chance to see traditional handiwork, from spinning and woodworking to metalworking.

But Aufsteirern was especially exciting for Tiny and me, because we got to dress up! ;-) Now that we had our new aprons, we could wear our dirndls into town to really participate. E and our Finnish friends A and M also had dirndls. E found a new one, and her plaid apron has the proper colours to match the rest of her dirndl. Apparently each region has a particular style of dirndl with specific colour schemes…much like Scottish tartans. Speaking of which, I saw a number of kilts - is this normal in Austria?? And while it’s fun to be in costume, I can now understand why women who wore corsets might have restrained their appetites. If you don’t have much room to breathe in the beginning, things will definitely feel even tighter after lunch…;-)

Correct me if I’m wrong, but were there about 100,000 people there? Pretty packed. Oh, and in addition to trying Bratwurst and Sturm, we got to try the legendary pumpkins seeds that Styria is famous for. Their salad dressing, pumpkin seed oil, is a regional specialty. So naturally there were flavoured pumpkin seeds, too…chocolate, curry, coffee, sea salt, lemon, chili, ginger…endless choices! I bought a packet of raspberry flavoured ones. They almost don’t taste like pumpkin seeds anymore, it’s really amazing. And we also got to try roasted chestnuts. They serve them hot in the fall as well as at Christmas.



Blutwurst - blood sausage! Roasted chestnuts are in the right pic.



Tracten/dirndls









Kuchen! (Cakes, but there were lots of assorted baked goods.)



These metal horses were on display at the blacksmith's booth.







Spinning. Look at the little wool hats on the right side!



Wood carvings. Such beautiful detail.



Sept 17 - Lendplatz Farmers' Market!

Haven’t posted for a few days, so I’m making my best effort to catch up!

By the way, just wanted to let you know that my roommate A will be referred to as “Tiny” from now on. The letters are getting confusing, and she calls herself Tiny in her own blog. If you haven’t checked hers out yet, please do! You can find it at http://tinyandteddyseetheworld.blogspot.com.

Any potential Graz travellers should be warned – Saturdays are not for sleeping in until noon! If you wake up at a reasonable time, you have the chance to walk down to the Lendplatz square to visit…THE FARMERS' MARKET!!!! All kinds of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and baked goods from local farmers. I went for the first time this Saturday, and was able to buy lots of apples and plums, a huge loaf of braided raisin bread, and a lindenberry sweetbread dessert for just over 10 Euros. The fruit is fantastic. I didn’t have the courage to try to buy any meat there yet (asking for specific cuts is a bit beyond me at this point), but they have a lot of variety from what I saw. I’m not sure how much longer it will last before the winter, but hopefully we’ll get a few more weeks to visit it. I will be going tomorrow, so hopefully I can take a few shots to post. :-)

Aufsteirern!

Here are some photos from the Aufsteirern festival we attended on Sunday!



 



M taking charge...

The halfway point! (a.k.a "The Lost Puppy")





The group: M, P, A, E

Our Finnish friends, another A and M!

Blood sausage with onions 

E & P 

Lunch: Bratwurst und Senf (sausage with mustard)

 



Sept 16: New Nicknames for the Wall

Had my German “midterm” today (the course is only 3 weeks long, so it’s roughly in the middle). Think it went pretty well. Afterwards, we took a tour of the city, stopping by Graz’s oldest bakery, the city hall, and the cathedral. Beautiful. I got lunch with some friends from a hot dog stand in the central square (the Hauptplatz). We all got some kind of sausage. Mine had cheese inside and mustard on the side. But when you order a sausage, they give you the sausage, and a bun on the side. You can order a North American style hot dog, with the sausage in the bun, but most sausages are served alone.

Practice, then home to make dinner with A. She very kindly picked up some groceries, and we made a variation on chicken curry. I put a bit too much water in the rice, I think, but it cooked off quite nicely. It was very tasty, and we had a lot of fun eating dessert (Nutella on bread, very classy) and watching “Whip It” (the roller derby film with Ellen Page). Afterwards, we looked up potential roller derby names for the two of us. We settled on “Short Fuse” for A, and “Tall Roller” for me. ;-) We wrote the names on sticky notes and tacked them up on our walls. Our goal is to write little quotes/words/sayings on the post-it notes and post them on our respective sides of the room. We’ll see how many we accumulate over this year. :-)

Graz's oldest bakery:

Sept 15: "Friseur" - Fall-back Career?

More practice today. It’s really fantastic, although I have to bring my viola to German class. Unfortunately we don’t live close enough to the U for me to walk home and pick it up during lunch hour. But the buses and trams are pretty amazing here. When they announce that they’re coming in 0 minutes, you can actually see the bus coming around the corner… :-D

So A was noticing that her hair was getting a bit too long, so we decided that we should do something about it. Time for me to test my “friseur” skills (that’s what they call hairdressers here). We borrowed scissors from E and P, and used two mirrors so A could see the back of her hair. Snip, snip! 20 minutes later, a substantial amount of her hair was on the floor, but fortunately we were both very pleased with the results. :-) I have the feeling that it’ll be my turn very soon…

Another VERY EXCITING THING happened today – I got my permanent internet! Picked up an Ethernet cable and got my username and password for the dorm internet. Now I can upload lots of photos! Many thanks to E and P for the WiFi box that we’d been using up till now. :-)

Practice rooms at the music school:

Sept 14: The Canadian Image?

Today I got to use the practice rooms at the Kunstuniversität! This is Graz’s University for Performing Arts, which is separate from the Karl-Franzens University (University of Graz), which I am attending through my exchange with U of C. In Europe, music performance students tend to study at conservatories or performing arts schools, but musicologists often study at the regular universities. Practice vs. theory? Anyway, it was really wonderful to use one of their rooms. They are nearly soundproof, and have pianos…and I can now play all my loud obnoxious material without the fear of bothering the other apartment residents. ;-)

Another interesting story…I was transferring busses in one of the main squares in Graz. It’s a REALLY busy place, because there’s got to be at least 15 different routes that pass through, and there are a lot of shops. There was an interesting building that I wanted to take a picture of, so I got out my camera and got ready to take the shot. However, there was a man standing in front of the building. As soon as I raised my camera, he crossed the street and walked right up to me. “Did you take my picture?” (Wow. Talk about intimidation!) I explained, in my fragmented German, that no, I didn’t take a picture of him, I was trying to get the building. He relaxed, and asked where I was from (since I obviously wasn’t a Graz resident). I said I was a student from Canada. “Canada! No! You must be Slovenian, or Hungarian…not Canadian!” He still didn’t look convinced after I insisted I was from North America. You’ve got to wonder what kind of image people associate with Canadians…??? ;-) Any ideas?

Sept 13: Useful Info...

I met with the musicology advisor at the university today, and she told me that I could probably take a master’s seminar – Music, Religion, and Consciousness! The course looks at the impact of music in meditational states, I think. I’m really excited about it, I really hope it works out!!! Apparently courses are more fluid here, because they don’t mind bachelor’s students taking master’s courses if they’re at an appropriate point in their program. Fingers crossed!

I received some other valuable information today…albeit in a rather different fashion. I took my bike to the university, and thought I’d take the “scenic” route through the Stadtpark, the park in the middle of the city right near the university. I couldn’t see any “no bicycle” signs, and saw lots of people wheeling their bikes through…but I hadn’t gotten halfway through when I was flagged down by a police officer. “No bikes in the Stadtpark!” (Or, to rephrase – don’t ride them in the park!) Fortunately, she was nice enough just to give me a warning – but next time, it’s 30 Euros! Oops…but a very good lesson to learn. :-)

See pictures of the Stadtpark below:

Dirndl Pictures! (With aprons...)

Hey everyone,

We now have photos of our "new" dirndls - take a look! A very kindly picked up aprons for both of us, so now our outfits are complete. (I was informed that without an apron, it's like you're only half-dressed...)

The backdrop is my bed with my lovely duvet cover from IKEA...6 Euros!

A with her dirndl and apron

Minus the apron

M with her dirndl and apron

No apron

Please leave comments!

Hey everyone,

I realized that my previous settings didn't allow anyone to make comments. I changed them now, so you don't have to have a blog account or gmail to write something. However, if you don't have either of those two, you'll appear as "Anonymous," so please write your name so I know who's posting a comment!

Thanks for reading. :-)

Sept 12: Dirndls!

On this upcoming Sunday (the 18th), Graz will participate in the Aufsteiren festival, which I believe is celebrated throughout the Styrian region. Everyone gets to dress up in traditional Austrian clothing, and there will be lots of music and activities in the old town. A and I had this afternoon off, so what else was there to do but visit a second hand clothing shop and buy two traditional Austrian dirndls?

A dirndl is a kind of traditional dress worn in Austria, southern Germany, and Liechtenstein, and was originally worn by Alpine peasants. According to ever helpful Wikipedia, a complete dirndl consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirt, and apron. Apparently the apron knot can give some very useful clues to interested young men – a knot on the left side indicates that the wearer is single, but a knot on the right means that she’s “taken”! (A and I, unfortunately, did not purchase aprons. So our relationship status may just have to remain permanently incognito…;-)

Pics will come soon. Very soon. If not this week, we will definitely take some this Sunday. :-D

Sept 10: The Oldest Armoury

Today, I visited the Landeszeughaus, the largest historical armoury in the world! (Of Baroque weapons, at least.) It is located right in the old town area of Graz, near the central square (Hauptplatz). I went with one my friends from the orientation sessions. We first visited the exhibits on the ground floor, which explained the origins of the armoury and the types of weapons that it housed. Then we went upstairs (four more floors!) to see the collection. The building dates back to 1642, in the midst of intense conflict with the Ottoman Empire. Thousands of weapons manufactured in Nuremburg were transported to Graz, a highly dangerous journey that took 2-3 weeks. Once they arrived, they were stored in the four floors of the armoury. Some of the weapons date back as early as the late 15th century, and continue into the 18th.

It was amazing to see just how much metal these soldiers would have to equip themselves with. Besides their body armour, they also may have used two-handed broadswords almost 2 metres long! The horses had the real challenge – in addition to carrying their riders, they often had to wear their own armour weighing up to 52kg. Crazy.

The body armour often had intricate details. Lots of biblical allusions. Jesus could be found engraved on the left side of the breast plates, and a whole row of the pistol handles were carved with a depiction of Adam and Eve and the serpent.

I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures, but you can check out this video showing the pieces:

http://www.tripfilms.com/Travel_Video-v76083-Graz-Graz_The_Armory-Video.html

Sept 8: Literary Lattes & Dinner Party

Had a coffee with E today after my German class. One of those café lattes with a huge amount of foamy milk. The café was really cozy, with plush armchairs and red patterned wallpaper that looked like some kind of receiving room from the 18th century, but the really neat part was that one wall was covered by a whole bunch of books. Just tacked up on the wall, front cover facing out. Reading suggestions for the next coffee break? It was very interesting, because along with some fairly well-known books, there were some really obscure ones…like a Canadian book that E said she read for one of her literature classes. How it ended up on an Austria café wall I’ll never know…

Tonight, we had three friends from our orientation sessions come over for dinner. They’re all from Finland. We met at the grocery store and came back to make a lovely dinner – chicken with a tomato sauce pasta with garlic and cheese and salad and ice cream (of course, all separated into their appropriate places in the meal…;-). It was great to talk outside of class, compare favourite books, discuss differences in translations, talk about traditions from home… So much of our orientation and class sessions involve introducing ourselves again and again, and it’s really nice just to move past that into a real conversation. :-)

Dinner party!

Sept 6: German Intensive Course/Pub Quiz

We had our first day of our German intensive courses. I’m very happy with where I am. I’ve been placed in the high end of the basic knowledge level, which means that I can review all the difficult grammar that I’ve forgotten. All the instruction is in German, which is great practice.

Tonight we went with E & P to the Office Pub (English speaking) for pub quiz! As I mentioned before, the questions can be on practically anything. We got some really obscure ones (the first German railway was built between which two cities, named “N-“ and “F-“?) some that were obviously aimed at a certain demographic (what is the name of Justin Bieber’s boa constrictor?). ;-) There was also a music quiz, which was very lucky for me, because you had to name 10 excerpts of classical music. We got 8.5/10 right on that one! :-)

By the way, if any of you come to Austria, you should try a Radler. It’s beer mixed with a sweet lemonade/Sprite kind of juice. Quite tasty, if you can get over the weirdness of having a sweet beer…like a cooler! ;-)

E, A, and M at pub quiz!

Sept 5: Monty Python Pizza Night (with Trad. Austrian Dessert)

Got up at the crack of dawn again (6:15!) to hand in my registration at the magistrate. This just informs the city of Graz that I will be a resident for the upcoming year – I think it’s how they keep track of demographics, as well as knowing where all the residents live. Fortunately, I was able to get in right away, and even managed to get some groceries on the way back!

A and I headed out to the university, where we needed to pay our fees for the German intensive course that starts tomorrow. Stood in line for 2 hours! I have no idea why it took so long. But we met lots of other students in line, and passed around our notebooks to exchange addresses…

We had a lovely evening with E and P. They invited us over for supper, and we had homemade pizzas (flat crust), prosciutto on breadsticks, and cantaloupe. :-) It was so delicious! Afterwards, we watched Life of Brian (Monty Python meets Rome!) while eating lots of chocolate and a traditional Austrian dessert, a kind of flat pastry with linden berry compote and whipped cream. So much fun. We will be meeting them tomorrow for pub quiz night. As I understand it, it’s a game of trivia covering pretty much every subject imaginable. Teams compete against each other throughout the year. I’m very excited. Apparently they have this in Canada, too! (Will definitely have to find one and compare when I get back.)

Sept 4: Laundry Lingo

Today was Sunday. And since Graz feels like July, I realized that I was running dangerously low on clean summer clothes. So it had finally come time to figure out the laundry machines.

I headed down to the laundry machines, thinking that maybe I could decipher the terms. But my one year of German knowledge was not at all prepared to handle Pflegeleicht (delicates?), Schleudern (spin), or Bügelfeucht (which I think means a dryer setting that allows clothes to still be slightly damp at the end of the cycle). Fortunately, I had my handy dayplanner, and wrote down ALL the terms on the back page. I was very happy that no one else was doing their laundry at that moment…and then I went back up the 9(?) flights of stairs to translate them on my computer. ;-)

I love Google translate. 2 hours later, I had lovely, clean, DRY clothes (because we have a dryer, too…:-D )

I met K, my buddy, and we went up to the Schlossberg, the green hill in the middle of the city where most of the original Graz (pre-1500s) is located. I’d like to go on one of their guided tours, but it was so much fun just to spend the afternoon looking out at the city. Unfortunately my camera battery died on that trip, but I will be back to take photos.

The dryer.

Sept 3: New Friends, White Wine

I must mention our friends E and P. E was the buddy/mentor for one of the Calgary exchange students (L) who came to Graz last year, helping her to get settled in and comfortable in Graz. A and I met E and her boyfriend P in Calgary in July, before we left, because they were doing a tour of Canada. Amazingly, I was on the same flight as they were coming in to Graz, and had the chance to say hi at the airport. Since then, they have been so generous – inviting us over to their apartment (coincidently, a 5 minute walk from our residence!), lending us their WiFi box for Internet until we get the code for the residence, offering their expertise on how courses work…and did I mention that they let me practice in their living room!?!?

Today, while E helped A with her courses, I got to revisit my Kreutzer study, reacquaint myself with my Bach prelude, and take a peek at Hindemith. It was so lovely to practice after a week of stressful packing and organizing. THEN, I walked downtown to meet A and her mom for a WINE TOUR OF SOUTHERN STYRIA!!! (Styria is the province in which Graz is located, by the way). It was so beautiful. We explored the region that approaches the Slovenian border…and in fact, there were many stretches of road where half the bus was in Austria, and half in Slovenia! Everything was incredibly green and lush, and we had very sunny weather (though it did get rather warm, being a humid 28 degrees…;-).

Southern Styria is known primarily for its white wines, so we sampled a sauvignon blanc, a pinot blanc, and a (Welsh?) Riesling. All very different, but very refreshing on this hot summer’s day…fall really hasn’t set in here yet. We were given a tour of each vineyard, but at the last, we were served a “snack”. A platter heaped high with cold cuts, bacon, cheese, pickles, bell peppers, and eggs was brought, as well as homemade bread and a number of spreads. We were also given green salad with pumpkin oil salad dressing, which is a regional specialty. On our way out, we saw many farmers’ fields full of pumpkins, because the seeds are a prized commodity. Through an involved process, the pumpkin oil is extracted from the seeds, and makes a bright green salad dressing, which is pretty tasty. Mixed in with the green salad were local beans, like kidney beans, but larger, which are also very popular in this area.

Trying the sauvignon blanc.

Sept 2: Graz by Bike

First day of orientation! Woke up bright and early (6:10 am!) and got a couple buses to the university. The morning was spent in line again, but this time to take our oral placement tests for the German intensive course starting next week. We met lots of other new students from all over the world, all very friendly and enthusiastic.

In the afternoon, I bought a bike lock and rode my new bike around Graz. If you can get used to the cars whizzing by you, it’s a great way to explore the city. I saw some of the old churches and found an interesting bookstore. There’s also some really vibrant graffiti in some of the narrow streets that was really cool…especially when there’s a whole bunch of creeping ivy growing over it…

My yellow bike.

Sept 1: New Apartment!

I actually had a really good sleep, and think I got over the worst of the jet lag. We met K again, and I handed in my music application to the conservatory (to apply for an audition in mid-September). Then we stood in line for about an hour to pick up our keys to the apartment, but it was worth it. It is beautiful! And clean… We have our own kitchen space and bathroom, along with a lovely view of the green hill in the middle of the city where much of the original town of Graz was located. The apartment even came with a vacuum!

Successfully opened an Austrian bank account in the afternoon (wow, we really powered through to get things done!), but ran into some glitches with paying the rent. It’s all sorted out now, but didn’t make for an entirely happy afternoon. We also picked up a whole bunch of stuff from IKEA. We now have the essentials – bedding, dishes, laundry bags. A rainstorm blew in, and we took a cab back into the city. Still didn’t stop us from getting soaked when we left the vehicle. ;-)

Aug 31: In Graz!

I am in Graz! My flights were very smooth, and I arrived at the airport at 9am, not too tired. My wonderful buddy, K, picked me up. She’s a student in Graz, and just came back from an exchange to New Mexico. We found a beautiful used bike, and looked into phone plans. Had a green salad with breaded shrimp for lunch, along with a tall glass of Almdudler. It’s like ginger ale, but with a peachy kind of taste…:-)

I stayed with A and her mom in a hotel for the first night, because we couldn’t move into our apartment till the next day. I had a short nap around 4pm, but almost soon as my head touched the pillow, I was OUT. Apparently they were making some noise around the hotel room, but I was completely oblivious. And it was SO painful to wake up…;-)

Blog is up!

Hello, everyone! My internet situation has finally been resolved and I am updating my blog! (There were a number of complications with the internet and my gmail account, but I shouldn’t have any more major problems…;-)

For privacy reasons, I’m not listing names on the blog, or posting our exact location. But if there are photos you want to see that I haven’t put up, just let me know and I’ll email them to you!

I’ve been keeping blog posts from the day I got here, so I’ll put them up as separate posts as if I had published them on the day…;-)

Hope you enjoy reading and feel free to leave comments.