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.