Kleines Dorf und der Sonnenschein (Small Town and Sunshine)

Ugh. I am so sick of being on my computer. It’s my own fault, really. For my American Constitution class, we each had to choose a colony for our semester project, and tomorrow we are supposed to turn in a working bibliography/list of possible sources. Well, I made the mistake of choosing Rhode Island. I thought there would be plenty of information on colonial Rhode Island. As usual, I thought wrong. And so, I spent the last 2.5 hours vainly searching the internet, OSU’s online databases, and everywhere else I could think of. But unfortunately, there wasn’t much to be found. I repeat: ugh. This might just be a hard paper to write. And it certainly doesn’t help that I am in Austria, attempting to find books about America’s smallest state. Oh well. Even though I am really tired of staring at this screen, I decided to continue staring at this screen—so I could update my blog for you! :)

While I am feeling rather frustrated about this homework assignment, I won’t let it get me down. I’m in Austria, so I will follow the advice of Fraulein Maria in the “Sound of Music” and think of my favorite things, and then I won’t feel… so… baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad! (that is my attempt at visually portaying the ending note of the song’s finale. I think I was a little off-key, though.) :/

Anyway, it won’t be that hard to think of my favorite things; I have found plenty of them here! Life is going so well. And it keeps getting better all the time…
Last week, I got to spend a lot of time with my friends, which was wonderful. The week was busy, but awesome: Dinner with friends on Tuesday, dinner with friends again on Wednesday (hamburger with pumpkin-seed-oil sauce; it was among the best burgers I’ve ever eaten!), going to an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day with my friends, having different friends over for another Mexican food and peanut butter cookies dinner on Thursday, and then an official ESN international dinner extravaganza on Friday. I pretended not to have a gluten allergy that night, and even though I felt sick afterward, it was totally worth it. Everyone brought a specialty from his or her home country: Spanish omelets, Hungarian goulash, French cheesecake, Swiss cheese (seriously!), German Apfel Struedel, Croatian something-I-couldn’t-pronounce-but-tasted-like-funnel-cake—and everything in between! It was incredible, and my taste buds were very, very happy.
Saturday was a day I will never forget; I got to visit the tiny town of Alkoven, Austria, where my great-great grandfather Peter Lehner was born in 1850. Getting there was a long process: a three-hour train from Graz to Linz (Austria’s 3rd-largest city). I barely missed the train to Alkoven (I was buying my ticket just as it was leaving the platform), so I had to wait an hour and a half for the next one. But it was oh so very worth it! The town of Alkoven is adorable, positively precious. About 5,000 people live there, and most of them come from families that have lived in Alkoven for generations on end. And they were seriously some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Let me tell you about what happened.

I had two main goals in going to Alkoven: find the church where Peter was baptized and find the house where he was born. Twenty-three years ago, my Mama and Nana (my grandmother, Peter’s granddaughter) visited Alkoven and managed to accomplish both those goals. Fingers crossed (or in German “thumbs pressed”), I hoped I could do the same. Goal number one proved relatively easy. I walked into a cute little flower shop and asked the women working there where Kirchenstrasse (church street) was located. After five minutes of walking, I goal number one had been realized. And the church was beautiful! Going inside, I found the baptismal font just as my mom had described it; I got goosebumps and tears came to my eyes as I touched the font where my great-great grandfather had been baptized 160 earlier. How many people can say they have done that? Not very many, I don’t think. Needless to say, it was a very meaningful and moving experience for me. And then to think that my Nana had been there, too, only a few years before I was born, well, that made me want to cry too. You see, I lost my Nana last spring; even though I know she is in heaven and I will see her again someday, I still miss her an awful lot. But I have a feeling that God let her peek down from above while I was inside the church. And despite the wave of sadness, that thought made me smile.

Having found the church, I had accomplished half of my mission; now I just needed to find the house. Just outside the churchyard stood a gray building where the pastor lived. My Mama had told me that the church kept records of all baptisms and that, if the pastor had the record book, he would be able to tell me what house Peter had lived in. Unfortunately, however, the pastor was not home. Somewhat frustrated, I wandered back to the church and did what any normal person does when feeling somewhat frustrated: I hung out in the cemetery.
What? You don’t hang out in cemeteries when you are disappointed or frustrated? But the company is so down to earth and empathetic… Just kidding. Ha ha

Actually, I went back to the cemetery and started taking pictures of the headstones belonging to “Lehner.” And, boy, were there a lot of them! Either the Lehners have an unusually high mortality rate, or there are many of them in Alkoven. I’m inclined to think the latter…. By the way, this was the most beautiful cemetery I have ever seen; it was perfectly kept with flowers and crosses and colors everywhere. So if you are feeling somewhat frustrated and you are looking for a cemetery in which to hang out, I highly recommend the one in Alkoven.

Well, anyway, apparently I wasn’t the only visitor on this particular Saturday afternoon. Whilst I was capturing headstones for posterity, a middle-aged woman approached me, looking friendly but bewildered. Her expression said something along the lines of “why in the world are you taking pictures of graves?!” (in a nice way). But before she could ask, I explained to her my situation and that I was looking for my great-great grandfather’s house. My Mama had told me it was either #14 or #18 (they were numbered in the order that they were built. Cool, huh? If we did that in America, though, I think my house number would be 543,343,689,292…435. And that is simply too long to remember).

Back to the story. So this lady, whose name turned out to be Rosemary, decided to make my mission into her personal mission as well. Forget whatever else she needed to do or if she already had plans for that Saturday, she was now my assistant, and she was going to do whatever she could to help me find that house. Our first stop was a bakery café right across from the church. Here she explained my story to the two women working; they proceeded to bring out a couple books containing the complete history of Alkoven, including the history of each house and who had lived there. And then, over coffee, we went through them both, page by page, searching for possible leads on the Lehners. Here we discovered that house #14 wasn’t actually a house (I couldn’t understand what they said it was; they had really difficult accents), but it had been torn down and replaced with a new building. But house #18 happened to be right across the street from the bakery, so we went over there—stop two on our quest. We talked with the cute old couple who live in house 18, but they didn’t know anything about Lehners. They even asked more of their neighbors who happened to be outside, but no luck either. At this point, there were at least 8 or 9 sweet small-town Austrians trying to solve the mystery of my roots. It was so precious. I just wanted to give them all a hug. Meanwhile, one of the women at the bakery got our attention; she had found some Lehners who lived on a farm just outside of town and she thought we should go ask them. So Rosemary and I bid adieu to the house #18 and company and drove to an adorable farm about three minutes away. And though we talked with the owner and her grandmother, they both knew nothing of Peter. Alas. Rosemary drove me back to church and, before going back to her regularly-scheduled Saturday, she asked for my email, so she could ask the pastor and let me know what she found out. About 30 minutes later, I was on a train back to Linz. I wasn’t disappointed that I hadn’t found the house, though; on the contrary, I couldn’t stop smiling because of the genuine kindness of a dozen strangers in Alkoven, Austria.

I spent the rest of the day exploring Linz by myself. And though Linz wasn’t particularly remarkable and I couldn’t locate most of the points of interest in the tourist booklet, it was an absolutely fantastic day. It was so refreshing to spend an entire day by myself—or rather, just me and God. Much-needed and so , so rewarding.

Then Sunday was equally wonderful. The weather was gorgeous—sunny with a high of 75 (Relient K reference, anyone?), so of course, I decided to wear my Chacos. I could feel my feet smiling. :) After church, I went to the Stadtpark (city park) and played volleyball for 2 hours with friends—some old and some new. Then we went out for icecream in the Innenstadt (beautiful old downtown area). At 18:30 (6:30), I met some other friends for dinner, where we stayed at talked until 21:30 (9:30 p.m.). All in all, it was a lovely Sunday and part of a fabulous weekend.

This week is going to be rather hectic, I’m afraid. I have a lot to do before I head out for Easter break. But it will definitely be worth it! On Friday, I fly to Ireland, where I will visit Dublin, Galway, the Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher, Killarney, and then go back to Dublin, from whence I will fly to Italy, where I will go to Pisa, Rome, Florence, and Venice. I’ll then basically head straight to the Czech Republic, where I will spend a few days in Prague and a day or so in the picturesque eastern Czech Republic. Did I mention that I am excited? Because I am. :)

Well, I am really tired… which means that I probably ought to call it a night. As usual, thank so much for reading my blog; that really means a lot to me. And while, because of my blog, you are updated on my life, I am likely rather clueless about yours. That being said, I would love to hear from you—how you are doing, what you are up to, and how I can be praying for you. So please feel free to send me an email or a facebook message or a snail-mail letter (I’ll give you my address, if you want it) or a carrier-pigeon… anything! It would make my day to hear from you. :)
But I know everyone is busy, so no pressure. Even if I don’t hear from you, know that I still love you all and am praying for you. More importantly, though, know that you are loved by the One who created springtime and sunny days. And whether you live in Alkoven or Rhode Island or anywhere in between, He cares about you, and He’ll never let you go.

Until next time…. Ba ba! (bye bye!) :)

Techo-Musik und Kaffee Treffungen (Techno Beats and Coffee Dates)

Hey y’all! I’m back! (Along with the “awkward turtle,” I am spreading the magic of the word “y’all” around the world. European accents + Southern drawl = AMAZING. Ha ha.)

Hmmm… So it’s been almost a week since I last updated. You’d theoretically think I would have a lot to say. Let’s see what I can drudge up…

OOOOOHHHHH! This is fun! Last Thursday, the ESN (Exchange Student Network) hosted a HUGE party at a Diskothek (Disko for short. It’s the European name for a dance club, not a John Travolta shrine). The party took place at the Postgarage. The name fits it perfectly; from the outside, it honestly looks like an old converted garage. On the inside, however, it’s quite large and is the perfect place for an international party.

Now despite its rather significant size, the Postgarage struggled to accommodate all the guests. Let’s just say that the Fire Marshall would have not been very happy (especially the Fire Marshall in Stillwater, Oklahoma. If he frowned upon the Flash Rave during finals week, he would have had a cow AND thrown hissy fit if he had seen this). In other words, it was very crowded. And very warm. And there was a lot of smoke. BUT it was still a BLAST!

So what does one do at a disko? You might be asking. Well, silly, what do you think?! You dance! Don’t know how to dance? No worries! The constant, incessant pounding of a high-decibel techno beat will have you bee-bopping up and down in no time at all. Don’t think you know any techno songs? Think again! You know plenty of songs that Europe transforms into techno. That’s right; you name it, and they give it a techno beat. My personal favorite of the evening was the theme from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Bust a move, Jack Sparrow!

Anyway, the party was a BLAST! (did I already mention that?) In fact, it was so much fun, that I really didn’t want to leave. But sadly, I did… at 3:30 a.m. I don’t think my roomie got back until 4:30 or 5 (and she had class the next morning at 8:30), so I was actually relatively early…. ish. :/

Naturally, the next day I was pretty tired. But did I fall asleep in class? No, of course not! It’s kind of hard to fall asleep in class… when you don’t have class! Yes, welcome to the world of 3-day weekends—every weekend. :) Do I love Austria or what?

Speaking of classes, let me give you a quick run-down of my schedule. I am currently taking 12 hours (15 if you count the German intensive course which is already done). And here are my classes:

Monday 8:15-9:30 “Main Topics in Austrian History” (in German)
Monday 16:00-17:30 “Modern State and the Search for International Order” (in English)
Tuesday 14:00-16:00 “Hungary since 1848” (in English, with a professor from Toronto)
Tuesday 16:15-17:45 “Constitutional Issues of the American Revolution” (in English)
Wednesday—NO CLASS!!!
Thursday 17:00-18:30 “Cultural History of Ireland” (in German)

And there is my schedule. Note: I didn’t mean to have this many classes in English. It just kind of happened. They are all fascinating so far, and I think I am going to really enjoy them. Although it does make me kind of nervous since the only grade in most of the classes is the final exam. Eek. :/

Well, I am getting kind of tired, so I should be wrapping up soon, but I want to end with this thought. Romans 12:13b says this: “Practice hospitality.” I love that. It’s one sentence, two words, so simple. I’ve read it so many times (Romans 12 happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the Bible; if you’ve never read it, you should go check it out.) I’ve read it many a time, but I don’t think I’ve ever tangibly understood what it meant. But I think I am beginning to.

On the surface, Austrians don’t come off as the friendliest of people. In America, we tend to be really open with each other about everything. For example, in America you can go to Wal-Mart, ask the cashier how his or her day is going, and there is a good chance you will get an actual answer, more than just a “fine, thanks.” In Austria, you don’t even ask the cashier how he or she is doing; it’s considered intrusive. And you don’t smile at people when you make eye contact with them on the street. I don’t know why, but it’s just not something you do.

But despite this apparent stiffness and lack of openness, I believe Austrians are among the most friendly and hospitable people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. In one of my last posts, I told about my friend Debbie who invited me over for lunch after church—five minutes after meeting me. Last week after one of my classes, the girl sitting next to me (with whom I had chatted for two minutes maximum before the professor began her lecture) invited me to go out for coffee with her after class; unfortunately, I couldn’t go because I had to meet with the American history professor, but her offer still warmed my heart. Last Friday, I went to the 20th birthday party of my friend Maria from church. She had invited me a couple weeks before—the same evening I met her. I’m going out for coffee later this week with the teacher from my German class, and I’m planning on meeting up with an Austrian student at some point, so he can practice his German and I can help him with English.

I don’t know if I am making any sense; I’m probably just rambling again, as usual. But the experiences I briefly shared here are just a few examples of what I keep seeing: Austrians seem to care for people and value them, even if they barely know them. In other words, Austrians practice hospitality.

What a humbling feeling, to have a stranger care about you. And even more humbling to ponder: do I practice hospitality? No. No, I don’t. Instead, I have a frustrating tendency to go about my life at break-neck speed, wearing blinders that force me to look straight ahead. I go so fast and get so busy that I forget about people, forget how valuable they really are. Yes, I legitimately have things to do, responsibilities to fulfill, and work to accomplish. But that shouldn’t be an excuse, should it? I don’t think so. Especially not when Romans 12:13 states it so clearly: Practice hospitality.

From what I have seen, Paul could have also said, “Act like an Austrian.” And, as far as hospitality is concerned, that is exactly what I want to do.
As always, thanks again for reading my blog. Know today that you are loved—both by me in Austria and by the God who made you and sent His Son to die for you. Hope you have an absolutely fantastic and incredible day—wherever you are! :)

Oh, and go listen to the techno “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme on YouTube. But be warned: You just might start dancing! ;)

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Mwh3PL6h8

Mexican Food & American History

And now it’s time for another “Story-time with Steffi” :)

Where to begin? So many adventures to describe and so little brain-power with which to do it (I’m getting sleepy; it’s late here.) Let’s see….

On Saturday, I went skiing. It was beyond beautiful, like seeing a little glimpse of heaven. The mountains were gorgeous, the view was incredible, and I somehow managed to hold my own and come through unscathed. (I actually fell three times—all at level places when I quit paying attention. Isn’t that how life works? When things get easy, we get distracted and start coasting… then wipe-out.) Anyway, skiing was absolutely lovely. I had a fantastic time with my friends Marie and Anne-So (short for Anne-Sophie) from France and Anna from Sweden. Definitely worth my 56 euros (60 if you count the hot chocolates) :)

Sunday I went on a freezing-cold tour of the city of Graz. Despite the arctic conditions, the city was quite beautiful, and I learned a lot on the tour, thanks to David Zottler, the wonderful tour guide. Graz is far more impressive and important than I ever realized; now I have a much better appreciation for my home away from home. Founded in the 1200s, Graz is now the second largest city in Austria with 300,000 citizens (Vienna has 1.7 million. That’s a pretty wide first-place margin.) During the glorious days of the Ottoman Empire, Graz represented the frontline in Christendom’s struggle against Islam; today Graz still boasts one of the largest armories in Europe, if not the world. Much of Graz’s buildings were designed by Italian architects, so the city has a distinctly Italian Renaissance feeling, complete with brightly colored buildings, a Franciscan monastery, and inner courtyards. Johannes Kepler, famous astronomer, lived in Graz for six years and developed some of his important laws during his time here. His house still exists; one of the stops on the pub crash was actually right next door to it, but I had no idea! Napoleon had a personal grudge against Graz; he besieged the fortress that is now known as the Schlossberg but was unable to take it. Irked, the miniature French conqueror had his revenge; after taking Vienna a few years later, in the terms of peace, he ordered that Graz’s fortress be completely destroyed, since he couldn’t capture it. Fortunately, the residents of Graz were able to raise enough money to buy the Clock Tower and save it; it remains the primary symbol of Graz to this day.

All that being said, I definitely have much more respect for Graz; what a fascinating history! And after the tour, our group went to a pub—of course—and ended up hanging out for three more hours. And—of course—it was a blast. I especially enjoyed talking with my new Scottish friend; his accent is phenomenal! I love it! I also learned some fun new Scottish words that you might enjoy. Here’s a wee sentence for you: “I’m going to wear a wooly jumper and drink some soft juice.” Translation: “I’m going to wear a sweater and drink some soda pop.” Pretty sweet, eh? :)

I had some trouble in the last week and a half with sleeping. And by “trouble”, I mean that I was barely sleeping at all. The combination of social activities and staying out late and getting up early and having a diskothek (dance club) on the first floor of my building made it virtually impossible to sleep. On top of that, it felt as if my body had forgotten how to fall asleep; I was lying awake for 2-4 hours before finally sleeping, regardless of how exhausted I was. (And after skiing, I was pretty darn exhausted). Fortunately, on Monday I was able to make my first visit to an Austrian doctor. Bertie Klinger (awesome name, isn’t it? Reminiscent of Star Trek, maybe?) gave me some melatonin, and I could not be more grateful. The last few nights, I have slept like a baby (do babies sleep well? I’ve always wondered about the validity of that expression…) But I feel much better, and I could not be more grateful.

Oh, and guess what! God still does miracles! No really, I can prove it! : I am learning to cook!... and I’m enjoying it! Is Hell freezing over? Are pigs flying? Did the Chiefs win the Super Bowl? The impossible does happen! Steffi can cook! :) I tested out my newly-honed cooking skills on some international friends tonight; Igor from Macedonia, Jodie from Canada, Anne-So from France, Nik from Switzerland, Marin from Croatia, and Miroslav from Czech Republic all sampled my Mexican cooking, and from what I can tell, they loved it! (I don’t have any leftovers; shouldn’t that be a good indicator?) It was a really enjoyable evening, and I think everyone had a good time. And my cooking didn’t do any bodily harm to anyone, so I am officially happy. :)

Okay, now it is time to temporarily shift into a slightly more serious mode; I have a quick story to share with you about God’ goodness and provision. It may seem really simple and unimportant, but it meant so much to me. Let me explain.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I went through an adventure when trying to enroll in classes here. Bring a life-jacket while trying to wade through European bureaucracy; you might drown otherwise. But I finally got enrolled and went to classes and everything should have been hunky-dory, right? In theory. In reality, though, things became very complicated. I found out yesterday (Tuesday) that my German intensive course will likely not count as an upper-division German course at Oklahoma State. That is very, very bad because I need those credits as upper-division. If they don’t count, my schedule for next year gets very messed up, and I would need to take 18 hours in either the spring or the fall to graduate on time. Doable, but definitely not ideal. Not ideal at all.

Once I found this out, I sent out a series of frantic-ish emails to my advisors at OSU, the director of the language courses at my Austrian university and the study abroad coordinator at OSU. I thought maybe I could enroll in another German course here and have it count as upper-division; the deadline to enroll had already passed, but it might still be possible. Yes, it was still possible, but then I realized that the course I needed was at the same time as my Hungarian history class (in English with a professor from Toronto. I am so excited about and would not consider dropping this class). After several anxious emails with the advisors at OSU, I realized my situation was pretty crummy; I didn’t have any options, and the OSU study abroad coordinator (who needs to approve the German course as upper-division) was at a conference and wouldn’t have access to her email. So I was basically up a creek without a paddle. And from what I understand, that is not a good place to be.

Well, then I thought, maybe, just maybe I could try to enroll in an American history class here in addition to the 12 hours I am taking (actually only 9 because 3 were the German course that is already over). That would take care of some credits for next year, and the class would be in English (a definite plus). Why not give it a shot?

So I looked up the courses and found one about the American Constitutional period that would be worth 3 US credits—exactly what I needed! The time fit into my schedule perfectly; it seemed to be ideal. But there was one problem: the class meets on Tuesday afternoons. I was looking at this on Tuesday night. That meant that two class sessions had already taken place. Since this was labeled a “proseminar” and not a lecture course, I wasn’t sure if I would still be allowed in. But I decided to send the professor an email anyway. What could it hurt?

It was then I realized that I had already met this professor. Not only am I in another of his classes (Modern State Since 1500), but we had chatted briefly at the welcome lunch for all international students hosted by the Rector of the university last Thursday. At the pub crash on Wednesday, one of my friends reminded me about it; otherwise, I would have completely forgotten to go. While I was at the lunch, I talked with this professor Siegfried Beer (now THERE’S an Austrian name for you!) for a couple minutes; he had done a Fulbright in Connecticut back in the day, and now he teaches classes on American history. So basically, we talked for five minutes maximum and then he left. But I remembered him because the Fulbright program intrigues me; I plan to apply for one for Austria, and I thought maybe he could help. But I never even introduced myself, or vice versa.

So last night (very late. We had Stammtisch last night, and I didn’t get back until 12:45), I sent him an email and then said a quick prayer, asking God to work out this situation with credits and courses. Then I went to bed. This morning, I woke up to see that Professor Beer had replied. Here is his email:

Good morning,
of course I remember you and believe it or not, I even recently thought of you wishing I would have asked your name at the ERASMUS festivity. The reason: I am in search of more students for exactly the course which you are applying for. How lucky can we get? You need another class and I need you.
We had our second session yesterday afternoon but it will not be difficult for you to catch up. I suggest the following: you come by my office at your convenience, preferably already today (my only class-less day) and I will give you the scoop on what already happened in 505.526 and what will be expected of you in the course which is what we call a pro-seminar. Just send me a response and let me know if and when you can come by at Attemsgasse 8/III so I can make sure to be at the office at the hour you suggest.
You will not be able to register on your own; maybe through your advisor but it will be no problem at all for me to do that for you through our secretariat here in Attemsgasse 8/III.
So, let's fly it.
Optimistically,
S.B.

Crazy, isn’t it? I had to read it a couple of times just to believe it. I met with him this afternoon and am squared away to take his class—and graduate on time in May!

God cares about the little details of our lives. I don’t understand it at all, why such a huge, all-powerful, and almighty God would be interested in me. But for some unfathomable reason, He is. Even in the little things, like enrolling and graduating. He cares about me and about you even if we don’t always recognize it. I was so blessed to get to see His caring today in a very tangible way. I hope and pray that He opens your eyes to see it today in your life as well.

Now go enjoy some Mexican food and think of me. :)

"Pub Crash" and Pictionary

I am having the time of my life. I know I say that every time, but I really mean it; this whole experience has been a non-stop adventure, and I am loving it. This week was certainly no exception. In addition to classes starting, this week included the most enjoyable social times thus far. I already told you about the two international dinners at the beginning of the week, but now it’s time to fill you in on Wednesday and Thursday—Pub Crash and Movie Night.

What would the first week of class be without a night at the pubs? Apparently the ESN (Exchange Student Network) believes the two should go hand-in-hand; they organized a “Pub Crash” (which in American English is normally “Pub Crawl”) on Wednesday night. The first 30 people to sign up and pay their nine Euros could participate and get a “free” drink at each pub (“free” because we paid 9 Euros beforehand). We met at the Hauptplatz (main square) at 8 p.m., split into 3 groups of 10 people each, and then headed to the pubs, where we proceeded to have a blast. :)

I think our group was what made the experience so fun. There were two other Americans (both from Minnesota, both attending Iowa State), two Dutch, two Croatians, one Swiss, and a couple Austrians who acted as our guides. We all got along really well, and we had such a great time talking to each other and hanging out. I am not doing an adequate job of describing how awesome it was. Dang it. I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it: it was AWESOME. And I learned so much! Here goes:

1)Dexter is another favorite show in Europe. But “How I Met Your Mother” is still the favorite.
2)In Holland, there is a version of the American Greek (fraternity and sorority) system. But it is WAY more hard-core. The hazing is CRAZY; it makes our Greeks look wimpy!
3)Weed is neither illegal nor legal in Holland. It’s legal for coffeeshop owners to sell it, but not to buy it. So how do they get it? Also, people can’t smoke it on the street; they get fined. And finally, people grow weed on top of their houses. During winter, the police fly over and see which houses have no snow on their roofs (These houses have heating systems for the weed plants.)
4)Strawberry juice tastes incredible!
5)China should buy Hummer and start producing them.
6) Speeding tickets in Switzerland are ridiculous: you get a 45 Euro fine for going 2 miles over the speed limit
7)And I am an epic failure at speaking both Dutch and Croatian.
And my favorite lesson from the evening:
8)According to a real-life Dutch frat boy: I am really fun to party with. Ha ha ha. :) His exact words, “We need to do this again sometime! You are really fun!”
All in all, it was SO MUCH FUN (have I mentioned that already?)
Then last night, several of us from the pub crash got together again at Nik (from Switzerland) ‘s room. He lives in the same building as I do. We had a movie night, and then I taught them how to play “Passing Pictionary,” which is one of the best games ever. If you’re interested, I can teach you, too. Anyway, they LOVED it! :)
Today has been a chill sort of day; I ran some errands and have been working on homework and my Wentz research paper most of the day. In a few minutes, I am leaving to eat dinner with more international friends and then go to a big Erasmus party this evening. But I can’t stay too late because I have to get up really early tomorrow morning. Why do I have to get up early on Saturday? So glad you asked! Because I am going skiing for the day! Did I already say that I am having the time of my life? :)

On a more serious note, though, I do miss everyone at home—my wonderful family and my amazing friends. I haven’t forgotten about all of you! In fact, I would love to hear from you, about what is going on in your lives. I can’t be there in person, but I am there in spirit. And I would love to pray for you; just let me know specifically how.

Oh, I have been doing well spiritually. I kind of had a spiritual epiphany earlier this week, and since then, my relationship with God has been rejuvenated and refreshed. It’s been amazing! I’m having my devotions really consistently, and I’ve even started reading the Bible and memorizing verses in German! It’s been unbelievably satisfying, like I am getting a whole different perspective on my faith and my God. I love it! That being said, though, things are far from perfect, and I have been going through difficult phases here in Austria. I would really appreciate your prayers if you think of it.

Well, I have to go, but I hope you have an incredibly day—wherever you are! Auf wiedersehen! (Until next time!) :)

"Wie Ich Deine Mutter Getroffen Habe" ("How I Met Your Mother")

So I have officially been living in Austria for one month and one day now. I think I am finally getting adjusted to the swing of things, like the lightning-fast speed of the grocery store check-out process (I'm sorry! I know you are already three customers past me, but I still am trying to stuff all my things into the bag I brought from home!) As of today, I can now actually use the money in the Austrian bank account I set up three weeks ago. (They send the card and the PIN number separately a few days apart, but my PIN number never came and they had to order a new one.) And I have met some amazing people and made wonderful friends with whom I get to spend a lot of time.

Who are these friends? You might ask. Well, let me tell you about them. Before I came, a friend of mine urged me to get to know as many Erasmus students as possible because they would become like a family away from my family. (Jennifer Lawmaster, I hope you are reading this, because this is officially your shout-out) :) As far as I can tell, she was completely right.

Let me just say this: I LOVE my Erasmus friends. They are incredible, and I want to be their friend forever. Last night in my flat, we had what will hopefully be the first of many "international dinners." Giulia from Italy made delectable pasta (gluten-free just for me), the girls from France teamed up and made melt-in-your-mouth crepes, Jodie from Canada brought salad and fruit, and I managed to wow everyone with my impossibly easy-to-make peanut butter cookies. (Thanks for the recipe, Omi! It is officially a hit in Europe! :) ) It was so much fun hanging out with my friends, all speaking German and sharing aspects of our cultures with each other. As I already said (and I am sure you will hear/read me saying again and again), I LOVE my Erasmus friends! :) :) :) Tonight, Gina, my roomie from Korea had friends from her class over for dinner, and--guess what!--it was a blast too! I taught them how to do "The Awkward Turtle," and they tried to teach me French and Korean words. Again. So much fun.

I've been learning a lot through these intercultural experiences... For instance, last week I had to teach Meryl, my flat-mate from Singapore, how to use the dishwasher, because no one in Singapore uses them. Tonight, I found out that "Home Alone" and "Love Actually" are the most watched Christmas movies in both France and Korea. And, oh yeah, the most important lesson: "How I Met Your Mother" is officially the most popular TV show in Europe. Does it matter that next to no one watches it in America? Nope. Because it really and truly, without a doubt, is BIG in Europe. ha ha :)

Let's see, what else is happening here? Well, classes started yesterday. That was an adventure. My first class--Austrian History-- was at 8:15 on Monday, a lecture class. Good thing I got there early for once in my life; if I had been at the back of the mass of people, I probably would have been stuck sitting on the floor. But I could have technically arrived later if not for the crowd; the professor didn't show up until fifteen minutes after class was scheduled to start. Crazy, eh? (In Canada, people end their sentences with "eh?" Jodie is rubbing off on me. Ha ha) Oh, and my dreams of traveling long distances over the weekend have officially been shattered. I was only going to have the Austrian history class on Monday and I could potentially skip it if necessary, especially since my next classes were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Not so. Turns out that one of my classes, Modern State since 1500, which until yesterday was scheduled for Wednesday afternoons has now been moved to Monday. Good thing I checked the online schedule because I would have never had a clue otherwise. How can they change the day of the class ON THE DAY THAT CLASSES START? I don’t understand. Crazy, eh? But that’s okay, I suppose, because I still have Fridays off. Can’t complain too much about a three-day weekend every weekend. I’m now in the market for a new weekend travel buddy, though, because Jodie has Friday classes. Boo. :(

Hmmmm…. I think that about sums everything up for now. Things you should take away from this blog post:
1)Erasmus students = Your new best friends.
2)Canadians say “eh” a lot
3)Austrian universities have interesting scheduling policies
4)You—and I—need to start watching “How I Met Your Mother”

Ein Oesterreicher Sonntag (An Austrian Sunday)

One of the signs of adjusting to a new culture is realizing how it differs from your own. I experienced this first-hand this weekend, and especially today. And, to be entirely honest, I rather enjoyed it.

In America, I live at a mile-a-minute sort of pace, jumping from one thing to the next, always in a rush. And when I am doing one thing, such as hanging out with my friends, I often do so in a pre-allotted amount of time before I have to go on the next item on my agenda. Even on Sundays. Especially on Sundays.

In Austria, people do things differently. Yesterday, I went to "Jugend" or youth group at the Evangelical Free Church I attended a few weeks ago. It started at 6:30 and lasted until about 8:45. There was singing, a lesson, a small meal and fellowship. Then afterward, a bunch of people went to the Austrian version of a bowling alley to play pool. I went along and--apart from my completely and epically failing at pool--I had a great time. They just enjoyed spending time with each other, and they didn't put a time limit on it.

Today at church was the same. Church service started at 9:30 and got done around 11. But people didn't leave. Instead, they stood around in the sanctuary until 12:30 talking. And not just a handful of people, either; almost everyone stayed. Then one of the girls invited me over to her house to cook and eat lunch with a couple of her friends. By the time we had finished eating, it was 3 p.m. After lunch, we did the most simple thing; we went for a walk along the river. And we weren't the only ones doing it; there were dozens of people there too, enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon together. Living simply. And simply living.

When the other girls decided to head home, it was 4:30. I started my walk back to my apartment, when I stopped to gaze at the river and ponder what had happened. Suddenly, I felt very convicted. How often do I rush through life without actually living? How often do I actually spend time with people without worrying about how long it takes or what else I have to do? Far too often. How often do I really and truly enjoy living simply and simply living? Not nearly enough.

Even today when I was spending time with the sweet church girls, I felt like I needed to leave, as though I had been there too long and I had things I needed to do. In reality, I had absolutely positively NOTHING that needed doing. So then why the feeling of anxiety? Why the need to hurry?

I think that people live in certain ways because they are familiar. Habits are comfortable and easy, and they require no thought. That's fine if you have good habits, but when you don't, it can become a problem. I think--rather, I KNOW--I am in the habit of hurrying. But maybe I'm not actually living.

Today I made a choice, and hopefully I can stick to it. I'm going to try to slow down, enjoying other people and enjoying my life. In short, I'm going to try living like an Austrian--on Sunday, and on every other day of the week.

Paprika, Puddles, and PDA

Greetings fellow earthlings.

You thought it would never happen; you thought wrong.

That’s right, just when you thought I had fallen into the abyss of cyberspace never to blog again…. I’M BACK!

Yay! Yet again, I am so incredibly sorry that I have been so terrible about updating my blog. It hasn’t been due to lack of things about which to write; on the contrary, I’ve had so much going on that I am just now getting the opportunity to tell you.
I am currently sitting on my balcony (yes! I have a balcony! Isn’t that wonderful?!), gazing out over the city of Graz. This section of the city isn’t particularly beautiful; I can really only see the tops of some nondescript buildings and a little of the Lendplatz square below. But in the relatively-close distance (oxymoron, I know, but true nonetheless) there are lovely mountains and, since this balcony and my room’s windows face the west, I have the front-seat view of a very picturesque sunset.

The weather here has been gorgeous, by the way. Today the high was 60 degrees Fahrenheit, although I think it actually reached 64. The sun was shining, a gentle wind was blowing, and fluffy white clouds dotted an impeccably bright blue sky. Positively perfect. :)

Okay, enough about the weather. Chances are that you didn’t make the effort to log onto my blog to hear a meteorological update…

The last week has been incredibly busy and more than a little bit overwhelming. Things have calmed down significantly now, but let me clue you in about what happened. Last week was orientation. Four hours of pure fun for two days in a row. Sarcasm. Dripping sarcasm. Orientation at European universities, though entirely necessary and incredibly informative, is anything but fun. Basically, we learned everything about being a student at the University of Graz, from the enrollment process, to the types of classes we can take, services (or lack thereof) on campus, and everything in between. And the intensity of these orientation sessions, combined with 3.5 hours of German every morning, made for some very l-o-n-g days.

Enrollment became an adventure in itself—an adventure I wish I hadn’t had to go on. To be a full-time student at OSU, I need to take 12 U.S. credit hours while I’m here. 1 U.S. hour equals 2 ECTS hours, so that meant (wait, let me pull out my calculator), that I need to have 24 ECTS hours in Graz. Fortunately, the German intensive course counts for 6 ECTS/ 3 US hours, which left me with 18 ECTS / 9 US hours. That sounds easy, right? I only need 5 or 6 classes here to get that. No big deal. And with the Uni-Graz Online site, I should have been able to enroll easily on my own online.

“Should have”.

In reality, it turned out to be an extremely difficult and frustrating process that was anything but easy.

Before coming to Austria, I had to fill out a form called a “Prospective Study Plan.” It’s exactly what it sounds like: I had to check out Graz’s courses online and see which ones I could take to fulfill my OSU requirements. My academic adviser in the history department and the adviser in the study abroad office had to approve each course before I left. On my list, I had 15 courses. Mathematically, that should be simple. I only needed 5 or 6; 15 potential courses should have been plenty. Again “should have.” Actually, it turned out that some of them were no longer offered, some were actually from last semester even though they were listed as being offered this semester, and finally, some were master’s level classes, meaning that I was not eligible to take them.

Darn.

But wait! God provides!

The week before last (the week before orientation), I randomly met a guy in the elevator at my dorm. His name is Niklaus, and he’s from Switzerland. In our 30-second conversation, we discovered that we were both history majors. Weird. You don’t find those very often. He got my name and added me as a friend on facebook. Then last week, the night before the first orientation, he sent me a message on facebook. He asked me about enrollment and then gave me a list of history professors he likes. I went to the online course catalogue to research these professor’s courses and discovered a few more potential classes to add to my list—the list that would shrink very quickly the next day after orientation.

Okay, so now I have maybe enough courses I can enroll in. This is definite progress. Now all I need to do is enroll. Easy, right?

Wrong.

I’ve known for a long time that technology hates me. Whenever a technical difficulty can arise, it will, just for me. When I logged onto my Uni-Graz online account to enroll, I could find the courses, but it wouldn’t let me enroll. I clicked the right button. It should have said “wait list” or “you can’t enroll” (in German, of course), if it was a master’s level course. Regardless, it should have showed that I was on the waitlist for the class. Christa Grassauer, the amazing Austrian woman in charge of U.S. international students had warned us that we would likely be waitlisted and that we should talk to the academic advisers to get us into the courses we needed. But I wasn’t even waitlisted. I didn’t even appear to exist.
Well, crud. That can’t be good.

Here comes another adventure…

So I emailed Christa, and she told me to email the adviser for history. He told me he couldn’t help me. So he gave me the name of a history secretary and told me to visit her.

Oh, I need to add an important detail. In Austria, you can only enroll for courses during a certain window of time. After that window of time has passed, it is impossible to get a place in the class. The history department’s window of opportunity was scheduled to close on Wednesday the 24th. I got the email about the secretary lady on the evening of Monday the 22nd. The clock was ticking, and time was running out.

As I already mentioned, my German course was from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every day of the week. That being said, I decided to visit the secretary lady, Birgit Tauscheck, immediately after my class. Easy, right? Wrong.

I don’t understand Austrian culture, but for some reason, they seem to have something against numbering their rooms. And giving actual building addresses. In the email from the history adviser, he told me to go to “Mozartgasse , 3rd floor.” There are 6 academic buildings on Mozartgasse. And each one has a lot of rooms on its 3rd floor. Not good for the home team.

Anyway, I finally managed to find the correct building (the history library seemed to be like a safe bet; fortunately, I was right). But when I reached the third floor, I discovered yet another adorable Austrian idiosyncrasy: Locking doors. And not just locking any doors, locking doors to entire hallways. That’s right, I made it all the way to the third floor (which in America would be the 4th floor; they number things differently here too), only to discover that the pretty glass door to the hallway was locked. Not good.

Frustrated, I walked back down the three flights of stairs, not sure what to do next. Looking down another locked hallway, I had an epiphany: what if I were to go around to the other side of the building? Maybe the doors at the other end weren’t locked. So I unhitched my bike and walked all the way around to the other side (I had to go around YET ANOTHER building to get there). Sure enough, the doors on that side were unlocked. Again, I tromped up to the third floor and checked the names on the doors. Finally, I came to the right one… only to discover that it, too, was locked. And the sign under her name read, “Opening hours Mo-Fri 9-12.” Double crud.
At this point, I was incredibly dejected and I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, this short little Austrian man came up to me and asked, “Was suchst du?” (What are you looking for?) So I explained to him my quest to enroll and that I needed Birgit Tauscheck when suddenly he pointed over my shoulder: “Da sie ist!” (Here she is!) And sure enough, there she was! Turns out she had even been expecting me (the history adviser had forwarded her my email), and she was able to help! Apparently, I wasn’t crazy; the system had a glitch that kept me from enrolling. But after saying “komisch” (strange) a lot, making a couple phone calls, and pressing some magic buttons, she was able to enroll me in all but one of the classes I needed! Not even wait-listed—actually enrolled! Wow! I can’t adequately describe how incredibly relieved and grateful I felt. I’m just waiting now to find out if I got into the other waitlisted class; if so, I should be golden! :)

Sorry that was such a long story; I’m sure you didn’t come here to read about my enrollment adventure. But I wanted to share it to show you—and remind me—that God really is faithful, even—ESPECIALLY—in the little things. And although I was frustrated and angry and wanted to give up and cry, He pulled through at just the right time, with exactly what I needed.

Anyway, overall life is good here in Austria. I’m not homesick, which is certainly helpful. I finally figured out how to get my pictures on facebook, and Skype is letting me communicate with my family regularly. I have a roommate now, so that’s exciting. Her name is Gina; she’s from Korea, and she’s really sweet. Having a roomie makes me not miss the Kaydee house and my lovely sisters there quite as much. (Don’t worry, though! I still miss you all a lot!) I am finally starting to feel settled in here, with a group of friends to hang out with, with a bike to help me get around, and with classes I am enrolled in to take. I’ve gotten discouraged a few times, but mainly when I am really tired. My sleep schedule hasn’t been so great, so I’ve been tired a lot lately. Even when I go to bed early, I don’t sleep very well, and I wake up not feeling rested. That’s no fun. :( Other than that, though, things are wonderful, and I am having the best semester of my life. It makes me so sad to realize that a month—one-fifth—of it is already over. It’s flying by so fast, like water through my fingers. I just want to stop it, to put some sand back in the top of the hour glass, to freeze-frame the time that seems to be in perpetual fast forward.

Jodie keeps reminding me not to think like that, to not focus on when I’ll have to leave but to focus on enjoying the time here, right now. I’m trying; it’s hard, but I’m trying.

Jodie is amazing; I am so thankful for her. She is definitely my best friend here, and we get along really well. Last weekend, we went to Budapest together, just the two of us. It was IN-stinkin’-CREDIBLE! So fantastic! If you want to see pictures, they are on facebook. Let me tell you briefly (does that word exist in my vocabulary?) about our adventure in Budapest…

At 1:26 p.m. we took a train from Graz to Vienna, then a rail-jet (high-speed train of awesomeness) to Budapest. Upon reaching the train station at 6:51 p.m., we proceeded to board a bus that should have taken us to our hostel. Except we got a little lost. We accidently got off the bus one stop too early and wandered around for awhile with our GPS before we finally figured it out. Anyway, we eventually made it to our hostel “The BackPack Guesthouse.” It’s a hippie-hostel, for lack of a better description. Bright colors, a Bob Marley-themed room (ours was aquarium-themed), hooka to share, hammocks for sleeping outside in the summer… the works. A cultural experience in itself. :)

The next day, we visited Pest. Yes, Buda and Pest are two different places, separated by the Danube river. I don’t think they advertise this very well. Don’t worry if you didn’t know that; I had no idea they were separate until reading the guidebook during the train ride. Congratulations, you now know something that 98.7% of the world’s population doesn’t. :)

Budapest is beautiful! Even the ugly buildings are pretty! That being said, we took lots of pictures of said buildings (the more beautiful ones, not the ugly-pretty ones), including the opera house, St. Stephen’s Basilica, the mansions on Andrassy Avenue, and many others. We visited the House of Terror, a museum honoring all the victims of the Soviet and Nazi regimes; it’s located in the former secret police headquarters. We went to Hero’s Square, which has been called Budapest’s response to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. We visited the Great Market and sampled traditional Hungarian comfort food. We relaxed in the hot springs of the Turkish bath—outside while it was snowing! (When in Budapest, do as the Roman’s do). We saw the palace and got breathtaking views of the city, and we did many other things, including eating authentic Hungarian goulash and drinking lots of coffee. It was an amazing weekend. Here is what we learned about Hungary:

Hungary is the land of paprika (they put it on everything), of poo-poo (they apparently have no rules about cleaning up after dogs), of puddles (we avoided—and stepped in—a lot of them!), and of PDA (all people, all ages, all places—yuck)
That, in a nutshell, is my trip to Hungary.

I would write more about life, but now I need to go. Our German Intensive course is having dinner together tonight to celebrate the class being over… even though I think we are all a little sad. It was a great class. But I need to go cook some veggies and then head over to the dinner, so, like a banana, I need to split.
Thanks for reading! Have an incredible day—wherever you are! And know that you are loved—by me and by the One who made you! :)