Grüß Graz

The main train station in Budapest


I am in Budapest ... finally. My never-ending journey started at 3:30 a.m. this morning when I got up to get ready to go. My train left at 6:12 a.m., but I had to be at the station at 5:30 a.m. to meet the group.

Twelve of the fifteen students from the Graz program are here. On the train we ended up setting together in second class, but we later had to split up and go to first class. I guess that the second class car was not going all the way to Budapest.

A fellow student and I ended up in a compartment with a few rowdy Hungarian kids.

During the train ride it seemed that the further east that we traveled, the more economically depressed the landscape got. Just before we got to Graz, it looked like a scene from the beginning of "Borat" where he was supposed to be in Kazakhstan. (It was actually Romania.) I have also noticed a lot of U.S.S.R. architecture (blocky, colorless buildings).

The first thing that I noticed in the city is how grungy the buildings look. It looks as though they get a lot of acid rain here each year that destroys the stone buildings. Also, there is graffiti everywhere. I even saw a bus that was "taged."

Besides Hungary, I am getting my first youth hostel experience. Our hostel is in a building that looks pretty shady, but inside the hostel itself is actually pretty nice. Since we have such a huge group, we have two entire rooms to ourselves.

This evening we are planning to take a river cruise on the Danube followed by a "pub crawl." It sounds like fun so I am really looking forward to it.

Labels: Budapest, Travel

So today I am going with a group of students to Budapest, Hungary because we have a long weekend since Monday is a national holiday in Austria.

Right now it is ungodly early in the morning. I got up early because I have to be at the bus stop at 5:03 a.m. to catch the bus to the train station. My train leaves at 6:12 a.m.

I am really looking forward to the trip because it will be my first time in Hungary. Also, it will be the first time that I go behind the former Iron Curtain.

The weather forcast does not look good for this weekend, but I am hoping that we will get some sunshine so I can get some decent photos of something.

We return Monday night, Tuesday we have class and Wednesday we go with the entire class to Salzburg, Austria.

Labels: Budapest

Fuel prices as of Tuesday:

Gasoline - $5.80 per gallon
Diesel - $5.14 per gallon

Not surprisingly the station where I got these prices was not very busy unlike most stations in America. Since I have been here, I have not seen more than one car at a fuel station at one time.

Labels: Graz

On our way to Riegersberg on Saturday, we spotted a Hooters out by the UPC Stadion. So naturally we had to go eat there to see if there were any cultural differences.

I had heard that the Hooters in Austria is a totally different experience because the waitresses wear more clothes.

Totally untrue.

It was in fact the opposite. In addition, the food was good, which immediately separates it from the American restaurant. I was not disappointed when I noticed that they did not have buffalo wings on the menu.

But the thing that surprised me the most about the place was how fast we got our food. We walked it, took a seat, ordered and had our meals in five minutes. (Our beers were there in two minutes.) It was simply amazing.

Labels: Graz

It is really cool to be in Austria, but right now I am really hating the homework.

Since I am studying through the university, I am in fact taking six credit hours worth of classes here. Each morning at 8 a.m., I have Sprachunterricht (language) followed by a contemporary Austrian culture class.

For the language class, we are reading "Das ewige Leben" by Wolf Haas. It is a detective novel set in Graz. That makes it interesting since I go by some of the places mentioned in the book during my morning ride to class.

But other than the setting, this book stinks. It is incredibly hard to understand and the author has a bad habit of rambling about nothing for pages. On average, it takes me between four and five hours a night to read a single 10-page chapter in the book.

My instructor told me it should not take that long to read and to "quit taking it so seriously." But I do not want to read through it quickly then fail the final over the book. Come on, it's homework. You have to take it seriously.

On top of the nightly reading assignment we also have exercises out of our grammar book to do. These are not as bad as the book, but they do take a fair amount of time nonetheless.

Anymore it just feels like all I get done anymore is homework. When I get it done. I feel as though I am spending too much time inside at my desk doing homework and too little time out experiencing the culture.

In short, I am really frustrated with my classes right now.

Labels: Graz, IU Graz Program