Travel Monkey

So apparently I am just a little travel Monkey. I mentioned last post the I was in Winnipeg two weekends ago. Then last weekend I was in Lacombe and Wetaskiwin, I unfortunately for got my camera and Teddy. And now I'll be heading up to Edmonton for a day. Who knows where I'll go next. It has been pretty amazing though.

In Wetaskiwin I was with another girl from work, S, and we had a blast. We ended up in a place called the Reynolds Alberta Museum. If you are ever in that part of Alberta, go there. It was amazing!!! They have so many cool artifacts and historical information on Canada & Alberta. Especially cars. ONc eyou have visited the museum you have to go to Huckleberry's. It was absolutely delicious. Have dessert first, trust me. They make a great steak and pasta dish, but their dessert is what you go for. As S and I found out the hard way. I had a turtle cheesecake, wow!!!! I almost couldn't finish it, it was so filling. Their Huckleberry pie is also to die for!!

Now dont worry. This time I have both Teddy and my Camera and will be snapping photos, so that I have something to show everyone who is still reading this.

Hope everyones having a good time, and enjoying the Olympics!!

Tiny

PS This is the song that I have had playing in the car for the whole week, so that I keep driving. (And yes I have been good about speed limits!!)
Dallas Smith- If it Gets you Where you Want to Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6Nx7EOOhc

Weekend in Winnipeg

I know, I know, I have been horrible at keeping this thing up to date, but here's a post. So last weekend I went to the lovely city of Winnipeg. It's still in the west of this wonderful country, but east of home. I was there to visit with my Grandparents, who I haven't seen since I left. It was a ton of fun. (I do have a pic of Teddy, but my camera is currently unavailable for me, you'll see why in my next post). Anyway, we got a chance to catch up on all of the family news, and also my travels in Austria, and I finally beat my grandfather at Crib!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It's a card game that uses a pegging board to count points, trust me, it is awesome to play!)
We also got some shopping done, and went to this really amazing Italian restaurant in "little Italy", it's kind of sad when you've been to the real place, but still, it was fairly authentic food.

I also had a chance to go out with some of my friends while I was in Calgary, and got some work done. So all in all it has been pretty awesome since the Stampede ended. I am feeling a little bit of culture shock, in the form of not always being my normal chipper self. But it's easy to deal with, I just listen to "Afro-Sibirischer Lovesong" and that helps.

This is a special note to P (since I am on the thought line of songs that annoy me :P) I was trying to find some music to listen to on the plane home, and I got onto the 'kids' channel on the airplane and the most wonderful song came on. I nearly screamed and ran to the back of the plane to jump out. It was a little number called .... "Scnappi". If you haven't listened to it, save your ears. If you have, or have seen me listen to it, you can understand just my feelings about it. :) Needless to say, I meant to post that on my first one back home, but forgot about it.

Wow, that was longer then I expected it to be. I promise I am not done yet, now that I am working more regular hours I'll be more consistent with the posts!
Talk soon (and this time I mean it),
Tiny

PS, a HUGE thanks to M and A, their cards made me smile, and I look at them when I really want to get out of a culture shock rut!

Pancake Breakfast and Unpacking

Howdy Y’all. So the Stampede is now over, and I am at regular work, although not today, because I had to get everything unpacked from my suitcase. It was harsh. I thought it would be super easy, because I’m at home and I just have to put everything away. Not true. It was like putting away memories. Trust me, not cool. Alas it has completely demotivated me and I am now sitting here trying to think about what I am going to do for the rest of the day that is somewhat productive yet takes almost no effort. :P

The reason for the pancake breakfast title though is that, if you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that we had a few over the year. They were small, I had to cook three pancakes at a time, because I didn’t have a proper grill. It being the Stampede and all, you have to go to a Stampede Pancake Breakfast, so I thought I’d show everyone what that is supposed to look like. Enjoy the photos, I need to get some work done.

Cheers,

Tiny

Now that's how you have a REAL pancake Breakfast!

Pancakes and Sausages!

As Easy as Riding a Bike!

As I have done that, I can honestly say, no it is not. It is easy to remember all of the things that you learn in driving class, but with a bike you can’t hurt as many people as with a car. However the day after arriving, and I should say morning after because I landed at 5pm, I got back into a vehicle and drove to the office, which means the most annoying road in the city. But hey it was fun and after that I got to drive all over the place.

My Family also had a welcome home dinner, and I cried when I saw the sign. They had made a ton of our family's 'comfort food' which was just what I needed to remind me how awesome living here is!

Now it is Stampede and I have been working pretty much non-stop since landing.  Which suits me fine, it means I haven’t had time to feel homesick for Graz yet. I do miss the people and my bike, see a pattern there. I can barely get on mine here it is so tall, but there you have it. Anyway. I said I would keep people updated. And I am trying, but it may be a long time between posts. I hope to have some more pics of the Stampede, and of me, but for now enjoy the ones that I have, and there’ll be more. J

Yeehaa,

Tiny

Teddy in the Frankfurt airport. I ended up in line for the wrong
flight home, so I had to run from one terminal to get
to the terminal with the first flight, and then to the end of the
third terminal. Luckily I made it on time!

This is Greenland!

Teddy ready for his first ride with me!

Me ready to do the first drive!

Happy Canada Day

So today is Canada Day, and I am here, melting slowl, in Graz. But not for too long now. The apartment is looking pretty bare given that M has packed all of her things, and I am starting to pack all of mine. Who knew how much stuff you could gather in 10 months. Needless to say I am glad that I have A here (from Finland) to help with all of the cleaning.
Yesterday was the hottest day of the year, so naturally we spent most of it at the outdoor pool. It was wonderful, if a little bit colour draining on my hair. But well worth it. I think I may also have got a slight tan, but with 50SPF sunscreen applied every 30 minutes or so it does make it kind of hard to get a tan. (but more importantly hard to burn, which I haven't!)
Then it was supper with M and A from Finland. It was a really awesome day overall.

Today we went for a kebap (maybe my last one) in honour of Canada Day, and I was wearing my Canada shirt, but it is black and made for a Canadian summer, so I had to take it off. But I have pins so that I will still be Canadian, even without the Canada t-shirt. Then tonight we are having a party to celebrate, and I get to pick my parents up from the train again.

It has been really really awesome here, and I cant believe it is already coming to an end. Not sure when my next post will be, but if it's not for a while don't worry, I will be back.

Till Next time,
Tiny

I didn't make this, but I love it, and I hope
you do too! Happy Canada Day!

Finished

Hey,

Sorry it's been so long, but I have had 6 exams in 3 days, and I had to get my paper all edited before that. Needless to say it has been busy here. Slowly but surely everything is coming together, classes are now finished, and I'm starting to get all of the paperwork that I need organized and reorganized.

We've also been having lots of 'goodbye' things going on here! It's really sad, but also a little happy, because it means that I am getting even closer to home! It's so hot here right now that I just keep wondering how I am going to survive back home. :P

I know this should be more exciting, with lots of pictures and stuff, but I really dont have all that many, and my computer doesn't seem to want me to load pictures today. If I get them online I'll maybe post some tomorrow.

Now back to the piles,
Tiny

Back to Business

First off, I’m sorry that I haven’t done so well with blog posting. I left off last Saturday, so this one may be a little bit long. Sunday M, L, R and I went to the town Armoury, and saw all of the old armour. Every time that I go there I learn something new. It’s also nice when you can talk about some of the things that you learned while living here and put them into context for the people who come to visit!  We went to the Glockenspiel and it didn’t go, we found out later that it was actually broken. But it was ok, we had a delicious meal. Then we all had a nap/finished some homework that needed to be done, and then my friend A (from Taiwan) had us over at E & P’s for some amazing apple dessert! Then it was hair-cuts/movie night for M and me, while L and R went out for supper with some friends.

Monday was a shopping day, and we seriously shopped till we dropped. We dropped because it was like 32 degrees with 90% humidity which made it feel like almost 40. It was crazy hot. It hasn’t cooled down yet either. But back to Monday, we came home and got M packed and then we went out for supper with the whole gang.

Tuesday M headed home and then L, R and I went around to all of the places that we hadn’t been yet, the Schlossberg(even though R ,M and I had been there on Monday) and up to the University, because even though this is all cool , I still need to go to classes. Then we went to this really cool Tapas place for supper. So tasty!!

Wednesday I had classes all day and me up with L & R in the evening, where they got to meet N and M(from Finland) and we had a really awesome supper.

Thursday L &R left, and since then I have been crazy busy with classes and studying, trying to get ready for my exams next week. Hopefully they all go well, it has been a lot of hard work, and I hope it pays off!

Until Later,

Tiny

R and M at the top of the Schlossberg

This was from the elevator down, it was
so nice and cool in the tunnels that we didn't
want to leave!

M & M at Monday's Dinner

Quick Update

I promise that I will write a better update tomorrow morning, but right now I am going to bed, because after 5 hours of studying I just want to curl in a ball and sleep. (almost typed in study there, which just goes to show you how much I have been doing)

Tiny

Hey Everyone

Me again. So Saturday morning we all woke up and went to E & P’s house to start our adventure for the day. First up, getting L to drive. She was awesome  the whole time and even got us up this one really scary hill when we all had to stop for someone at the top.  So with four of us in L’s car and three in P’s car we went to the castle Riegersberg. We got to see all of the witch trials and stuff, plus all of the cool rooms, and had some really good schnitzel. Then we headed on to Zotter. For those that don’t know it’s kind of like the Willy Wonka’s of Austria. So much chocolate, so much fun!! Once we were finished we walked around the garden/zoo area, and when we got the water the guy was nuts. He filled each glass, then put an orange in, then an icecube, then mint, then a straw, all down the line. Water made with Love. Then we went onto a Buschenshank (a not a restaurant) for supper. So much good food!!!!

Yesterday we went to the Armoury, then out for Lunch at the Glockenspiel. Then my friend A had us all at E & P’s and she made us the most wonderful apple desserts. For the evening, my parents went for supper with family friends and we had a haircutting night. It has been totally awesome so far and I can’t wait to see what today brings.

Talk soon,

Tiny

L driving, it was a standard, so the rest of us couldn't.

Riegersberg Castle



With L and R

And with P, M and E



We found these helmets in the castle!

At the Zotter factory!



Someone liked the Wine at the Buschenshank!

All of the wonderful food!!!

More Company

So where did I leave off? Wednesday was a fairly regular say, classes (done my presentation, so now only exams left!!), nap, tea with N and M (where we watched cartoon openings from our childhood!) and finally a movie night with E, P and M (my roommate this time!). Which was really awesome. Then on Thursday I got to go to classes while my company had a relaxing, get over jet lag day, but everyone was at our Canadian Culture course, to cheer on the prof who came from Canada.

But Today is definitely the highlight!! It started out early, caught the 7:25 train to Vienna, where we got on the Hop On Hop Off bus and had a great time just seeing so many different places in the city. We saw St. Stephen’s and the Schünbrunn Palace. Also we had the best luck with trains!! But after the sightseeing came the real adventure. We went out to the airport and I got to pick up my parents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I don’t really feel like there is enough space to put in all of the exclamation points that I need! It was totally awesome. Then we took the train back home, out for supper and now I’m home once again, listening to music before bed, and trust me, it is a good thing there is spell check because I swear I’ve maybe spelled three words properly I am so tired!

Can’t wait for Tomorrow,

Tiny

Movie night Thursday. M, E, me, M, and M (P's brother)
See I told you I need another nickname!

Me and M on the train to Vienna

At the Opera House (where we caught the bus)

On the Bus, going around the city!

St Stephen's Cathedral

Schuenbrunn (and yes I know it's supposed to have the
little dots, but it's not working right now!)

First Day with Company

So yesterday evening, E, P & I went to the airport and picked up my friend from home. She is going to be here for a week, and it is totally exciting!!  Naturally it was too early to go to bed when she arrived, so we had supper and watched a movie in typical girl’s night fashion.  We also did a lot of talking and planned out today.

Today was a day of, what else … food! It started out with breakfast, and then we went into Hauptplatz, from there we visited the gummy bear shop, the chocolate store, and we were contemplating going to the Hof Backerai, but decided to save that until later in the week. From there we trekked up the Schlossberg, in the rain, and got to see lots of the main part of town.  Then lunch at a little café that is near the Glockenspiel. We didn’t get to see it ring, but of course we’ll go back and see what we can do! Then it was a tour of the University and German class. I learned a lot, and she had a lot of fun trying to figure out the class. Naturally you can’t come visit me in Graz without having a Kebap, so that is what we had for supper. Now I am getting ready for my presentation tomorrow, and we are preparing to go to pub quiz tonight! Should be a lot of fun!

More Later,
Tiny

PS Teddy had a great time today too!



Main building in Hauptplatz

At the Gummy Bear store. Teddy likes to
rot his teeth too!

Climbing up the stairs, it's a must do when
you are here!

At the top!

Me and Teddy with Graz in the background!

The Clock Tower (I got asked by two other
people to take their picture with it and we almost
forgot to take our own!)

Lunch Time!

The statue of Stytia in the Stadtpark!

100th Post

This is actually really good, because I didn't know what to call this post, but hey, it is my 100th post!

And here I promised myself that I was going to do better at blog posting this month, which means I’m not off to a very good start. I left off on Saturday which was one of the last coolish days here. Sunday felt like living in a sauna, which wasn’t helped by making goulasch all afternoon, for supper that night. Sadly Sunday was our last potluck (or at least I am pretty sure it will be, given all of the craziness going on for the rest of this month). It was delicious by the way and salads were the most popular this time around!

Monday was a study day with N. We are getting as many of these in as we can, because it makes us both more likely to work. Tuesday we had N’s belated birthday party, a picnic in the Stadtpark where we had waay too many chips. Then Wednesday was just painful school wise, three lessons with a 4 hour break between two and a 2 and a half hour break between the other. But luckily E and P made sure I made it out for lunch with them. We went to a running sushi place which was really really tasty!

Today is yet another day off (I am not alone among the international students when I say I’d take less breaks if it meant getting home a little sooner) But it means that I get some extra time to prepeare for the first bit of company that I’ll be having this month. I’ll have to come up with a nickname for her, because I don’t think I can handle another M in this blog.

But probably best of all for this post, I have pictures from everything!! (Ok fine, I took pictures of our study break, not while we were actually studying). Here’s hoping that I get a laundry machine today, and that I don’t need a gas mask when emptying the fridge!

Cheers,

Tiny

PS I should never be allowed near fairy tales again!

Saturday the top of the clock tower looked soo cool!



Sunday Supper, with M, N, R and M (see what I mean
about the M's)

Sunday supper, with C, R, P and E

Signs of a good study session. Gummy bears as a break food!

The Picnic food!

E and P at Sushi!

Laundry #7

Yes I know it’s been a long time since I did one of these posts, but don’t worry, it hasn’t been that long since I last did laundry. J Where has the time gone? It’s the second of June. The last month of my stay. There is so much to do and so very little time to do it in. There is of course school work, laundry, dishes and all that crazy stuff, but also hanging out with friends, going to fave restaurants and enjoying Graz while I still can. Talk about nuts.

And in keeping with the nuts it seems like there hasn’t been a day when I haven’t been having a movie night or going for tea with someone, or going to see a movie! All of which I’ve done this week, we got to go see Snow White and the Huntsman at the theatre on Thursday (opening day) and it was a pretty good movie. Naturally we all read waaaay to much in between the lines (I think we all decided that we thought that there was no chemistry between some of the main characters) but it was a great way to spend some time with friends, and eat waay too much popcorn. (Thanks for that P). Then Friday was a study day, and hopefully with more of those N and I will be ready for all of our exams at the end of the semester. My paper is finally finished (now for editing *insert sarcasm* Yay!) Otherwise, it’s mostly life as usual, coffee with friends and a really good vegetarian restaurant with E on Thursday.  Sadly my camera has been rather dormant during most of these events, because I want to enjoy them instead of constantly taking pictures, but I promise there will be more coming this month.

However, not being one to leave you without something, this has sort of become my theme song for the month, and I feel like I’ve been doing a pretty good job, considering how tired I am (listen to it and you’ll understand!) Adam Lambert - Never Close Our Eyes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3dkVk3F57c&ob=av2e

Till Next Time,

Tiny

Eurovision and Toast

Would it be a blog post without food? Well last night we went to M’s house to watch Eurovision. For those of you that don’t know what that is, think Canadian Idol on a Europe level.  We got to watch the contest, and make some delicious toast. (no I don’t mean bread that has been put into a toaster, it means kind of like a super awesome cheesy melted piece of bread with deliciousness on it!)The contest was amazing, and there were lots of good acts. Some were really funny, and some were absolutely beautiful. If you plan on watching it don’t read the next sentence. The girl from Sweden won the contest, and she was pretty good, we all liked her.  It was a late night, but still so much fun!! It was cool especially hearing people sing in different languages.

Now time to work on my paper! :P

Tiny

These were all of the ingredients that
we had to put on our toast! They were
beyond tasty!!

Waiting to hear the results. They went
through each countries votes individually.
This was when we were at 12 of 42.

Me, M and R(from the states) enjoying the show. PS I can't
take credit for any of these. M(roommate) took these ones!

A Day out with P

So the other day I was told by P that we needed to have an outing just the two of us, since M and E were also doing an outing. He proceeded to tell me little snipets of what was going on the whole weekend without actually telling what exactly we were going to be doing. So yesterday, we met up, walked to the train station, did charades on the train (courtesy of E and M), and got off at a cave twenty minutes north of Graz! It was absolutely amazing. The tour was all in German and I understood a ton of it.  There was one part where a man had carved two hands out of the stones and hoped that one day they would grow together. (he didn't listen to the lesson on how when you touch the stones the oil in your hands stops them from growing) It was a great day, and we even got to see a bat inside the cave! It has been wet ever since so I haven’t been outside too much, but it has been fun. Now unfortunately it is back down to work. :P

P shuffling the charades card.

The name of the cave, Lurgrotte!



P at the entrance to the cave

The entrance, the whole in the  top right is where the bats
could go in and out. And they had lots of owls around the place!

Cheers,

Tiny

Long weekend of Awesomeness

Hey everyone. Sorry I haven’t been too full of updates lately, but my life has been pretty school filled, and I don’t think that people want to hear about how often I avoid doing my work. :P Anyway, more to the point of this post, we have a long weekend this weekend, and it has been completely awesome!

Wednesday E&P&M and I had a movie night, because none of us had any school the next day, and we ate all healthy food for snacks (which I think we determined was the first time that we had had a movie night without gummy bears! :P)

On Thursday N and I decided to go for a bike ride. It wasn’t going to be that long and we were going to just go until we got tired. Well….. Our ‘short’ ride ended up being 40km round trip, it was so awesome though! Gelato was never more deserved than after that ride! We got to see some beautiful country side, plus a lot of the city that I don’t usually see.  So much fun!!

The Friday E & P and I went to and Indian restaurant for lunch, it was really tasty, I haven’t had Indian food in forever. Then, like good students, we had a study session, in which we actually both got work done (shocking, considering how much I have been avoiding it!) And of course by the end of the study session it was time for a movie night! Lol.

Who knows what today will hold, but so far it has been a really really awesome long weekend!

I have no idea why I look like that, but it
was the only one that wasn't blurry cause the
lighting inside was really weird. But it was soo
tasty!

The food! That's my watch in the top, and P's blurry hand in
the bottom middle!

Happy May Long to everyone back home too!

Tiny

Late Nights and Sunshine

This is just another little update, not too special. I've been going to classes and meeting up with friends, but the cool thing is that it is all just relaxed talking and tea drinking/suppers (and yes sometimes the tea is being replaced by a radler or two) but it has led to some late nights. So it's nice that I can sleep in on Fridays! Anyway, we also have a lot of sunshine, the girl who never tans actually has a tan!!! It's not that dark, but if I keep sitting outside everyday it should be pretty epic for when I get back!

Otherwise I am doing a very very good job of ignoring the paper that I need to get written (it's not due till July, so I am not all that worried about it). It's just too nice outside not to ignore homework, and it's also good to get to sit in my windowsill!

Anyway I feel as though I haven't posted many pictures lately, so these are just some pics from the last two weeks or so! Enjoy!

Although we do always seem to have food it isn't always
unhealthy. Finnish M and I made this Spinach/Feta/Tomato
roll thingy, so tasty!!! (I think that was like 2 weeks ago, lol)

Gelato has been a lot of peoples saving grace, it is ridiculous.
I'm not sure how P was able to wear the sweater!

More Gelato with E!



This was at the Wise Guys Concert (I blogged about it in the
May 2nd post)

More Wise Guys (ps, it was apple juice I swear)

We had a movie night the other day and P went a little
overboard with the food, but these deepfried mushrooms were
delicious!!!

See what I mean by overboard (this was a
yougurt/berry sauce/granola dessert) And yes
I will be getting recepies for a lot of the food
that we eat here!

Planning M's scavenger hunt!

Hope you like all the pictures, I promise I'll keep you updated if there is anything else going on!

Tiny