Hiking

There are lots and lots of mountains here in Graz and I have been going hiking pretty frequently.  We go hike up here in some of these mountinans, maybe an hour or hour and a half of hiking uphill and look out over the whole city and see snow covered mountains in the background.  I wish I could put some of these photos on here!  Ryan and I went to a really nice church on really big hill the other day called Mariatrost.  If you go to google images and type in Mariatrost church there are some good photos that come up.  Yesterday we went to the highest mountain within the city limits of Graz where there is an old castle called Gösting castle.  There is a little cafe in it where we stopped to have a drink.  There isn't even running water and cars cant drive up, so they have to crank up drinks and food.  The view from the top was outstanding and we were even allowed to go everywhere in the castle which was cool.

Venice!!

The weather was great, the food and wine were awesome, and the company was up to par..what more could you ask for?  Venice is such a beautiful city and the gondola ride was unbelievable.  We paid about 80€ for the 3 of us to go on a 30min ride.  The ride is somewhat like a tour.  I went with Ryan and one of his friends that was visiting for spring break.  We had some really great pizza (although I still like Pizza King better).  It was a 6 hour bus ride from Graz to Venice for 30€ roundtrip..not too shabby.  I took about a bajillion pictures in Venice, but I can not load them up using Pascal's netbook.  We decided to go out for St. Patricks Day, however Venice is not a "party city" so we ended up in a bar just the 3 of us and some old dude.  Brussels and Venice are my top 2 favorite cities so far!

Vienna

I went to Vienna with a group of about 20 people and my neighbor Ryan for his birthday.  We got to see alot of cool buildings and ate some good food.  We went to a huge market one day that was absolutely packed.  The smell of all the fresh fruits and veggies and fish was great.  We went to a famous schnitzel place for dinner one night and they served the schnitzel on a sword..pretty awesome! 

WOW

WOW!  It has been a long time since I have posted anything on here, oops.  So I guess it is time to catch up..or stop procrastinating.

Dad,Renee,Kyle, Micheal
I met my Dad and company in Paris for Christmas.  Visiting Paris in the winter is not ideal, but it was alot of fun.  The weather in Paris was actually pretty pleasant compared to what I was dealing with in Germany the week before.  We did alot of sightseeing in Paris.  The Eiffel Tower, the Lourve, and some other places that I didnt bother to remember the name of!  We had a good time in Paris though.  We came back to Germany on Christmas Day and stayed in a hotel in Frankfurt.  While in Germany we also went to Cologne and Heidelberg.  Dad rented a car, so it was pretty easy to get around. (the gps helped)  Pascal came and met us in Frankfurt the last night they were here. 

Sadler
Eric flew in the same morning that Dad and company were leaving.  We spent the first day hanging out in Marburg and catching up on some sleep.  The next day we were off to Brussels for New Years Eve.  For those of you who don't know, Bussels is the capital of Europe.  Our hotel was about a 15 min walk away from the main part of the city where all of the festivites were taking place.  Of course being Eric and Mitch, we didnt make any reservations for dinner, so we ended up eating at Pizza Hut.  The pizza was good and we even got a beer there.  We went out to the city center at night and there was a big countdown and lots of fireworks and party party party.  We ended up meeting some spanish girls and followed them to a bar, which ended up to be the most famous bar in Brussels (its called Delirium).  We didnt know that we had been there until the next day when we were looking for it and then realized we had already been there.  The waffels and beer in Belgium are number 1.
After Brussels we were off to Amsterdam for a few days.  Amsterdam is a port city, and also sin city.  It was weird to walk around and see girls standing in windows and pot shops everywhere.  The city was by far the dirtiest city I have been in, but the canals were cool and the Heineken was on fire.  After Amsterdam we went back to Marburg for 2 nights then Eric went home.

Visa
When I got to Germany I applied for my visa there, but I was informed while I was in Germany that I could not get my visa for Austria in Austria.  So I had to go to Berlin to get my visa, which wasn't as bad as it could have been since I wanted to visit Berlin anyway.  I forgot to take my camera, so I had to buy a desposable camera in Berlin.  There is alot to see in Berlin.  The first day I was there I spent all my time finding the Austrian Consulate and then finding my hotel.  But the second day I got to see alot of cool things.  Of course the most interresting was the Berlin Wall.  It was different traveling alone, but it was also alot of fun.

GRAZ
Now I am finally in Austria.  I took a train Sunday the 13th from Marburg to München and stayed the night there, then got up early on Vday and took a train the rest of the way to Graz.  I got in at about 2pm and my "buddy" was at the train station waiting for me.  Its a good thing she was because Graz is much bigger than Marburg.  Graz has about 400.000 residents and Marburg only 80.000.  The first day here I got settled in with no problems.  I take a tram into the city.  It takes about 10 mins and then a 10 min walk.  My room is pretty small, but its also nice.  I have my own room, share a bathroom with a girl from New Jersey, and share a kitchen with about 10 people.  The second night I was here (without food, dont ask why) some girls on my floor asked me to eat dinner with them.  They are from Masadonia and made some typical Masadonian dish, I will have to ask them what it is called because it was pretty good, similar to meatloaf. 
Right now I am just going through all the motions of moving to a new city.  Registering here, opening a bank account, student IDs, registering for classes, meeting with professors, getting a feel for the city.  I havent taken any pictures yet, but it snowed last night so maybe I should.

Address for Graz

StudentInnenheim VAÖ

Verband der AkademikerInnen Österreichs

Am Rehgrund 14 

Zimmer 3

8043 Graz / Austria

Winter

Its cold!!!

Norway

I had absolutely no intention of going to Norway when I came to Europe, but I am so glad that I tagged along with the other Americans.  From the moment we left Marburg to the moment we got back, it was nothing but laughs and adventures.  It was alot of traveling (one hour train ride to Franfurt, 2 hour bus ride to the airport, 2 hour flight to Oslo, Norway, 2 hour bus ride to where we wanted to go, 30 minute walk to our hotel) but I would do it all over again next weekend.  Everyone in Norway was nice and more importantly everyone spoke English very, very well. 

The Royal Palace-our hotel was about 400 yards away from it!

A view from the port

Andrew, Adam (the retard), ME, Marilyn, Kate...Kat was also with us.  She is a goth chick, but surprisingly cool

Currywurst- the hottest in Germany!!!

 Everyone digging in...and regretting it immediatly!

 

 

 

 

Abdul, Pascal, Jon, Ahmed, Adam (although adam looks like a retard, I assure you he is not)

When we walked up to this place, I was very surprised at what it looked like.  You can see from the picture above that it is just a little shack, but the line went on for days.  It was like waiting in line at Disney World!  It was a fun experience, but I will never eat anything that hot again. (or at least until I forget how painful this experience was)

Doing okay!!!

Things are still going pretty well.  Classes are starting to pick up, so I have been at my desk alot more.  Its starting to get pretty cold at night..bummer.  I am taking boxing classes on Monday and Thursdays, Taekwondo on Tuesdays, and Volleyball on Wednesdays.  Today is the first day of full contact at boxing, so I am going to get my shit kicked in!  I went to the zoo in Frankfurt last weekend...

I made 2 new friends

Sports

Yesterday I did an athletic training class.  It involved a 10 circuit program, 30 seconds at each circuit, 15 seconds inbetween, and we did this 4 times!  It was alot of different pushup, situp, and jumping kind of exercieses.  Pascal quit after the first round!  What a baby.  My shirt was completely soaked after the class was over.  I am thinking of signin up for it.  It is every Monday night and costs 20€.

Today I am going to a Kung Fu/Kickboxing class with some Spaniards I have met.  I have no idea how this class will go, but I will probably have some funny stuff to write down afterwards as the class will be in all German!

Tomorrow night is Volleyball night.  There is a beginners/intermed. class followed by the University team class.  I have no idea which one I will be in so I have to go to the beginnners.

Friday I think I am going to go tryout for the University Basketball team with this guy from Philly.  He is 6'5" and maybe 280 so I am guessing he makes it.  I havent played for awhile so it should be funny.

Oktoberfest!!

I had a lot of fun at Oktoberfest.  It was a very long journey.  We woke up saturday morning at 6 am so we could walk to the train station (the bus doesnt run that early).  Our train left Marburg at 730am and we didnt get to München until around 3pm.  We brought 2 six-packs with us on the train ride and played cards pretty much the whole way, so it went by pretty fast. 

Pascal and I eating a currywurst!

 Too much Paulaner? or still not enough?

 Okay now too much Paulaner

We only borrowed these glasses..and forgot to return them

My travel to Marburg Germany

I made it, with some difficuties. It was nothing too bad, but I sat next to a weirdo on the plane, missed my first bus, bought the wrong bus ticket and was yelled at by the bus ticket nazi lady, and didn't bring my passport on the second day so couldnt register with the polizi...and the damn z and y are backwards on the keyboard.
My roommate is a german native, so I should have no problems. He made me dinner last night. I slept for 16 hrs straight yesterday, last night.

My addresss is:
Mitchell Gerow
Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse 11B
Adolf-Reichwein-Haus 35039 Marburg, Zimmer-Nr. 02-20

more to come

Mitch