Hallo aus Österreich

I am in Austria!  I had never traveled on my own before, but the trip went smoothly.  I met up with Ben, Shannon, and Andrew, the students from Syracuse University, in Vienna, and the four of us took the train down to Graz together.  The day after we got here was a holiday, so almost everything was closed, but luckily we had time to get some groceries the night we got here (stores typically close around 7).  Since then, we've caught up on sleep, walked around downtown, gotten to know the bus/tram system, and seen TU-Graz, the university where we'll be working.  We're settled in now at the dorm where we'll be for June, and then when the semester here is over we'll be able to move closer to the university.

A couple of the streets downtown

My (first) dorm

TU-Graz.  There's supposed to be some kind of a
molecule pattern in the glass windows but  it's hard to see.  

From a park near the dorm

 

Despite not knowing German, I feel very comfortable with the way things work here.  It's different, but I don't think it will take long to adjust.  Starting next week, we'll also be meeting for a German crash course.  But yeah, Graz is lovely.  It's cool to see so many bikes around the city, which is also very pedestrian-friendly.  Our dorm even does composting!  So it's like I never left EMU.  :P  I love the look of old European buildings and new European fashion.  I enjoy public transport, although I can't help think of Guatemala: part of me misses the crowded chaos of those bus rides.  Typical Austrian food includes a lot of meat, and doughy things, and fried things.  Oh, and pumpkin seed oil is a regional specialty, so they put it on everything.  I like what I've had so far and have actually finished food for some of the others.  Haven't tried the beer yet, but that will come.  We start work on Monday so I'm excited to get into a routine here and to be able to be more independent.

If you feel inspired to send me something, it'll be expensive I'm sure, but you can send things through the chemistry department:
     Ruth Maust
     c/o Dr. Frank Uhlig
     Institute of Organic Chemistry
     Graz University of Technology
     Stremayrgasse 16
     A-8010 Graz, Austria