Graz: Day 1

I like to think that majority of the time I am a positive person. When I’m not, I can usually pull myself out of it or Zach will tell me to stop being a “Negative Nancy” (no relation to his Aunt Nancy, I promise). But here I don’t have anyone to tell me to stop being negative and I have been in a downward spiral of negative thoughts. So get ready everyone, this is my depressing post. Go watch The Hangover or some comedy thing after this because I would hate to put you in a bad mood because of my public depression.

I was already not feeling great when I got off the plane. Yet again, the airport was deserted. I really do not understand these foreign countries with their non-usage of airplanes. Just another thing to get used to here in Austria. But when I met up with Kerstin, we tried to figure out the pay phone to call Mom and Dad. Well of course it didn’t work, why would it? I’m only a 19 year old in a foreign country that is scared shitless and now can’t contact her parents. Awesome.

We get on a bus and I pay €10.70 for a week long bus pass. This is, I realize, the way people get around in Austria, on buses. Kerstin is so nice and she tells me that she plans on taking me to my “accommodation”  and then we can go out and get something to eat. My “accommodation” turns out the be the worst (and no folks I am not over exaggerating or being stuck up, it truly is the worst place I could have possibly lived here in Graz). I feel like I am living in a prison. Everything is old and broken down. The kitchen (if you can call it that) has a small fridge, two stove top places and a sink. No dishwasher, no oven, or microwave. The view from my bedroom is an abandoned soccer field. The bathroom is a fine size but everything is so old and rusty that it looks gross. I can’t help but start to cry. I was absolutely terrified.

Kerstin let me use her phone and call internationally to Mom and Dad. We talked (well they talked I cried) for about 10 minutes until, just my luck, the phone dies. All I can think about is what the hell did I get myself into?

We leave my “accommodation” and are off to the Center for International Studies to see Christa, the lady who has been contacting me about everything in Graz. Once I get there, all I can do I cry. (I made such a great first impression, I know. She’ll always remember me as the American who cried.) We tried to get a different housing arrangement but here that can’t be done. It’s very different here in Graz. The university is only for studies. You don’t take general education classes, you only take your major classes. The university also does not have any sports teams or a mascot. Very depressing. But along with that, the university doesn’t control housing. Companies come in and rent out places to students. My company is home4students and they own a few big buildings within the city.

***ADVICE*** If you ever go to Europe or Graz, Austria for school, never, and I mean NEVER EVER, stay with home4students. Their website lies and they are horrible. If you get them, demand a different housing company and DO NOT pay Mr. Walter the down deposit for the room.

I am just ready to jump on plane back home at this point. We go get something to eat and I decide, I’ll get a cheeseburger. Those are normal and American. Oh how wrong I was. It was a nasty thing that tasted nothing like a cheeseburger! So check that off the list of foods to eat while I am here. We went back to Kerstin’s place so I could get a pillow and comforter for my bed and send some emails. Ask Mom and Dad and Zach, they were not super great emails. I cried again of course. Kerstin then took me to the grocery store so I could buy some food and then took me back to my “accommodation”. Once I got there, I took a shower, crawled into bed, and cried myself to sleep. And that marks the beginning and end of my first day in Graz.

More to come on the next few days here, although they won’t be much better than this one!

Gloomy in Graz,

Sara