8 weeks in Austria...almost

Pretty exciting last few days! On Saturday I had swim practice again and afterwards rode my bike to visit a friend who lives in a town about 15 km away. Her name is Agnes and goes to my school! She showed me around the area, including a ski lift and ski resort right in the area that I can use once skiing begins! After about 2 hours I rode back and later that day drove with my host parents to Graz again to deliver some final things for my host sister! She begins studying there on tomorrow…good luck Julia!!! I met up with one of my best friends, Crash, and together we talked about the last couple of weeks and our lives as exchange students! It was great to catch up and not have to speak nonstop German for once! We got ice cream, went to the city park, and a few malls…later we also met up with Laura Weis who also lives in Graz! We conversed some more and when it began getting dark, we took the train through the city to Crash’s host family. I got to meet them and had dinner there. He has an awesome house; interesting to see some different and modern styles of European architecture. I had a great time with my two friends and I look forward to seeing them again!

Hauptplatz in Graz

Graz city park

Hey there Crash!

Then today I slept in a little bit and in the late morning went on another run with my host dad to train for the marathon in 2 weeks! Total of 20km but my legs still felt really good afterwards! My time was 2 hours, 2 minutes. The rest of the day I took it easy to rest up some more and unwind. I think this week at school will be good now that some friends are starting to take shape!

On Tuesday I will have been in Austria for 8 weeks! With that comes the beginning of some negative culture shock. I feel I can keep it under control and if I distract myself enough I should be able to keep it at bay. Nonetheless it is just a part of the exchange and it too shall pass.