The Week Long Trip to Austria and Slovenia

So a few weeks back myself and 5 others from my program took part in the brand new Wien-Graz Seminar. The first part was led by one of the professors in our program who leads the JY Scholars program (leading cultural excursions through Munich, especially theatre). She was born in Wien (Vienna), so she knew the city inside and out. The first day we were there she took us around the city on essentially a walking tour. We passed through the museum district, saw the Kaiser Franz Josef's official residence and offices (of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and part of the Habsburg family). Then we walked by the towering Stephansdom (Stephan Cathedral) and looked around the architecture of the Innenstadt (Inner City). Later on we took a tour focused just on the architecture of Wien. I have to say Wien architecture blows München away. Walking around the Innenstadt every building seemed to have a different, unique style. The Jugendstil (Art-Neuvo) style was especially prominent throughout the city. The details around window frames and in small hidden courtyards were incredible. It was clear that Wien was a grand city back in the time of the Kaiser although it still is today. Another highlight of Wien was Schloss Schönbrunn, one of Wien's cultural relics. The rooms inside were decedant and full of minute details. One interesting story that I learned on the tour was about one painting of the kaiserly family with guests in the great hall. The painting included Mozart as a child, who stands out because he is the only child in the painting...but it turns out that Mozart was never there. The painter was ordered to include him because he became so famous and they wanted to make it up to Mozart. Another thing I found interesting there was all of the Chinese paintings. Apparently Elisabeth, Franz Josef's wife, loved Chinese art so they bought Chinese paintings on rice paper from China and brought them all the way to Austria. I guess it wasn't too much of a financial hit since they had the money. Other highlights of Wien were going into old-fashion cafes that seemed to have not changed since the turn of the century, finding a small brewery that had Chili Beer, having real Wiener Schnitzel (which lives up to its reputation and is the best Schnitzel in the world...although I only had it once and it was massive, going over the edges of a large-size plate), drinking "Apfelsaft gespritzt" instead of Apfelschorle, and saying the word "Beisl" instead of Kneipe. Wien was a lot of fun, and much more that what I had seen in a day years ago.

Next we were on our way to Fürstenfeld by way of Graz. The second part of the tour was led by our advisor HP Söder, who is pretty much the coolest guy in the world. So the time we had in Fürstenfeld/Graz/Maribor was a great time and much more than it looked on paper. We were the guinea pigs for going to Fürstenfeld because JYM was thinking of starting an intercultural program with an institute there. Fürstenfeld has a unique location, being on the eastern border of Austria, within driving distance of Hungary and Slovenia. It was a beautiful town, buried away in the Austrian countryside far away from any sort of tourists. One of the highlights of this part of the trip was definitely going to the Zotter chocolate factory in the Austrian countryside. Over the course of the tour we tried pure cocoa, pure chocolate, the entire range of chocolate from white to dark to 100% cocoa, chocolate covered nuts containing various flavors, flavors of chocolate mixed into hot milk such as curry and peppermint, and then finally the entire catalogue of chocolate offerings. Another highlight was going to a farm/winery that made the meat and cheese and all of the wine themselves. We had a great dinner consisting of platters of cheeses, various meats, and wine. Driving around the windy, hilly, roads around Fürstenfeld was also really enjoyable. The weather was beautiful and the landscape picturesque. Small towns in the distance surrounded by mountains and a magnificent castle towering over the edge of a cliff over the horizon. After spending a few days in Fürstenfeld I felt as though I could live out in the countryside for a while. Life just seemed so peaceful, without any worries or concerns about the world. Before we came back to München, we made a day trip to Graz, the third largest city in Austria. Graz was a really pretty city, reminding me of a smaller Wien, with the similar architectural style, and a feeling of a tightly nit community. We went up to the clock tower that looks down at the city and could see into Hungary and Slovenia. The flowers were starting to bloom and Spring definitely felt like it had finally arrived. For our last night in Fürstenfeld we all went to a Kneipe (bar) that had a biker band playing by the name of Aliens. Of course, HP, the student advisor of JYM, went out the night before to find out what was happening in town that night. In his words, "Oh my God! It's the Aliens! In Concert! AHHH!" (imagine this in a German accent). He really made the trip one to remember. Oh, so I guess I skipped over Slovenia (Maribor was the only city we went to there). It was interesting but the tour was not too great. You could immediately see the differences between Slovenia and Austria. Slovenia, only being part of the EU for a few years still felt as though it wasn't part of the EU. You could tell that their economy and especially tourism was just not up to par. A lot of buildings had not been rebuilt and it was clear that they are in a crossroads between past and future. The trip was a great end to my orientation period and I was able to see a lot that I otherwise would probably have never seen.