let's see how far we've come

wow.

so firstly I must congratulate myself and everyone else on a two months well done. 

Has it really been two months? Have I really made it through two entire months? The answer is yes, and they've been easily the best two months of my hectic 16 years. Two months of tears and laughter. Exploration of the purest kind. Two months of appreciation. Discoveries, some failures and some successes. I have discovered my love of all things historic and blissfully beautiful. My voice in ink and paper. Myself as a individual (still working on that one) and my place in this world that changes as quickly as seasons. My love for a obscure nation that boasts glittering cities and snowy peaks that touch heaven and beyond...overshadowed by it's older brother Germany and little sister Switzerland... Austria has captivated me heart, body, and soul, and when the time comes, my heart will break into two when I must leave my country as it did when I left the USA. 

It's the most terrible feeling when you feel properly torn between two places...one thing I could of never prepared myself for was how much of a genuine fondness I have for Austria...my relationship with this country goes deeper than skin. I miss the USA incredibly however the sense of worldliness Austria is teaching me is something irreplaceable.  

I celebrated my anniversary in Graz, Austria. Graz is where I landed, took my first steps on Austrian soil, met my host family, and took my first glances of Austria, wondering what I was getting myself into and preparing myself for my new life. Many feelings are connected intricately to Graz because I arrived there August 11th, 4 pm. 

my anniversary dinner: apfelstrudel and heisse schokolade

Graz is the 2nd largest city in Austria, and relatively close to me...I've found myself going there often, sometimes exclusively with my host mum, sometimes to meet exchange students. A car ride is a tedious 1.5 hours, a train is 13.40 Euros and a lovely 2 hours. Graz, to me, is a simply a bigger Klagenfurt. They share the same charm, elaboration, and Austrian beauty. I believe it is hard for Americans to understand how a city can be beautiful...when we don't really have any truly beautiful cities. We've got dazzling cities. Overwhelming cities, astonishing cities, extraordinary cities, but nothing breathtaking. When you enter Graz's Hauptplatz, you literally gasp. 

Jackie: from Canada living in Vienna. Graz is in the middle :)

NUTELLLA FACEEE

heisse schokolade...a delicate process.

mmmm.

 “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

Wiedersehen!