I also went to Villach for the first time on the 10th (my half birthday, which also is close to marking 6 months Austria) to visit my Canadian friend Gabe, who returned home on the 16th. We ate pizza, went to Faakersee, missed a bus, tried walking back in the wind and rain, gave up, got on another bus, ate at McDonald's, and then I dined on some toast at a fashionable cafe while Gabe sneakily ate a McFlurry.
Then on the 12th, I joined my host dad to pick up my host sister Chiara at the Ljubljana airport on her return home for semester break. I drank a hot chocolate that I'm fairly certain was just hot brownie batter, and then we went on our way back to Griffen. I think the drive from Klagenfurt to Ljubljana was about an hour and a half or so, not long at all. There's a mountain pass to take, and as soon as we entered it, it started snowing. It was really like a whole different world - I enjoyed looking at the icy forest while the car was sliding around on the steep road. It was quite the journey.
On the 19th, Claudia and Tamara came to stay with for the weekend so we could celebrate Galentine's Day :-) They came from opposite ends of the country: Claudia is basically in the Czech Republic, Tamara is in Basically Switzerland, and I am basically in Slovenia. Both of their train rides were about seven hours.
On Saturday, the three of us went into Klagenfurt, and stumbled upon an anti-refugee demonstration. It was difficult to understand what they were rambling on about, and so when a man we were standing by asked us in German what our thoughts as a younger generation were, we asked him if he could help translate what was going on for us. He spoke great English and we all shared our views. He was there with a group that wanted to educate young people about the refugee crisis, and it was really interesting to hear what he had to say.
After the demonstration ended, we made our way to City Arkaden (what else), and shopped around for a bit until we met up with my Australian newbie Owen, his host brothers, his friend that was staying with him, Tom, and Malena who was visiting for the day from Graz. We had a lot of fun that night, and in our taxi back home, Claudia and Tamara and I learned about popular Egyptian music from our driver Muhammad.
On the 23rd, I took off to Vienna to attend a Front Bottoms concert that night. I stayed with Gabe and got a chance to have a good chat with his host parents - his host mom will be staying with my family in Montana for a few days at the end of March to visit Aurel!
I made it back to Griffen the next day, but not without getting a 100 Euro fine for my lack of U-Bahn ticket that morning. We also went to TGIF before I left, and I had an excellent burger.
My German is improving so much, and if you compare the knowledge I had of this language when I got here in August (only the phrase, "Ich bin Abfall") to where I'm at now, it's rather miraculous. My new classmates were so surprised to hear that I've only been learning since August, but it's so incredibly easy to learn when you're in the language, and living it. I think the hardest part (but also the most beneficial), is the fact that it doesn't go away. It's made my life so much more exhausting, but a lot more exciting. I don't get a break from learning German this year, and frankly, I'm glad I don't.
And now it's almost March. Two of my three months with my current host family are up, and it feels like time is going by so fast. My return date is in the works of being confirmed, and I'm hoping I can depart on the 11th of July, which marks exactly 11 months of exchange. I'm really glad I made the decision to do an exchange because I can't imagine it any other way right now.
Thanks for reading :-)
Bis später!!
