this was taken during the train ride from vienna to graz. two and half hours of gazing at the snow covered landscapes; we must have appeared like idiots to the locals! now i think i've had enough of the snow and cold; it's time for spring!

so it's my third week in graz! i had my first german class this afternoon and picked up some basic conversational terms such as "mein name is hui und ich komme aus singapur" which was quite fun but i doubt i'll be able to carry a decent conversation with anyone in german at the end of the classes. last week was taken up by orientation which was a bit of a letdown cos there were too much boring administrative stuff to settle such as registering for insurance, matriculation, computer issues etc. school will be starting officially next week and before that, i'll be off to london on wednesday!
anyway i've decided that since i'm too lazy to blog these days, i'll just post random shots of graz and other places i'll be travelling to keep the blog alive!

it's been a week since i arrived at graz and i've been either too busy settling down or real lazy to blog. so here a really lazy post in bullet forms!

1. it was snowing when we arrived in vienna (YAY!) and it continued snowing for the next couple of days until yesterday when the sun finally came out. the snow was really fun (think prancing in the snow and snowball fights!) save for the harsh coldness; but i'm really looking forward to cool, temperate spring as well!
2. i went shopping on the second day here and got myself two winter coats (which look almost exactly the same) and a pair of black boots to equip myself for the cold winter. the sales here are really quite a steal and i'm trying hard to curb impulsive buying which i'm doing pretty well :)
3. the hostel where i stay is called greenbox and it's right next to my school; it takes about 5 minutes walk and is really literally green. the apartment's new and well furnished and i've got really nice flatmates. there's a dishwasher in the kitchen which i'm rather skeptical about, for i've never used one before; there's also a small gym and sauna here at the hostel.
4. the trams and buses here are really convenient. it gets you everywhere in less than half an hour (although that's probably also because graz is a small town).
5. the roads here are bicycle-friendly; there's a bike path beside most roads. makes me feel like getting around by bicycles instead!
6. austria is a very green country and i like it for that. garbage has to be separated into five categories - plastic, paper, metal, biodegradable and others. supermarkets do not provide plastic bags which can be rather troublesome at times but i think it simply takes some getting used to.
7. i love the kebab burger here! the pita bread is crispy and it comes with lots of greens! i'm still getting used to the food though; austrians typically eat a lot of meat which can get a lil overwhelming for myself. i often get cravings for soup noodles here :(
8. the architecture of the buildings here is really magnificent as depicted in magazines and television. you can never get enough of them here!
9. it can get rather quiet and boring at night here where i live because shops generally close by 7pm and greenbox is located away from the main night scene. i'm just waiting for orientation to start next week so we can all get to know more people!









ciao and will try to blog soon again!