Graz

I've disappeared the last few days because I've been in Graz at an orientation session with other TAs. We were placed in the Schloss St. Martin, a very pleasantly yellow castle on top of a mountain on the outskirts of the city.

Some interesting facts about Graz:
1) With a population of about 290,000, it's Austria's second-largest city.
2) It was declared Europe's first City of Human Rights by the United Nations.
3) It's the hometown of the governor of California.


Anyway, we about 30 percent of our time learning how to control the monsters in our classrooms. Another 60 percent was spent drinking and finding New Best Friends, so that left approximately 10 percent of the time for sleep. I'm definitely feeling it right now.

I'm now a bit nervous, as we were told that Austrian teachers aren't allowed to punish anyone at ALL (no detention, no staying late, no extra work, NOTHING), so this can be a rather thorny situation.

:-/ Hopefully my teachers will actually stay in the classroom with me like they're supposed to (doubtful). Or maybe I'll be able to immediately awe my students with my obvious Extreme Coolness and won't have to worry about taking disciplinary measures.

Now I'm back in Vienna, preparing for a very culturally stimulating weekend. I'm heading to a symphony concert to night and I'll be going to the Lange Nacht der Museen (Long Night of Museums) tomorrow to check out some sweet exhibits between 6 p.m. and 1 a.m. I can't wait!