That Week I Slept In A Castle

"Hey you just got here, and this is CRAZY, but here's some Kinder, so teach them maybe?"

I just got back from a long but very very fun week of orientation with the other American and British TAs in Vienna, Burgenland, Niederösterreich, and Steiermark (three provinces in Austria).  It took place in Graz, the second largest city in Austria, which is located in the beautiful beautiful Sterian region. The train trip there was unbelievably gorgeous. I was so awestruck riding through huge mountains covred in trees the most perfect shade of green. Every few minutes we would see a tiny little village with multi-colored thatched roof houses. Picture in your mind what you think Austria looks like, and that’s what this landscape was. Only more beautiful. There were about 140 teaching assistants from both the US and Britain (including England, Scotland, and Ireland) and although we were split up into groups for most of the week, I got a chance to meet a majority of the other people because our meals were all together and the little down-time we had was also in a communal area. Most of our time was spent in seminars, where we learned how to make a lesson plan, classroom management tips, discussed cultural issues we might face, and tried out a lot of games to play with our students. I had a lot of fun with my group, reverting back to childhood and playing super fun games that not only cultivate competition and excitement but also teach vocabulary and encourage student involvement. I’m really excited to try them out with my students. The games can also be adapted to fit multiple levels of language knowledge, so I’m hoping I get a lot of use out of them. I think I will.

We also had a big group lectures. The most interesting was about current topics in Austria. It was essentially a speed lesson on Austrian culture, politics, economics, and demographics. We learned all about how Austrians perceive themselves, how they think the world perceives them, their relationships with other countries, the ethnic and religious make up of the various regions, among other fascinating things. The presenter used lots of statistics, newspaper headlines, videoclips, and music as examples, which made it all the more interesting. One of my favorite sections was all about the rivalry between Austria and Germany. Even though the two nations depend heavily on each other for tourism and economic security, there is a bit of animosity and cultural rivalry: each accuses the other of trying to “steal” celebrities, Austria constantly reminds Germany of the one time they beat the Germans in a soccer game (World Cup 1978), all kinds of Austrian advertisements pick on Germans, etc. Some of the examples were really hilarious. We also had an interesting discussion about the way modern Austria reflects its long history, particularly the extent to which the Austro-Hungarian Empire provides the basis of modern Austrian culture. I could go on about all this for days because I thought it was simply fascinating.

One of the funnier parts of the week was Tuesday afternoon, when we shuttled down to downtown Graz for tours of the city center. The fun part was that our tour guides were 14-year old students, who had done their own research and planned their own routes. They led us through the city, telling us all about various buildings and history, completely in English!! If I were a 14-year old kid I would have been TERRIFIED speaking in a foreign language to a bunch of native speakers who are all at least 6-8 years older than me. But these kids were absolutely fantastic! Christoph and Simon were our guides. They had this hilarious little back-and-forth humor rapport where they were constantly teasing and ratting on each other. Christoph had a fantastic sense of humor and tried really hard to be extra charming, whereas Simon was clearly the brains of the operation, with a ton of knowledge and a real knack for telling stories. They worked together so well and were so interesting and funny that we TAs just could not stop grinning, the entire two hours!

The Graz city center is really historic and interesting. Whereas Vienna’s beauty is very Hapsburg (lots of baroque architecture, very ornamented, frilly beauty), Graz is more rustic. The city hall (Rathaus) and main cathedral (Dom) were both gorgeous, but in a different way than Vienna is gorgeous, and I think I liked this more “country” feeling better. My favorite part of the city was the Schlossberg, literally “castle mountain,” a mountain in the middle of the city that used to hold a fort, but now holds a clock tower and restauraunt and historic information, because the old fortress was destroyed in Napoleon’s time. From the top of the hill you can see the entire city of Graz below. It was really stunning. 

Cathedral in Graz

View from the top of Schlossberg

Clocktower on the top of Schlossberg

Rathaus, the city hall--a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site!

 Another highlight of the week was the accommodations. My group slept in Schloss St. Martin, which is none other than a castle. Yes. A castle. With towers and arches and a hilltop view. I spent the week meeting, eating, and sleeping in a castle. Do I need anything more?

One view of Schloss St. Martin

Schloss St. Martin's inner courtyard--hangout site for the week

I came away from the week feeling much more relaxed about this next year. We got a lot of really awesome ideas for lesson plans, activities to play with the kids, and strageties for dealing with the students, our colleagues, and Austrians in general. I met really really great people, laughed a ton, and learned much more than I expected to! I start teaching on Monday morning, and I could not be more excited about it!!