Fwd: Glad to be in Graz

Sorry for the long delay between postings. Russ is working on a
deadline to get a proposal done and I can't get into the blog account to
post things. I'm hoping this will get posted via e-mail.

In mid-November we took a quick trip to Paris and once Russ meets his
deadline, I'm sure he'll post some pictures about it.

What struck me about the trip (other than how many fun things there are
to do in Paris) was how glad I am that we chose to live in Graz. When
we decided to do a sabbatical in Europe, we thought it would be fun to
live in a city. It would be an interesting change from living in small
college towns. But the funny thing was, when we told people here in
Graz that we were excited to be in a city, they all said, "Oh, Graz is
just a small town. It's very safe." "Oh, Graz is just a small town.
It's not like Vienna, or Paris." Okay. I get that now.

In Graz everyone patiently waits for the traffic lights to change before
walking across a street - even if no cars are coming. In Paris we saw
two people run across a street with looks of terror on their faces --
even though they were crossing with the light! The traffic was crazy!

Also, I missed all the greetings that Austrians have. Now Paris has a
reputation for being rude to foreigners, but I didn't experience any of
that. We had people help us get our luggage through the subway
turnstiles, help direct us when we needed directions, and waitstaff and
shopkeepers were all very nice and polite. But I've gotten used to not
just "thank you" when I buy something but also "goodbye!". And if they
really like you, you'll get several good-byes -- Auf Wiedersehen,
Tschuess, Ciao. (Some of these are informal and are only used among
friends, but that's another discussion!)

Anyway, I'm glad we chose Graz! With a population of 225,000+, it's not
a huge city, but it is a good fit for us.

Sue