100 Hours of Solitude

I still have not made any friends. I went around to the rooms of the other international students who live in my complex, but no one was home. I guess I'll just have to wait until Monday when the Intensive German course starts. It's actually been really nice to explore the city on my own. Today was another beautiful day, so I went out for a really long run and talked to a couple people along the way. I was running along a street on the way to the river, and a sweet old man started talking to me at a crosswalk. He told me that the street was too ugly to be running on...that I should be running by the river. I told him that that's where I was headed, and he asked me where I was from and what I was doing here, then wished me luck on my studies. He was very kind. Later, some guy who looked to be about 27 or so asked me what my time had been for my run along the river. I thought that was kind of an odd question to ask someone you don't know, but whatever....I told him I had no idea, that I was just running to run. We basically just talked about how beautiful it was outside and such. I apologized for my German not being very good, and he asked me where I was from and if I was here on holiday. I told him that I'm going to the University and that was about it. More good small talk. Clearly I sound like a foreigner, but at least people can understand me. I always have to ask people to slow down, but that's ok. Everyone I've met here has been so friendly and patient.

Later today I decided to finally go climb to the top of the Schlossberg, the mountain in the middle of Graz. On the top of the Schlossberg is the Uhrturm, or clocktower. Here is some info about the steps that lead up to the top:

"260 steps lead from Schlossbergplatz up to the Clocktower (Uhrturm). Between 1914 and 1918, Austrian pioneers and Russian prisoners built these steps, which is why they were called the "Russensteig" (Russian steps), or more familiarly, the "Kriegsteig" (war steps) as they were built during World War I. On the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the city of Graz, the "Jubilaeums-Felsensteig" (Anniversary Steps) leading across the western slopes of the hill was added to the Schlossbergsteig in the period from 1924 to 1928."

It's really beautiful once you get to the top. I expected it to just be the Uhrturm and maybe a gift shop or something (can you tell I'm American?), but there was some sort of play going on, street vendors with pretty jewelry and tapestry things, restaurants, and a really nice, quiet area with benches where people were reading or picnicking. I definitely found a good reading spot.