Slovenia!

We had an amazing weekend in Slovenia...I think it might be my favorite country so far (next to Austria, of course). We left Friday afternoon and it took us a little over an hour to get to Maribor, the small city where Iztok (Tom's roommate) lives. Usually it only takes about 45 minutes, but there was bad traffic. His house was amaaazing architecturally. Almost all the houses I've seen in Slovenia and Croatia look very Eastern European and Communist on the outside, several stories tall and made of dull grey stone. It's always a surprise to me when I actually walk into the houses, though, because they're so homey and are just like houses in America.

We hung out in Iztok's room for awhile watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (with German audio and Slovenian subtitles) and drinking Slovenian beer. Then his mom cooked us a meal of yummy wiener schnitzel (and baked cheese for me, the vegetarian), french fries, salad, and some killer dessert. Then we drove to a nearby small town called Ptuj (pronounced "Pa-tooey") to see one of Iztok's friend's art exhibits and to experience the Slovenian pub life. We made it an early night, though, since we had to get up at about 6 a.m. on Saturday.

We woke up to a Slovenian winter wonderland...there was snow everywhere! We bundled up as best as we could with the few warm clothes we brought with us and borrowed items from Iztok's family. We met a group of Erasmus students who are studying in Maribor for a bus tour through Slovenia. It only cost us 16.50 Euros for all-day transportation, lunch, dinner, alcohol, and entrance fees to everything we saw. Slovenia is cheeeeap, just like Croatia. The itinerary: Otocec Castle, a museum in Novo Mesto, a medieval castle, lunch, a cave in Krka, a third castle in Bogensperk, and finally dinner back in Maribor. On Sunday we slept in until about 2 p.m., consumed a massive amount of the feast Iztok's mom cooked for us. We took a hike to the top of a hill from which we had an amazing view of Maribor, and then went out for coffee and hot chocolate before driving back to Graz. As we crossed the border back into Graz from Slovenia (and Croatia a few weeks ago) I was so surprised at how "at-home" I felt. Just a few months ago I was so intimidated by all the foreign surroundings and everything being in another language, and now I am actually comforted when I see all those German signs and posters. It's odd to me how quickly Graz has become like a second home for me.

Anyway, I took about a billion pictures this weekend, so here are some:

...or not. My computer is not wanting to upload pictures right now for some reason, so it'll have to wait.

In other news: Lindsay comes tomorrow! So unbelievably excited. It will also give me an excuse to do all those tourist-ey things in Graz that I haven't done yet.