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<\/p>\nHallo, everybody!\u00a0 I think it comes as no surprise to learn that a lot has changed since the last time I have updated given everything that is happening right now.\u00a0 To begin this post, I would like to say that I, along with Lexi and Brett, am back in Arkansas as of a few days ago.\u00a0 I am still trying to process everything that has happened not only to us, but to the majority of the world, and I am at a loss for how fast things have changed.<\/p>\n
Going back a couple of weeks ago, we received our Visas and were finally legal to study in Austria (woohoo!) so the next few months were becoming even more real and exciting as our stay in Graz became validated.\u00a0 Classes began the following week so I was able to meet more people and experience what classes at Uni Graz would look like (aside from Martina’s excellent lessons in Intensive German, of course).\u00a0 Not all of my classes scheduled a meeting that week, but I was excited to spend the semester with the professors I did meet.\u00a0 My German Language professor, for example, was the absolute cutest lady that designed a board game for us to play on our first day.\u00a0 I lost to no one’s surprise.\u00a0 Ahaha.\u00a0 But seeing this different method of teaching, even if it was for a first day activity, provided me with a glimpse into alternative instruction I myself could use in the classroom or simply use to compare to teaching methods I’m already familiar with.\u00a0 And as a language-learning student, loser or not, I thought it was a pretty rockin’ way to practice German.<\/p>\n
For when I didn’t have class, I had arranged a small teaching assistant job for the duration of my stay in Austria at a primary school not far from Graz.\u00a0 I met with the headmaster of the school at the beginning of February, and we had arranged for me to come to the school every Friday beginning on March 6th.\u00a0 I’ve touched on my perils with public transportation in earlier posts, so please congratulate me on my success in arriving to my first day of work thirty minutes early. *patting myself on the back because nobody else did* I immediately fell in love with the school as soon as I met the staff.\u00a0 It’s a small school with about thirteen teachers in total and around a hundred students, and they are all adorable.\u00a0 And small.\u00a0 I felt like a giant.\u00a0 Maybe I am.\u00a0 Anywho, the teachers were excited and nervous to practice English with me, and the students looked at me as though I was magical, which really boosted my self-esteem.\u00a0 We played English games, sang songs, read books together, and learned dances all in the span of four hours.\u00a0 And I loved every second of it.<\/p>\n
The days following March 6th proceeded normally.\u00a0 We hung out with our friends, ate a lot of food (kebaps), and enjoyed the beautiful sights Graz has to offer.\u00a0 Typical, happy things.\u00a0 On Tuesday, March 10th, we received news that the Austrian government decided to close all Austrian universities until further notice to minimize the spread of the coronavirus.\u00a0 Uni Graz sent out word that their courses would be converted to online in the coming weeks.\u00a0 Brett, Lexi, and I contacted Frau Haulmark at Arkansas Tech to provide her with an update on our sitch and inquire as to what we should do next as the lost puppies we were. We decided as a group that it would be best for us to return to Arkansas so that we would not lose any credits and be set back in our hours.\u00a0 March 20th became our new departure date and we began our sad preparations.\u00a0 We spent a lot of time with the friends we had grown so close to in the short amount of time we’d been there and making plans for our last weekend in Europe.\u00a0 A week and a half seemed like a short amount of time to take care of eveything we needed to, but we made ourselves ready for it.<\/p>\n
However. Ahahahahahahhahahaha.\u00a0 We were thrown for a big ol’ loop when by March 12th we learned about the travel ban that would be put into effect at midnight on March 13th.\u00a0 When I say it was speedy turbo, I mean that we. were. running.\u00a0 The flat we were going to pack up gradually throughout the week was done in a night.\u00a0 The extra-large suitcases that were still stowed away under desks and inside wardrobes were yanked out of their slumber and given the devastating news that they were about to be man-handled by four different airports.\u00a0 The good-byes that weren’t supposed to be fast happened in a matter of hours with promises of seeing one another soon.<\/p>\n
It’s crazy to think how attached I became to this city and these people that I’d only known for not even two months.\u00a0 I had made a life for myself and expected to be there for many more months, but sometimes life is funny that way.\u00a0 It’s no one’s fault that I had to end my study abroad experience early.\u00a0 So much is happening in the world right now and everyone is being affected in some way or another.\u00a0 Many have experienced loss due to this virus, and this was mine.\u00a0 I had the most amazing experience in Graz, Austria prior to my departure, and though I wish with all of the kebaps to ever grace my body I had been able to stay for the duration of the semester, I wouldn’t trade these last couple of months for anything.\u00a0 My semester has been a crazy ride with excitement, wonder, and screams of terror (landing in America, for example), and I’ll remember all of it.<\/p>\n
I’d like to say a quick thank you to both Uni Graz and Arkansas Tech for working with us to ensure that we were and are well taken care of physically, mentally, and most importantly, in terms of our education.\u00a0 Both universities have been immensely helpful in providing us with assistance in receiving our course credits so that we do not get behind.\u00a0 It’s been a stressful week, but the transition between schools and assurance in our credit hours has taken a huge load of stress off of these three Arkansans, and we are so appreciative of the help.<\/p>\n
Austria, I’ll be back. I’m sorry.\u00a0 That was a terrible Arnold Schwarzenegger joke.\u00a0 My apologies.\u00a0 But really.\u00a0 This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, I can assure you.\u00a0 I fell too deeply in love with the country and met people too amazing to give it all up.<\/p>\n
Until then,<\/p>\n
Tsch\u00fcss baba<\/p>\n
Emily\u00a0 <3\u00a0 <\/p>\n
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Hallo, everybody!\u00a0 I think it comes as no surprise to learn that a lot has changed since the last time I have updated given everything that is happening right now.\u00a0 To begin this post, I would like to say that I, along with Lexi and Brett, am back in Arkansas as of a few days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,18],"tags":[21,26,22],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-atuglobal","category-graz-austria","tag-arkansas-tech-university","tag-graz","tag-uni-graz","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1525"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1555,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions\/1555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}