Today’s post will be dedicated to one of the creepiest things I have come across in Austria so far: the disturbing Osterlamm (Easter Lamb). It’s not for the faint hearted, so read on at your own risk. Continue reading
It’s been a steep learning curve in Austria – here’s the Top 10 things I’ve learnt
I consider myself to be pretty well-travelled and trained, however I was still surprised by a great many things when I moved here. Read on for my list of ten ten things I may never have learnt had I not lived in Austria. Continue reading
Long-haul flights suck – Deb’s Top 10 Tips to making them half bearable
Through my travelling adventures, and now living in Austria, I’ve spent a lot of time on aeroplanes, and not just short trips, but the long, nasty, boring 20+ hour ones. However, I’ve come to love them, or at least if not love, I’ve learnt to tolerate.
What you have to do, is acknowledge that it’s 15-24 hours out of your life, and then get over it. Use it to catch up on reading, movies, listening to music – just let it go by as easily as possible. Realise that it’s going to be long, it’s going to be boring, and by the end, you’re going to feel like crap. But at least you’re one of the lucky ones – with the opportunity and money to fly for that long.
So here’s my top 10 tips for long-haul flights: Continue reading
Uncomplicate your wedding by stuffing tradition
My original wedding plan involved a red dress, bridesmaids in black and bring-a-plate-instead-of-a-gift. However, upon the organisation of my actual wedding, though I still went with the red dress, I cut out the bridesmaids and my husband, being Austrian, had no concept of what bring-a-plate was.
My plan was to apply the KISS principle. Like so many before me, I had witnessed plenty of stressed out brides, and decided I wasn’t going to be one of them. If I was super organised, I surmised, surely it couldn’t be that stressful.
Well, I was wrong and right in the end. Because I love organising things, most of it was highly enjoyable. Making lists, crossing them off… heaven! But I have to admit, that even I gave into the stress every now and again… had a couple of mini tantrums and sleepless nights and wondered why we hadn’t just eloped.
So here’s how I cut out some traditions to make our special day a little more us and a little less stressful. Given that neither of us is overly religious and being a bit older and wiser meant that we could DO IT OUR WAY. Continue reading
Why my new car is awesome – meet the Snow Tiger
When I finally (just in time) got a job in Austria, I didn’t have much time to buy a car. Though with a 45 minute commute to contend with, it was a necessary evil.
Thomas doesn’t like car shopping, and I’m not much help. To me, it’s a car – I want to be able to drive it without breaking down and I want to listen to music… if it was a cool colour that would be ok, too. But that’s it. We checked out a few cars and found some models I liked (in truth, I would have been happy with any of them… I just wanted a good deal) and I ended up with a Ford Focus. I’ve never been a Ford girl, but it was the best one we found. And here’s why: Continue reading
The Death Pass – an excellence place for an Aussie to learn about snow driving
My job is conveniently located (despite quite a long drive) just off the autobahn out of Graz, which means I have an easy run every day with no traffic problems. The only problem is that it also requires me to drive over ‘The Pack’ which I have affectionately renamed: the Death Pass.
It is one of the higher parts of the Austrian autobahn, climbing up over a mountain range and being notorious for heavy snow and ice. With my minimal snow driving experience, the thought of driving the Death Pass in winter scared the crap out of me. I was sure I was going to be stranded overnight in my car as thick snow slowly built up around my car turning it into an icy death den… ok so I was being a little bit melodramatic.
So now that winter is finally over, here are my more realistic reflections on the Death Pass.
Continue reading
Beach, family & my dog – the Top Ten things I’m looking forward to in Oz
I’m loving life here in Austria… especially as it slowly but surely progresses from winter to summer. But there’s no doubt I’m extremely excited about a few weeks back in my homeland, amongst familiar sights and surroundings. So I thought as a farewell post before I head to the Land Downunder tomorrow, I’d list the top ten things I’m most looking forward to. Please note that this excludes things like catching up with family and friends and getting married, which are obvious ones. Continue reading
Driving on the Autobahn – Deb’s Top Ten Tips!
It’s pretty exciting (and scary) facing the prospect of driving legally at 130km/h. I have to admit it took me a couple of weeks before I was comfortable but now, I am just like everyone else – hating slowing down to 100 to go through the tunnels.
So here’s a few tips I’ve put together if you ever get the chance to drive the Austrian autobahn. Continue reading
My first Austrian Christmas Party – what was I thinking not wearing a dress?
Are Austrian work Christmas parties any different to Australian ones? I found out last year – and rest assured I’ll do a better job this year!
I was full of nervous excitement about my first Austrian work Christmas party. Excited because it was a night of eating good food, drinking and dancing, nervous because I’d only been with the company a month, and my German was not quite ready for drunken conversations.
The wonderful world of visa applications – Take 2 – Rot-Weiss-Rot
Around the middle of 2014, job seeking became my main focus. To be honest, I wasn’t overly motivated, and I wasn’t really expecting to find a job in Austria. I sent off a letter maybe every few weeks, and very few of those job ads were actually in English, so consequently, the return rate was very low. Actually, it was pretty much non-existent. I had the skills, but without the German language, I was pretty much useless to most companies. Continue reading
an aussie in austria 