From Vienna back to Zagreb and then Graz & First impressions

I have been inactive last 7-8 days mostly due to the large number of obligations with Erasmus and preparing to go back to Austria. There were also the other things that took lots of time but I hope I invested them good. So, it's been now about two weeks since I came back from Vienna after finishing my Erasmus internship there working at one studio. I spent 4 months there and then planned to go Graz, the second biggest city in Austria, where I was lucky to find the new place to work as an intern. And right now I am writing you this while sitting on the couch in the nice cosy living room in Graz. This is my 4th evening there and I think it is time to share what has been going on in the last days. Now follow my impressions of the first days here, of the workplace and the comparison with Vienna. Though 4 days it was not boring as you will see.

Back to Vienna from Zagreb

I came back on 18th February around midnight from Thursday to Friday so I could say practically two weeks earlier. I had a crazy day with going twice to the studio for the Erasmus papers and actually to say goodbye to my colleagues as promised to see each other later. It was very difficult to leave it all but I already felt a bit tired and fed up with everything in the last days and was looking forward to going back home. I was in the same bus that drove me for the first time to Vienna back in June 2015 when I had the interview and visited studio and it took us almost 5 and half hours to get home.

After being back in Croatia I had not much time to relax. Vienna now seemed like something that might have happened but it was over and had to close that chapter. However, I have many friends there now and I will probably never feel like a tourist there again since I tried to be part of the community and get to know the city better - that much I could say it became kind of a second home. I have never spent 4 months somewhere outside Croatia before.

But now I did not have much time because I planned to go to Graz on 1st of March and had about 12 days to fulfil all the obligations I had with Erasmus and University in Zagreb, visit the dentist, meet with friends and professors, enjoy my hometown a little bit and of course take my dog for a walk. Right on Friday morning I headed to the Student office at the Faculty of Architecture to get the papers and information on the enrolment to the next semester, the confirmation for the student service and what I needed to finish Erasmus. I just go the student confirmation in the end and went to the Student Center to get the contract for the job I did from Vienna for my high school. Afterwards went to my high school but the headmaster was not there. The rest of the day I spent with my dog and family.

In the following week it has been crazy. I have been searching for the apartment desperately. The deadline was approaching and I still had nothing. But let's leave it for later. On Saturday I met with a Croatian-Austrian friend who brought me my jacket as I had no space in my baggage and then we made a short tour till the city center. You can read more of it in my other post. On Monday I had a shooting for Croatian National TV at my School of Design and used the chance to talk with my colleagues. I also left there my papers for Erasmus to be signed (the monthly reports) so I can carry them to the office in Zvonimirova and finish the story. Then I spent every day until leaving for Graz by going in the afternoon to Novi Zagreb to talk my pet for a walk. On Monday or Tuesday I also met with a friend from Argentina and we did a bit bigger tour around the Upper Town and ended up in Cafe bar 13 in Dalmatinska Street. I also went to my high school again and got the contract signed and talked with some of the professors about everything that has happened in the past 12 months. I decided to deliver the contract back to the Student Center the other day as I was really tired of everything.

During the week I finally met my colleague who went to Paris also because of the Erasmus internship and we went together with another friend from my high school to Art Kino Grič Cafe in Jurišićeva street on the other side of McDonald's. There we were introduced to the new projects we were going to be take part of. But I will join it personally once I am done with Graz, I just do not want to be part of anything that might take my time right now and to nerve about all the details and deadlines.

Okay, to make things shorter. I had my hair cut as well and I am now done until June. But I will probably go back to Zagreb at least once meanwhile and visit the hairdresser again. I am always loyal to the one in Utrina neighbourhood. I had to go twice to Zvonimirova Street to bring some papers and two-three times more to the Student office to get them and enrol to summer semester. It was all done on Friday a week ago. Meanwhile I also found an apartment in Graz just for March. On Sunday I had again TV show for one broadcast involving culture and I represent my alphabet for the local language. Then had one more day of being in Zagreb. I already started packing slowly and on Monday had been back to the School of Design to deliver new papers to be signed and met with friends. In the afternoon dentist and that was it. Went with my dad to the main bus station to buy the ticket in the afternoon of 1st March and packed my stuff at home.

The problems with finding the apartment in Graz and finding temporary solution

It took me a bit longer to find the room in a shared apartment than I initially thought. And I also dedicated most of the February or the first half to other things. The main problem was that I had to find a place where I could stay for 3 months. I could not allow myself staying here more than it because I was not going to be granted the stipend from Erasmus or anything else, only self support from home. And I am volunteering again and have to count only on my own resources.

While searching for the new home in Graz I mostly had problems with terribly high deposits which are not rarely almost as same as an average Croatian salary or income. Another thing was the closeness to the workplace. I was not planning to spend additionally 45 € for the monthly public transport ticket but rather walk or use the bicycle. I forgot that there in the center there is a free ride among the 4 stations. And that Graz is also smaller. In the end I ended up in a pretty nice and cosy shared apartment with two more students. But only until the end of March. I took the room of a student who is right now on a trip in Asia. And I cannot complain about everything here except for enjoying my time here. I trusted my luck until the last seconds and despite some tiny problematic details everything will be okay in the end. I might have also found another place to stay in the upcoming two months. We will see.

Arriving in the evening on 1st March

After packing much less stuff into two bags I left an hour earlier for the bus station with my grandpa. I had actually tons of food with myself to survive the first week or two since the food in Austria is of course more expensive than by us.

The bus left Zagreb around 15 h and we arrived a bit later to Graz around 18 h. We had made too many breaks on our way here and it took time. As for how I felt knowing that I was going to spend some time abroad again... actually I had not been thinking much about it and I had no fears and doubts like when I was travelling to Vienna. I already knew a bit of Graz from before and luckily my current home is not that far away from the main bus and railway station. The problem was to carry heavy bags to the last floor where our apartment is situated so I died several times carrying them up few times. We are located in the Annenstraße which is one of the main big roads in Graz with lots of traffic (buses and trams) and lots of shops so it is never boring to walk through it.

And I have to walk a little bit to reach the tram station. Those where I have nothing to pay for. The closest and the first one is at the Kunsthaus. It is about one kilometre or less from my apartment and takes maybe 7-8 minutes to reach it. And it is also the center of the Diagonale'16 Festival of the Austrian Film. I worked on that project (and contributed a little bit) with my studio from Vienna. And looking forward to visit it in the upcoming week.

On my way to the work place

1) Going down the Annenstraße

I woke up around 7 in the morning to prepare myself, have breakfast and get there in time. I was calculating it would take me about 25-30 minutes by foot or ca. 2, 3 kilometres (thank you Google Earth). I still had no clue that there were 4 stations in the city center for free if I planned to use the tram.

Thus I thought it would be okay to check how far do I have to walk until reaching my workplace and whether it is going to be difficult or not to do every day. I left the entrance of the building and headed down the Annenstraße.

I was walking for about 10-12 minutes until reaching the river Mur (or Mura in Croatia). On my way there I tried to observe what I see around on both sides of the street. These includes shops, museums, restaurants and other things.

Unfortunately I found no Hofer shop to be there (if you have been following me in the past months you know then I am a loyal Hofer shopper) but there was Penny. I have never been in Penny store back in Vienna and it is apparently, according to the legends, cheap as well. There is also one Spar shop but I am also not very fond of it. Merkur on the other hand is very big and it is the closest shop. But more about it soon. I also found Billa which I do not like... but after visiting Merkur later in the evening I went to Billa later. Luckily, it still has what I need - a big bread for 1 € and a bit cheaper Clever milk (after all, bio or non bio and other brands of milk - it is all milk, but there is a huge difference in price). There were at least 2-3 bus and tram stations on my way down there and it is interesting to see how often the trams pass here.

What I noticed is just like in Vienna the station here is in the middle of the street or just one car track away. This could have been very strange for me as something new had I not been in Vienna earlier. The cars stop when they are approaching the tram station and leave the passengers leave the tram or enter it without danger. This would be probably impossible in Croatia as you would get overrun several times in one day.

When approaching the river and the Südtiroler Square I started noticing Diagonale flags on the columns. And it felt great knowing I took part in this project too. So it was funny to see it around. Especially when I found the brochure of Diagonale Festival while having a breakfast at home. Graz was obviously meant to be the next step after Vienna. There at the square is the Kunsthaus Graz ("The House of Art") which is one of the city's landmarks. I have been inside once in 2013 with my host brothers from Lions Club and visited some exhibition about Architecture. The museum looks very modern both from inside and outside. There at the entrance were signs about Diagonale and lots of posters.

2) Over the bridge into the city center

While crossing the bridge one of the first thing you will notice on the other side is the Schlossberg with the giant clock tower. That is another landmark of Graz. And I know only about one more clock like this one, something like a twin. It is on the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad in Serbia. Both on the hill above the river so that everyone could see it. These kind of clocks are probably to be found in other parts of former Austro-Hungarian empire.

On the bridge itself from the both sides you can see tons of locks locked for the fence with love messages. The fence is full of them and I am not sure whether the city administration said no more locks were allowed. Or that might have happen in some other city. Let's hope no one broke up as that would put them in the pretty uncomfortable or awkward situation.

The river Mur is not as big as Sava or Danube. But rather relatively narrow and you cross it by foot in one minute. I entered now Murgasse street and already knew where I was supposed to go. I followed the street until reaching the Main Square. It might be 3x smaller than ours in Zagreb but still looks cool. It has the shape of a triangle and on its end is the Magistrat of Graz. In the middle of the square there is a monument of Archduke Johann.

I followed my Google Maps directions and climbed up straight along the Sporgasse. I do not remember now some special things here. Lots of shops and restaurants again. I will do a small tour around the center soon and bring more stories. I walked for 3-4 minutes until reaching Hofgasse that was supposed to lead me to the big park in the center and then I would be pretty close to my destination.

3) Through the City park of Graz till the end

I took me about 5 more minutes to reach the Stadtpark (City park) and had to go through one passage. I also passed by the Old University of Graz. And now entering the park. When you check it on the map it is actually pretty big area in the city center that is being linked with the Schlossberg in the northwestern part.

I was looking for the fastest shortcut through the park to reach the other side and Wastiangasse where was my design agency. Unfortunately I cannot remember many things at the moment except for the thing that it is relatively big.

First three days at the new workplace and comparison with the working experience in Vienna

And after some 25 minutes in total I came to the doors of the agency. Time to restart the game. Having already experience of 4 months in Vienna helped a lot to remove the stress, fear or something else. I was totally relaxed and waited to start with something. Now a few words about it.

The new design agency is pretty different from my first experience in the studio in Vienna. For the first thing, they are active in different fields of design and differ in size too. Studio in Vienna is for the smaller number of people. More or less there was 3-4 of us with an exception in the last week with 5 of us in two rooms. Here there is around 5-8 people daily. I still have not spoken to every one of them or remember seeing the new faces every second day. The same happened in Vienna where it took me a bit to make a system in my head "who is who and what here". Actually, comparing the studio and this agency is not totally fair since the agency has been on the stage for more than 20 years and has a different policy of business and the studio in Vienna has its own path.

I might mention a few things that caught my eye and were a pretty nice surprise. Firstly, there is a big kitchen and they told me they actually cook almost every day! I could not believe this and later came to the kitchen when I heard the noise and smelled something nice, just to see it with my own eyes that it was not only a myth but truth. With that being said I think I can say goodbye to the problematic mornings where I had to wake up earlier in order to cook lunch at home between 7. 40-8. 45 a. m. and bring it in the boxes to the studio. Then I would have to eat my lunch already at noon as the food would quickly turn cold which was not rare. It sucked especially with the cold soup. The other option was that I make myself there some kind of sandwiches where I would have brought the ingredients from home and put them into the fridge. The more expensive option was to by the lunch from the restaurant for 5-7 € (which would be really delicious and warm but would hurt my wallet and let me eat rice for the several days). My boss in Vienna kept telling me since October that we were going to get some microwave but that never happened. I mean, microwave would not only save me but everyone else there at the studio. On contrary, they also have one microwave here and the washing machine too! I got used to cleaning the dishes there in Vienna both at home and studio when needed so this was pretty awesome. When we had the lunch in the agency at the table I was still very suspicious it was not all just an illusion. On the other hand for my new colleagues it was pretty strange to hear my experience in winter semester.

But I am happy I spent my time first in Vienna and in general in the studio there. When compared to what I have experienced in the last 3 days here everything I heard from my former colleagues is actually true. My colleague told me "Greg, just trust me, after being here anything else later is going to be much easier, you will see. " Since working there was my first experience ever and thus became the standard and everyday I got used to. It was indeed pretty unusual and strange to experience something different here. I could compare my experience in Vienna (both living and working) as a military service compared to things here so far. Vienna was more Spartan discipline with surviving out in the forest and snow in winter.

Going home on Friday after lunch?!

The working hours are also pretty different. Here they told me several times I do not have to stay in the agency after 6 p. m. though I stay to finish some things properly and talk with the others. In the studio we stayed to finish the things more or less until 6. 30-7 p. m. as an average day. This Friday was especially shocking for me since everyone started leaving the studio after the lunch about 2-3 p. m. I was totally confused and after hearing "You can also go home Gregor if you want" I was waiting for the moment someone says they were pulling my leg. So I already went home at 3 p. m. on Friday, unbelievable!

Bathroom and other things

Besides the kitchen which has everything one needs there is also a huge bathroom with a toilet and a shower cabin. I could also bring my toothbrush and toothpaste there. One more room is with printers and what I found interesting - the scanner for the diapositives. I think I will then scan 30-50 diapositives I keep and that still "have not seen the light of the world" online. In Croatia it would be too expensive now and I will see if it is possible to do it here after having nothing else to do.

My first task completed - redesign suggestion for the yogurt packaging

When I came there on Wednesday they introduced me to one project that was going on and noted that it might be a bit stressful since the presentation was in 2 days on Friday. Then the clients came to our office and they discussed with my mentor and helper on the project and the boss about it. The project was about redesigning a packaging of the milk products and the priority was the glass for the yogurt. I accepted the task and it gave me opportunity to experiment a bit with illustration which I missed.

So, the new agency is with its full name "advertising agency and info-graphic design". This is pretty different domain from the one in Vienna. We have not been doing this kinds of projects there. I was looking forward to try something with illustration here and it brought me back to the 2nd semester at the Uni where we had our first task ever to make a redesign for some simple product where I did something for the chocolate milk. My colleague and mentor here had already similar ideas so I tried then with illustration that has not been there already. And in the end it worked, everyone was satisfied including the clients and I was happy too. For me it is important that I had a good start here and would feel bad if it was of no use at all since that would be 3 days wasted. But luckily did not happen and along with other benefits there it is really motivating to stay there and work. Having the possibility to put more of my ideas in it (and illustration is one way where one can express themselves) makes it a lot easier and you do not think of the time.

I should also add that I got my own table there with a Mac computer right next to the boss. And from the next week on I am moving into another room because my colleague and mentor is having 2 weeks long holidays. Speaking of her... I had no problems to remember her. The funny thing is that she shares the same name with my former boss from Vienna. And when the current boss sent me an email saying "you are not going to have a boring time there because XY leaves for 2 weeks long holidays" I almost got a heart attack since my former boss XY always said "Greg, it is never boring here, always some new projects! ".

German only?

I should also add that I survived the first days here speaking only in German with the others. It is better than in Vienna. There I tried to do it in the beginning but it was too difficult for design (never learned German for design) and we had to switch back to English to be faster. But 4 months in the capital helped me improve my vocabulary and listening so I came prepared here. I am going to use now the softwares in German (still have my laptop opened if I need some terminology to compare) and speak with the others "nur auf Deutsch". It is still difficult to understand some jokes so I just remain silent when the others are laughing but okay.

Friday as an indicator of the good start

Friday was the strangest day so far but in a good sense. We had 3 hours before the clients arrived and I managed to finish the label with my illustration for the yogurt and also the one for the cover. We printed them and glued on the glass which was filled with yogurt as a simulation and then waited for the clients. They told me just to relax and wait for the next thing so I had no idea what else to do but use the flashcards on memorise to repeat the vocabulary. Soon after the clients left one of the colleagues started cooking lunch quickly and called us all to come to kitchen. I could not wait and was among the first in.

After having lunch we discussed a bit about the presentation and talked in general about my experience in Vienna and plans here. Since we had three glasses of yogurt with the labels left we took them off and used the yogurt as a desert. With some apples and flavor it tasted nice. Then they told me I could go home which was just too much for me.

Improvised concert at the Kunsthaus

I went with a colleague to the tram station nearby (right at the Kaiser Josef square where the Opera house and the market place I need to visit once). I had to go to the tram station Kunsthaus - Südtirolerplatz and had these 4 stations for free in the city center. After leaving the tram in front of the Kunsthaus we went in to check what do they have in the design shop. It all looks very nice, just like in MAK Design Shop in Vienna, but too expensive for our wallets. Then I thought I heard a piano.

And indeed they had a grand piano at the entrance and near the stairs for the 2nd floor. There was some kid trying to play (just touching random keyboards) and I waited for him to go away. After 4-5 minutes the piano was free. I checked around whether someone else was heading there and no one wanted to sit. Then I could not control myself and sat there. There was a note saying that the piano was put there to be played. So I was like "Okay, I agree. " and started silently playing something. The opening piece was the theme from Da Vinci's Demons where I also wanted to see what it feels like playing a grand piano (with some surface being a bit sticky but did not distract me when playing). In the end I had occupied the piano for 45 minutes. My colleague was still waiting for me (I thought she left earlier) and we came across her friends at the tram station and talked a bit more.

I came home then almost at 5 p. m. and took a little break. Then headed to Billa to buy me a milk and a bread.

Speaking of Merkur which is a minute from my building it offers a lot but it is also 20 cents to 2 € more expensive with some things. I was, to be honest, pretty quick the last time but could not find any bread for 1 € there, only for 1. 70 € and 3 €! That is too much. The rest of the Friday I spent writing on the blog and talking with my flatmate.

Free tram zone in the city center and the annoying "bubble gum American accent"

What you need to know (and I forgot before coming here) is that there are four free station in the city center zone you can use. These are Südtirolerplatz-Kunsthaus, Hauptplatz, Jakominiplatz and Kaiser Josef Platz-Operahaus. And that is a great thing and saves not time but energy. This way it covers about 60% of my trip to the agency. The tram lines that use this route and I need them are number 1 and 7. There is, however, one annoying thing regarding the ride in the trams. And it is the English voice or translation on all of the 4 stations. The problem is that it is pronounced with the American accent but the one that sounds so awful and reminds of you the pizza delivery boy or someone chewing a bubble gum. On contrary, in Vienna there is a British English pronunciation. People complained about it there but I find it much better and pleasant to hear than the one here. I think everyone's ears just bleed once you hear it. And I heard many people complaining or imitating it in the tram.

Looking for the market places and the Turks

There are apparently 3 market places here to buy the food and the biggest are one at the Kaiser Josef Platz and at the Lendplatz. I saw only the first one and passed quickly through it. I asked my friends whether there are the Turkish vendors selling cheap stuff here like at Brunnenmarkt in Vienna and got the answer I wanted to hear. I have not seen any of them at the KJP but I hope they have the pack of eggs for 1 Euro and cheaper vegetables. I would like to continue my cooking tradition from Vienna.

The only problem is that they are open daily until 1 p. m. I was thinking of 6 p. m. like in Vienna and now skipped the market place for today (Saturday).

Diagonale'16 Festival of Austrian film

In the next week from 8-13th March is going to be Diagonale Film festival. There are red flags at several squares and the main spot (and the sponsor) is the Kunsthaus. I am looking forward to it and of course plan to visit at least once one night. I saw the posters from our studios also everywhere, actually some of them are right in front of our agency in Wastiangasse so it was pretty funny to see them. And I am curious to see whether my video animation of the logo that was used in the official trailer is going to be present there.

Now I think I will go for a walk after having a lunch and visit the Clock Tower. More photos soon!

Thanks for reading.

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