This Sunday, I woke up not in Graz, but rather the Italian resort town of Jesolo on the last day of a vacation quite different from any I have ever taken. On Friday my exchange student and I along with Olivia and Meli (her exchange partner) drove to Jesolo, which is outside of Venice, through Southern Austria and the Alps. My favorite part of the drive was experiencing the culture of the Italian Autogrill in the mountains. The closest equivalent in the US is a Sheetz or rest stop, but at the Autogrill there were good meats, cheeses, and pastas for sale, and people bought espressos and stood at the counters drinking them with a pastry, or in my case a fresh orange juice–at a gas station on the side of the highway! It was the beginning of a much more relaxed vacation for me; on Friday I slept in the sun on the beach. Even though we went into Venice on a Saturday and toured St. Mark’s Basilica, it was never too stressful – we stopped for gelato multiple times, sat outside and drank Orangina or mineral water at cafes, and eventually took a boat to Murano to look at the glass and have dinner. The cafes were the newest experience for me–we didn’t rush to the next attraction, but took our time getting to them and paused for snacks throughout the day instead of eating lunch. It was so nice to be able to slow down, especially in the middle of the crowds in Venice. Today, we spent our day in the same manner: when I heard we were going to drive to the Italian seaside city of Trieste and then going home, I assumed we would get up early. Instead, we got to sleep in, eat breakfast, and ride bikes on the beach before leaving for Trieste. Once there we went to the Austrian empress Sissi’s summer palace and had another mid-afternoon meal in a cafe–it was the most relaxing day I’d had in months. We drove home through Slovenia, and after getting stuck on the Autobahn in traffic took the prettiest detour I’ve ever seen through the Slovenian countryside – even if it took twice as long, I think it was the perfect way to end a long weekend that gave me a feel for how it is to vacation as an Austrian. ~Hope
