Do I actually see with my own very eyes, a man who's not heard of a Jellicle cat?

The award-winning musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber is with more than 65 million viewers one of the most popular musicals world wide.  Since May 15th you have been able to see the musical at the "Messegelände Graz", which is just next to the "Grazer Stadthalle".

The story is a little bit confusing, but basically it is about the "Jellicles" (a tribe of cats) and the "Jellicle Choice", which means that one cat will be chosen to be reborn.

I saw it yesterday night and although the story line is not as good as in other musicals I had seen before (such as "Lion King" or "Wicked") I absolutely loved it. It was just astonishing how the performers sang and especially danced - at some point I was not sure if I was in a musical, a circus or a dance competition - it was amazing.

Just have a look at this video and I'm sure you will know what I mean:



(Yeah, I know that the trailer is German - I'm sorry for that. But I decided to upload the German one for two reasons:
Firstly because I saw the musical in German and secondly because I couldn't find a good English version which shows as many different scenes as the German one does.)

There are still some tickets left (http://www.ticket.at/de/ticket/12036/cats-theaterzelt-graz) if you want to see it and they have a great student discount as well (about 10€ off!). But better be fast, the last show is going to be on June 16th.

"Daylight

I must wait for the sunrise

I must think of a new life

And I musn't give in

When the dawn comes

Tonight will be a memory too

And a new day will begin"

Curfew 2am - get the party ended..

Hey guys,

since it's all over Facebook you have probably already read about it - this weekend three of the "Grazer Univiertel" clubs ("Three Monkeys", "Gecco" and "Kottulinsky") had to close at 2am. Why? Because some residents filed a complaint last year due to noise pollution and the mayor decided that he has to do something about it. His solution: Close the clubs at 2am.

Now let me get one thing straight. I'm not in favor of drunk people screaming around in the middle of the night. I do understand that it must be exhausting to live right above one of the night clubs in Graz (although I have to say that nobody forces anybody to live in or around the Univiertel!!!). But even so, creating a curfew will definitely not help to get rid of the problem. And here is why:

1. Where is the sense behind giving only three clubs a closing time? There are so many other clubs and bars around the ones mentioned above - even if Gecco, Three Monkeys and Kottusinky close at 2am there will still be people in all the other bars making noise when they leave.

2. From my own experiences I know: Nobody goes to the clubs before midnight. When I go out with friends we usually don't arrive at Kottulinksy before 12am. Why? Because before we go dancing we like to sit together in one of our apartments or in a nice bar to have some nice conversations and catch up. But let's be honest - who goes dancing for only two hours??

3. Since I don't live in Graz I always have to plan how I get home. There are three options. Number one: Going home by cab which costs about 30€ - therefore it's not an option for me. Number two: I drive. I actually drive by car a lot but that also has the downside that I can't drink any alcoholic beverages. So here comes option number three: I go home by train. But since my first train in the morning doesn't depart before 5am this option has now been taken from me (and many others, who don't live in Graz). When my favorite clubs close at 2am - what am I going to do between two and five in the morning? Sit in front of the closed train station? Definitely not!

4. Here comes (in my opinion) one of the biggest nonsense: What does the dear mayor think all the people will do after 2am? Does he really think a few hundred people will leave the clubs without making any noise?  I'd prefer people leaving the clubs in small groups throughout the night when they actually want to go home than hundreds of people leaving at the same time not ready to go home. You can see the proof on Facebook: There are pictures where you can see tons of people on the street who continue their party outside:

5. Another thing: Everybody is complaining that Graz (as many other cities) "is dying" and that people go shopping at the mall in Seiersberg instead of the city center or party at the club "Fledermaus" instead of the inner city - these regulations will definitely not help to whet people's appetite to stay in the city.

All in all I just can't see how the 2am curfew helps anybody and I really hope that also Mr. Nagl and his supporters will realize that it's not the solution.

But that's only my personal opinion - what do you think??

More than McDonalds!

Hey guys,

as you all know we got a bunch of questions about food, restaurants, diets, vegetarianism - well, the list goes on forever. Since I couldn't decide which one I should blog about I simply combined the following two:

• What kinds of international cuisine do you like?
• What is your favorite restaurant and why?

I don't want to bore you with my favorite international cuisine too much but I have to say that I'm in love with burgers. No, not the disgusting, fatty burgers you get at McDonalds for 1€ - but the good ones, which you can get at one of my favorite American restaurants here in Graz: Granola.

Granola offers American as well as Austrian/German food and its address is Bahnhofgürtel 89, which is just opposite of the main railroad station in Graz. Their prices are just right (about 8€ for a burger + fries) and you really get something for your money.

You can go there for breakfast, lunch, dinner or drinks but also to get a good cup of coffee and enjoy one of their delicious cupcakes or cheesecakes.

 

Give it a try and let me know how you liked it. Until then: Enjoy your meal!! :)

diverCITY - or what to do this Thursday evening

Approval, cooperation and tolerance - that's what my sister Kathi and her friend Chrissi try to achieve with their "Maturaprojekt". As both of them are in their last year at HLW Schrödinger and close to graduation, they had to organize an event as their last project. Kathi and Chrissi decided to organize an exhibition, to show that different music genres and especially their representatives can actually cooperate, get along with each other and especially have a lot of fun together.

Hip Hop, classical music or folk music - those and many other music genres will be represented at the exhibition the two friends pulled together.

The pictures show representatives of all different genres mixed up with a completely different genre or in a rather unusual pose. Kathi and Chrissi found a really talented photographer who just happens to be my dad ;)
He's actually really good, you can find some of his work on his FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/FotoFranzRauch
Of course the pictures of this exhibition are not online, but I've already had a short glimpse at them and I can assure you the exhibition is definitely worth a visit.

You can see the result of this experiment at the "Stern Bar" (Sporgasse 38). For those of you who have no clue where that is: Just get off the tram at "Hauptplatz" and take a right:



This Thursday (January 31st) the exhibition's opening will start at 6.30 p.m. There will be a deejay and I'll be there for sure and I would love to see as many of you guys there as possible - since most of the exams will be over by then we could also clink our glasses and celebrate that we survived the last weeks ;)
If, for whatever reason you can't make it this Thursday, the pictures will stay at the bar for a month, so whenever you have time just stop by and take a look while drinking a delicious cocktail or a cold beer ;-)

You can also join the facebook group http://www.facebook.com/events/390021234424368/ for more information, or if you have any questions feel free to ask me (:

Looking forward to seeing you there,
Julia

♪ ♫ Dancing through life ♬ ♩

“Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ll never be hurt. Dance like no one is watching!”

I’m pretty sure all of you have heard of the club “Kottulinsky”, but just to be on the safe side: It’s a club which is located pretty close to the University of Graz (Beethovenstraße 9), which is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and of course on the weekend.

But what most of you probably don’t know: Its doors also open on Tuesdays! But if you go there on a Tuesday you won’t find techno music or remixes, which are typical for most of the clubs in Graz – Tuesday is Salsa Night!

The doors open at 8pm and “A Taste of Latin Moves” starts at 8:30 and lasts an hour. There you can learn some basic dance steps with the help of a dance instructor. Afterwards the Salsa beats will continue and you can dance till dawn.

It really is a lot of fun and I’ve seen some amazing dancers while being there the last time! But you don’t have to be a professional dancer to go there – I only knew the basic steps and still had a lot of fun!

Great news for those of you who are under 21: On Tuesdays the age limit is 18 and the entrance is free for all guests!

Here is their Facebook page, where you can find out about special events (from time to time they have special themes, like for Halloween, Christmas and so on): http://www.facebook.com/SalsaLatinKottulinsky

Just give it a try, it really is a lot of fun and never forget:

“Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance!”

Curtains up - it's movie time!

I have to admit it – I am addicted to (good!) movies, and I just LOVE going to the movie theater. While being in NC some friends (who are as crazy about movies as I am) and I often went to the movies more than once a week – watching a good movie was just so relaxing after taking care of our host kids. There was a movie theater about 20 minutes away from where I lived – where each show only costs 2$ - my host mom used to say that the theater was my 3rd home ;)

Anyway, since I came back I haven’t been to the movies very often – mainly because of the (in my opinion way too) high ticket prices, and because there is no movie theater in Graz which shows English movies - or at least so I thought!

There actually is a little movie theater close to the tram station “Finanzamt” (Conrad von Hötzendorfstraße), which is called “Kiz Royal Kino”. It shows movies in their original language – with and without subtitles, depending on the movie. I’ve been there only once so far, but am definitely gonna go there more often as soon as all the exams are over. It’s rather small, but the seats are really comfy, the popcorn is yummy and best of all – it’s much cheaper than Cineplexx or UCI! My sister and I were there on a Saturday evening and paid 5,90€ each – if you want to watch a movie on a Saturday night at Cineplexx you pay almost double the price!

Although they don't show as many movies as Cineplexx or UCI do, they still offer some movies to choose from and always show at least two or three popular ones. Right now they show "The Hobbit", "Rise of the Guardians", "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and many more. Here is the link to their homepage: http://www.uncut.at/graz/kizroyal/



If anyone wants to see an English movie just let me know, maybe we could go together :)