Today (7. Oct) is the day after my two month anniversary with my new soulmate, Austria. My general impression of Austria so far could be described as a tangled mess full of all the different kinds of good feelings you could experience. With some more time I think these feelings will slowly start to be untangled as my culture shock and disbelief over living in a new country wear off. For now, however, I am content with not having to define that!

Rotary usually gives you a general explanation of each stage of your exchange so that you are prepared for the feelings that come with each time period. These stages run along the lines of culture shock, extreme language absorption, homesickness, etc. These stages didn’t mean much to me as I was trying to see them through the eyes of others. But now as I am experiencing every little thing so richly for myself, I understand completely what they meant and am even starting to paint a picture of what my exchange means to me. I am able to recognize my own personal stages, learn more about myself from how I cope with each new challenge, and strive to thrive in this crazy new life.

Most every exchange says on their return that they now have two lives. Two families, two sets of friends, and two homes. Currently, I feel as though I am transitioning into this mindset. Within my meek little two months I have already built a foundation. I have met friends, have gotten to know my host family, and have tasted the surrounding areas. I feel like I will only build upon this foundation until I too will feel as though Austria is my other home. Then in 9 months I will again have to leave home to live in another country (I really can’t catch a break on this one). Now, on to more exciting things! 🙂

Tauplitz Wochenende (September 19-21):

Two weekends ago I was blessed with another Rotary getaway in Tauplitz, Steiermark. Here I finally met the 30-ish exchange students from the southern hemisphere who arrived in January and will also leave in January (AKA our “Oldies”). That makes a total of about 85 rotary exchange students living throughout Austria! On Friday those of us living in and around Vienna met up and travelled in our massive group to the other 50 or so exchange students. On Friday after we arrived we were able to relax, talk to each other about our experiences and host families so far, and exchange lots of love that only exchange students know how to give. I really don’t know what I would do without this exchange student love and encouragement!

The next day was the day that we all hiked around two gorgeous lakes high in the Alps. A group of 10 or so students with the best gear and the lowest intelligence took the hardest hike straight up a mountain where they died (kidding, about the intelligence part). The rest of us were out and about for about 7 hours on our leisurely and gorgeous hike. You have probably already seen the photos of this since you are most likely only reading this from my Facebook page. There are no words to explain how breathtaking these views were. Combined with the fresh Austrian air and surrounded by amazing friends, it was completely rejuvenating. There is no way that someone could not have been happy in this setting.

That night we took a tiny little train-type vehicle across town (this “town” was a small collection of hotels and houses in a huge meadow tucked safely in the Alps) to a dance “club” where we danced through our exhaustion into the wee hours of the night (perhaps until 10 pm). A weekend well spent and much needed!

More Activities:

The weekend was the birthday of the Schneider Oma, or my host father’s mother. All of my host grandparents are extremely sweet and I always leave their homes fat and happy. 🙂 This is really nice for me as I haven’t ever really been able to experience having grandparents so close by! The birthday girl last weekend was Erna and for her birthday we all had dinner together. “We” includes my host family and the family of my host father’s brother. Karina’s (my host mom) parents also joined us that Sunday at a Gasthaus for lunch and more celebrations.

The next weekend we had another birthday, this time for the lovely Karina! For Karina’s birthday we went with practically the rest of the town (all of the friends of Karina and Korni) to a music concert. I dragged Facundo from Argentina along and together with my host family, decked out in funky crazy clothes, we danced until late into the night to some great funk and soul music by the band “74Tea.” This was also the 20th birthday of the band and it is this band that my two uncles play in! Feel free to look them up on youtube as they really are entertaining. Sunday was again a nice slow day and we ate Karina’s birthday lunch at a fantastic Gasthaus from her family. For those of you who don’t know, a Gasthaus is a restaurant and sometimes also a hotel owned by a family that serves delicious and authentic Austrian food.

Some other activities that I managed to squeeze in there is a festival in Retz and a short visit to the Oktoberfest in Vienna. There are several festivals this time of year coinciding with Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. It is Dirndl season in Austria and I can’t get enough of it! 🙂

Questions & Answers:

As I mentioned in my last post, feel free to email or Facebook message me with questions and I will do my best to answer them all in my blog posts! Here are the questions that I have been asked over the course of the last several weeks:

What are your favorite Austrian foods?

I love Knödel and of course, Wiener Schnitzel is always a safe bet. Knödel can be made out of potatoes (to go with meat, gravy) or dough with a sweet filling. In this case I prefer the dessert! Schnitzel is chicken or pork breaded and fried the Austrian way and usually served with french fries or potato salad.

How are Austrians different from Americans?

Well, the subtleties are too many to count and these subtleties fit in with the different lifestyle in Austria. But in general, I would say Austrians are a bit more reserved. They greet good friends with a kiss on each cheek, but they almost never hug. I have really missed being able to hug everyone in America! However, although they are not as openly affectionate as what I am used to, they are still very warm kindhearted people and once you get to know them, you see that more and more.

What are your general impressions of Austria so far?

What kind of a question is that! Austria is a beautiful little country with a huge heart, and it already has a special place in mine. If you want some more information, it’s all right here in the blog. 🙂

Have you been homesick yet?

A little bit…every time after I Skype with my niece and nephew, and when I have any problems with anything here in Austria. Every time I have even the slightest problem, it is magnified by the fact that everything is foreign and this makes me miss familiarity.

Do you like the school?

The school is very different, but yes, I enjoy it as much as one can enjoy school. 🙂

Does your new family have a kitty?

Yes, and her name is Julie.

Do they have the same style in Austria?

In general yes, something stylish in Austria would also be stylish in the US. However, they dress up much more often in Austria. In other words, something in the US that wouldn’t be considered stylish but would be accepted because no one really cares would be absolutely unacceptable to wear out and about in Austria. For example, boys wearing basketball shorts to school or anyone wearing sweatpants out of the house. Sorry, 75% of students at Chelan High School!

Are you going to come back?

We’ll see. 😉

Much love,

Vanessa

I usually have something planned every week for the weekend. The weekend before last I visited Wien with some other exchange students and then came back the next day for a hike and outing with several local families who are friends of my host family. We hiked up a small mountain to some old ruins, had a glass of wine, and enjoyed the sunshine while the children ran around and played games. Then we made our way into a museum full of only the most unnecessary inventions. For example, glasses with a tennis net drawn on the bottom half of them so you “knew how high you needed to hit the ball.” Basically it was just a building full of entertaining objects to make you laugh! After the museum we went all went to dinner together at something called a Heurigen. It was just an open area where are a large group of people could sit down, eat some good food, and drink wine. Many times the owner of the Heurigen is serving up his wine from that year, and if you ever visit Austria you may not leave without experiencing and authentic Heurigen.

Last weekend was first a Rotary meeting in which the three exchange students living in my district were formally introduced to our rotary club. That night all of us exchange students travelled back to my town of Hollabrunn where a pre-celebration of Oktoberfest was taking place. The next day was the traditional Oktoberfest celebration in which I got to wear a dirndl and listen to traditional Austrian music. The real Oktoberfest takes place every year in Munich, Germany and is popular for people all around the world. Hollabrunn, however, also has a much smaller Oktoberfest and this is what I got to visit with my host family!

Hello everyone once again! Much has occurred since we last met. The week after language camp and before my first day of school was extremely nice and for the most part, relaxing! I met the family friends and more members of my host family. Again, I haven’t met a person yet who is not completely welcoming and friendly. I had the opportunity to attend the birthday party of another girl my age who is very sweet. I met a few of her friends and was very pleased when they all made their way over to ask me questions about my exchange, rotary, and myself in general. It really is a unique experience to learn culture and daily lifestyles through immersion and observation rather than through a text book!

One day of that week we also went to Gmund where we visited a glass blowing shop and a huge indoor swimming park. It was crowded but still very nice to spend a few hours watching people play in the water and having conversations with my host mom and her best friend. Another day, my host father Korni and I went to a party where many people from Hollabrunn were gathered to drink wine and eat a roasted wild boar. I was able to try some great wine from my area (I live in the wine quarter of Lower Austria) and practice my German with some new people! We sat with the mayor of Hollabrunn and his wife and son, who are all very lovely. Other activities throughout the week included going on walks through the fields of Hollabrunn, watching my little host sister play handball, and visiting the little children of my host uncle and aunt. Ganz toll.

Obviously my very first impressions were hard to decipher through pain and blurry tears, but that did not stop me from noticing how gorgeous everything is. Mountains, lakes, and fields of flowers. Old churches, adorable stone houses with flowers lining every window, cobblestone streets. Everyone always dresses very nice and has very good manners. It is difficult to pick up on all of the subtleties that make people the way they are because of the German speaking, but soon enough I will be able to once more have conversations on a deeper level.

People drive crazy everywhere they go but if something is a 20 minute walk or less, they always walk or ride a bike. They are big on conserving energy and recycling here as well. You always turn off the light and close any windows when you leave a room, run the water for the least amount of time possible, and in most places recycle plastics, etc. It is hard to recall small differences now that I have been here long enough to get used to them. The doors don’t close like they do in America. In America doors close completely where they are pretty much flat with the wall. Here, there is a small lip that stays over the frame after the latch clicks into the hole. It confused me at first because I thought the door wouldn’t shut all the way. The pillows here are all square. They have the same length as US pillows but the width is extended. The toilets are usually separate from the bathroom and they are built a lot differently. Everyone uses shower gel here. I don’t know about you but in the US, shower gel is the extra thing in the toiletry gift bag that sits unused in a drawer until one day you decide to do a deep clean and throw it away.

Food is also different. There is bread available for pretty much every meal and of all kinds. Lunch is the largest meal here usually and when you eat you eat with your family all at once. There are different kinds of food in general but nothing crazy or disgusting and I have liked almost everything I’ve tried. One thing I found very odd at first though was the sparking water. They drink a lot of sparkling water either by itself or with flavored syrup, juice, etc. I’m not a big fan of plain sparkling water but with other stuff mixed with it, it’s great! If I think of anything else, I will fill you all in.
That is about it for my stay so far in Austria. Of course, I can’t explain to you all of the little feelings and experiences that come from being here first hand. Plus, I can feel my English deteriorating already. I haven’t had to write so much English in awhile because here I am either speaking English filler words, speaking German, listening to German, or trying to formulate a German sentence in my head. You will probably notice this with my future blog posts if you haven’t already! And this post was a little boring in my opinion because it was just a general surface run down of what has occurred thus far (which many people have requested). But in the future, I will probably be covering only larger events and more feelings and people than anything. I will have one blog post per month MINIMUM. Thanks for visiting and talk to you again soon!

Aufwiedersehen!

Love, Vanessa