Que Sera, sera*; or, a Few of My Favorite Things** about Austria

"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."
 - Abraham Lincoln

Yes, it's that time again - time to freak out about where my life is going. It's become one of my special talents, and now I'd like to share it with you. Or, at least, share the news I've got. Next year, I will be staying in Austria, as the Fulbright Commission has renewed my contract. In Austria, you are allowed to ask for an extension of your teaching assistantship (other countries only allow one year per Fulbright grant), and I have done just that. For the time being, it looks like I will be in Amstetten again next year. In the meantime, this summer I will be working at a camp in Zell am See, which is near Salzburg.

This is both an exiting thing and a thing that makes me nervous. First, it is good, because I will be able to strengthen relationships I have made here, most importantly with my schools, and also with the friends I have made and even with the landscape itself. Amstetten doesn't lend itself to poetic rhapsodizing exactly, but I have enjoyed my time here, and, as my mother tells me, traveling to the big city of Vienna for the weekend is a definite improvement over traveling to the "big city" of Sioux Falls for the weekend, which is what she did at my age (her first teaching job was in a town of 1000 people in western Minnesota). What makes me nervous is that after this year I don't know what I'll be doing. I will be 25 years old at the end of next school year - which seemed impossibly old to me when I graduated from high school, and in some ways still seems old to me.

I had hoped while in Austria to improve my German. Although I have learned many things about Austria, Austrians and Austrian culture, I don't think I can speak German any better than I could when I got here. I suppose I could come to one of these conclusions: a) I need a formal setting to learn anything, b) I only think I need a formal setting to learn anything, which is actually keeping me from learning anything, c) I will never truly get the hang of Austrian German and - a nod to the American stereotype - I don't need to because everyone speaks English here anyway, or d) another year is all I need to perfect my German.

Having now spent the past seven months here in Austria, I'd like to take the time to consider my experiences, and prepare myself for the months ahead, to hopefully continue enjoying Austria, and the things it has to offer.

Here is a list I've thought about - and compiled, obviously, - which expresses what I like about Austria:

1. The Countryside: on my daily walk around Amstetten, most recently since the weather has become nicer, I've had the chance to see some beautiful scenery - the river Ybbs, wildlife on the Nautrerlebnispfad (sometimes just squirrels and ducks, if they count). Farm fields within the city limits and I mean livestock, too! Sheep AND cows. On my walk I often see a cow and her calf out to pasture less than a kilometer from the hospital. Scoff if you'd like, but I have never in my life see something like this, not even in Wisconsin! Livestock within the city limits simply doesn't happen (health codes and all)...

2. Fresh food. Like much of the rest of Europe, Austria offers many delicious options for fresh, local produce, honey and dairy products (that's the benefit of having cows in the middle of town, perhaps?) and although many basic products are more expensive than they would be in the USA, organic products are not only more abundant in Austria, but also less expensive than organic products in the USA. And, the price difference between organic and regular products in Austria is smaller than in the USA (for example, the difference between regular milk and organic milk per liter is 5 cents, rather than 20 cents, i.e. a gallon of regular fresh milk in Austria is about $5.26; a gallon of fresh organic milk is roughly $5.55...to compare averages, a gallon of fresh regular milk in the USA is about $3.79; a gallon of fresh organic milk is just over $6).

3. Having pride in one's work, and the abundance of handmade articles, hobbies devoted to do-it-yourself, etc. I find it quite admirable that so many Austrians knit, sew their own clothing, garden - and produce the food they eat by themselves - and build their own houses. Also, the importance of family in Austria. I was surprised to discover how many of my students live with their grandparents. That is, in the same house, three and sometimes four generations under one roof! They reassured me that it's often the case to have two to three households in one house, though. Mom and Dad will live on the bottom floor while Grandma and Grandpa live on top. Everyone does their own thing, but gets together for dinner, church, and so forth. When the houses get too small to hold everyone, they build additions on! This is something that happened in America during the pioneer days, but I doubt whether most Americans would willingly live in their parents' homes for extended periods of time after they got married...like, for the rest of their lives. Owning one's own home, car, etc., buying the "best" and "newest" and being able to flaunt each of these things to your neighbor is something Americans not only enjoy doing, they also sort of expect this, not as a privilege, but as a right of passage. Independence can be a wonderful thing, but it can also be isolating and stressful, and unnecessarily so.

4. The Mountains. Although I live in the Alpenvorland and not the actual Alpine region, there are a few hills in Amstetten. Since going to the actual Alps on the school ski trip, and discovering how incredibly breathtaking they are, I've decided that I really, really love mountainous areas. I like them so much that I would probably choose to live in a mountainous landscape over many other landscapes. One of the reasons I look forward to a second year in Austria is to get out into the Alps more, something I'll be able to do quite easily this summer when I work in Zell am See.

5. Being able to speak German every day, of course! Although, I do speak a lot more English than I am accustomed to doing in a foreign (non-English speaking) country. And more than I really should, especially outside of class. But sometimes I feel like my teacher personality comes out, and to help the students improve their English, I can't help but keep my German to myself. But then again, maybe this is just and excuse.

As for next year, it will be in many respects the continuation of this year. Less abrupt and defined than my year abroad, which saw me go to Germany and France. Here, I find nothing hemming me in (such as a looming bachelor's degree), or any expectation beyond what I expect of myself. Of course, two years of "bumming around Europe" is probably enough for me before I enter the so-called "real world" (by the way, I would consider both terms cliche, and culpable in undermining the spirit of youth and discovery - unless you are literally doing nothing. I, thank God, am doing something, rather than nothing, in Europe).

Who knows what the future will hold? I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time.


*Song made famous by Doris Day, who sang it in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much
**Song made famous by Julie Andrews, who sung it in every Austrian's favorite***, The Sound of Music
***Just kidding! Ironically, most Austrians I have talked to do not actually like, or have never seen, The Sound of Music