My latest travel for spreading the word about YouthNetworks was to Austria. In the small village of Gresten in Niederösterreich, in a seminarhouse on a hill, I found around 25 people from all over Europe learning everything there is to learn about the Youth in Action programme and rural culture. I decided to teach them some more. In return, I learned to dance like an Austrian by clapping my hands on my legs and shouting ‘yeeee-hoo-hoo-hoo!’
Due to some technical problems, I had to skip my powerpoint presentation and explain everything with paper and a marker, but it worked out fine. The participants were happy with me, I was happy with the participants, and we had a lot of fun and talking. It’s funny how you meet so many interesting people, even in a place so remote as Gresten.
I would have loved to stay for the farewell party in the evening, but I had other plans: was visiting my old roommate from my time as an EVS-volunteer in Sweden, in Vienna. I consider her as one of my best friends, and I’m too happy to move to Vienna in February so I can see her a lot more often. I looked for a room, talked with my study adviser, walked through the whole city, practiced my German and made some new friends. I love Vienna.
Now I’m back to my life of studying, meetings, dentist appointments and late trains. Oh well. Luckily I have some new eMatchmaking trainings coming up the next months: in Utrecht, London and Oslo/Trondheim!