This past year has been by far the most eventful year of my life. To some of you reading, you may already know why. On February 24th, 2019 I left my home of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where I spent my whole life, to create another home in Vienna, Austria where I arrived a day later on February 25th. I say 'another home' because that's what it is. Although, upon first arriving this is not what it felt like. The language was confusing, I didn't know anyone other than my parents and brother, I didn't know the culture, all of it was new. However, I was not afraid. It was exciting! All of this new stuff to figure out with hundreds of possibilities. Heck, I could completely reinvent myself if I so desired. Vienna also provided a sense of freedom I never had before with the state of the art public transportation that can take me the whole way to Salzburg if I felt like it. The last 365 days have been so full of adventure it would take an entire Les Mis size book to summarize and although I would gladly write that much, I have narrowed these experiences down to three categories: school, music, and community, for the sake of your attention span.
The first category is school. I chose school as a category because it has been one of the biggest changes and one of the first since moving. Previously, I had been getting my education online but, that changed after moving. Now I attend the International Christian School of Vienna and it has been a wonderful experience. In regards to education, I benefit from the small classes and the actual human interaction but that's the boring stuff.
ICSV has allowed me to go on even more adventures. For example, last year in March my world geography class got to go inside the United Nations and explore CTBTO (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization). We got to dress all formal and see how everything works from control rooms containing tons of computers and maps constantly monitoring potential and previous nuclear sites. Then, we got to attend a presentation summarizing everything CTBTO does from detecting nuclear tests to cleaning up previous explosion sites. Along with this, the class got to meet the head of the organization, Lassina Zerbo, who told us about his journey from his childhood in Burkina Faso, a country located in West Africa, until now. This by far topped all of the Oregon Dairy field trips I had previously experienced in Lancaster County!
This year, I got to experience ICSV from the start. This also meant that I got to experience my first class trip in September, which is a common thing in Europe. The whole ninth and tenth grade embarked on a bus to Mariapfarr Salzburg for three days of pure fun and bonding. The first day we got to go zip-lining and the next day the activity was white water rafting. We all wore very flattering wet suits as we got in boats and had a nice time floating down the alps stream.
Then, on the third day was mountain biking. At first, it was just a small bike ride around the town until Mr. Totten and Ms. Baldovska decided to go the whole way up. That was the most exhausting thing I have done in a very very long time. Only five people went on that ride with me being the only girl other than Ms. Baldovska. We all cheered each other on and rejoiced at the top of the mountain with the freshwater mother nature provided before we headed down the quite dangerous dirt paths back to the hotel. My favorite part by far, though, was the evenings spent staring at the sky completely filled with stars before playing cards until lights out. By the time it was over I had not only spread my cold to Ryan and his friends but, felt a sense of belonging that completely demolished any of the lingering 'new kid' feeling.
Finally, the most impactful and most memorable thing that has come out of school was the annual October Romania trip. The Romania trip is a mission trip our school participates in where a group of students volunteer to help out with The River of Life Foundation, a foundation for helping and housing girls who had experienced sexual abuse/trauma. Most of the girls were about my age and had a child or more, which our kids team would work with. I worked with the wood stacking, fence painting, and brush clearing for a majority of the time. That also proved as not only a great bonding experience, but also a learning experience as I got to see how these people live as well as learn more about their lives that are so completely different than mine. The bus ride was also quite fun even though it lasted about 10 hours. The way back we got to ride in the philharmonic orchestra's private bus as it was the only one available. (It had its own coffee machine!) That definitely made the trip more enjoyable along with the many card games. The whole thing was such a great bonding and eye-opening experience that I am already looking forward to next year.
The next category is music. Honestly, I only have this section because of the Greta Van Fleet concert I attended in July. Probably the highlight of my year, honestly. Since I first heard them, I dreamt about seeing them live and it was way better than I could have ever imagined! Dad and I were almost at the barricade on the side of Jake Kiszka whose guitar playing is astronomical. The crowd consisted of people from all over the world all sharing the same excitement and passion for music. It was such a cool thing to witness all of these people who didn't know each other nor speak each others' languages bond over this one band.
Overall, it was such a mind-blowing and fun experience I am so grateful to have attended. I am even more thankful that I got to attend it with Dad. As we walked to the streetcar he told me tales of the Rush concerts he attended, only making me more excited to make memories like that for myself. I had always thought I would attend my first concert with Dad and I'm glad I did because there is no one I would rather share my favorite memory with.
Although it is not quite an experience per se, I feel compelled to mention the record stores within Vienna as I have spent a disturbing amount of time in them. Lancaster has one record store that I know of and it was like 30 minutes away. Vienna, however, has several record stores I can get to by U-Bahn and waste my whole day away just scavenging through musty discs. Comparing Lancaster and Vienna is not fair but I must say, the music scene here is perfect for me to feed my obsession.
Finally, I want to mention community. Community has been a prominent theme throughout this whole year and has shown up in everything I have mentioned so far. I have found community within the welcoming atmosphere of ICSV, in the Romania compound, and even within the temporary community of the concert.
Community is something that is difficult to escape and has been the most important thing I have learned about this past year. Moving overseas means you must build your own family on this side of the Pacific. It means you must be open to others as well as experiences. A good example of this community would be my Fourth of July experience where my family and another American family we have become good friends with drove down to Baden to celebrate Independence Day with a Canadian family. We only knew the Tuckey's (the other Americans we traveled with) but we were open to the experience. We found the feeling reciprocated by the people who were even more open and hospitable towards us. I believe this is what allowed us to have such a great time.
The other thing I have learned about community is that it may be a case of trial and error to find where you fit. Sometimes we would try and build a community with certain people, but after a bit it just would not work out, and that's okay. That's when you move on and continue getting to know people until you find where you fit best. I have experienced this on a small scale and my parents on a much greater scale, but overall it is just how life goes, I guess.
Another one of the most important traits within a community is support. In my case, an example would be MawMaw, Bubba, Aunt Heather, Uncle Darryl, and Isabella visiting us over the summer. Community also means support and caring even if there are boundaries in between. It means displaying interest and care into others' lives. They freely and willingly explored our world, previously untouched by those in the States, and that willingness and curiosity meant more to me than I think they knew.
Every experience I have mentioned has allowed for these last 365 days to be so much more than I had expected. I no longer feel the overwhelming feeling of the unknown. I feel comfortable with the culture and I have a community of people who care for me and my family as much as we care for them. The language is still confusing but I'm learning and everyone here gets quite excited to speak English, which allowed for what seemed like a big obstacle to become a minor inconvenience at most. I would also like to circle back to the introduction where I wrote 'another home' in reference to Vienna. If anything, moving has completely diminished any form of definition 'home' once had. I really do not know what makes someplace 'home'. Is it where family is? Is it dependent on the memories made? Is it somewhere where I can freely live and feel loved? None of these questions allow for definitive answers. If I am in Lancaster I would miss parts of Vienna, when in Vienna I miss parts of Lancaster. It's quite confusing, but I could not be more grateful to be faced with this issue. Instead of deeming myself homeless I have chosen to see both places as home and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Here's to another year of adventure! -Lauren