Language camp was a blast! My host family drove me from Graz
to Altmunster in Upper Österrich on August 12th. We left at ten in
the morning. I was all packed, ready to go and super excited. We piled into the
car, my host parents and host sister, and about ten minutes into our trip I
freaked out realizing I had left my folder of documents for insurance and money
to pay for the camp back on my desk at the house. So we doubled back and got
the folder. After that little adventure I was finally on my way.
The drive to Altmunster took about two and a half hours, and
we stopped on the way at my host Grandmother’s house for lunch, which was
delicious. It was a beautiful, scenic route too. We drove through the mountains
and along the Traunsee, a beautiful lake.
I arrived a little late to language camp which was held at a
boarding school on the top of a hill called schlossschule. It directly
translates to castle school, and there was a castle but unfortunately we didn’t
get to stay in it. Instead we lived in dorm rooms across from the castle.
Anyway I signed in and got to meet my two roommates, one of them was from
Boston, Massachusetts and the other was from Ecuador. I loved them. We had some
great times together.
Right after putting my things in my room I got to meet all
the other exchange students who arrived in Austria in August, the part I had
been looking forward to most. Everyone is really great. There are a freaking
ton of students from the US. In fact I think out of a total of 70-ish students
48 of us are from the US. The other countries represented are Canada, Finland,
Switzerland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Taiwan.
Honestly I’m a little disappointed by the amount of diversity. I understand
that there wouldn’t be a lot of Europeans since those kinds probably want to go
farther from home for their exchanges too. But what about more of the South
American countries and the Middle East? And I feel like Asia is largely unrepresented.
I was hoping there would be students from Japan, so I could practice my
Japanese while on exchange. But oh well meeting everyone was super fun and
everyone is really friendly.
So my schedule for the next two weeks went kinda like this.
I woke up at 6:30 and got ready. There was a bathroom and a shower in each of
the girl’s rooms, but unfortunately the boys only had two showers to share
between all of them. Breakfast was at 7:30 and it always consisted of a big
spread of bread, cheeses, cereal, and fruits to choose from. At 8:15 German
classes began and went till 3:00 with a few breaks and lunch thrown in there
somewhere. Once classes were over we had free time. We could roam the town of
Altmunster or Gemunden, the next town over, go swimming, or just chill. I think
the exchange students bought the stores clean of Milke chocolate (It’s
incredible,) and HARIBO.
I went swimming a lot we had wonderful weather for the two
weeks and hung out with a lot of different people. Of course the goal of all
the girls was to meet some super-hot Austrian boys at the lake to practice our
German with, but I think it happened too often. But on our first day at the
lake I was sitting on the dock with some other people, talking in English, and
a group of guys heard us and knew we were American, but I have a feeling the
Austrians don’t even have to hear us to know were Americans, I think they can
see it in the way we stand or smell it on us or something! But Anyway they
started talking about us in German and snickering, I could catch a few English
phrases like “party rock anthem” and stuff, but then they jumped over our heads
cannon-balling into the lake splashing us. And that’s the extent of my contact
with Austrian boys so far!
We had to be back at the school at 6:00 for dinner but then
had free time again until 9:00 when we had to be back again and could have
snack time. For a few of the nights at the snack one of the Latin American
girls brought an iPod doc. And we would dance to Latin American music. That was
always really fun. All the Latin Americans are really good dancers and us
Americans looked just as good too! (NOT) From that I have concluded that us
Americans just can’t dance. Even the Latin boys could move their hips in ways I
definitely can’t.
At night there were usually beautiful storms with thunder
and lightning, and my roommates and I discovered the wonders of Austrian
windows. Their windows are more like doors and it’s so cool they open like
three different ways, and not just that but the window sills at the dorms are
really wide, how could we resist such an invitation to open the windows, sit on
the sills and dangle our legs out into the storm. We had some really good
bonding times there. Sometimes my friend
Kaley would even end up falling asleep in our room. Four of us sleeping
together on the three pushed-together beds.
Language camp wasn’t just fun and games. I learned a lot of
German from my teachers. I started in the beginners class then asked to be
moved up to beginners-plus class because I had already learned most of the
content in my PCC class. We called ourselves the intermediate-minus class. I definitely
still have a lot of germane to learn but having I really appreciate this course
the Rotary organizes for us. I think we not only benefit from the language
classes but it helps us adapt to being in another country by getting to know
other students who are experiencing the same things I am.
All in all the two weeks went by really fast. When my host
parents picked me up on the 26th, I didn’t want to leave my new
friends, but at the same time thez didn’t go fast enough, I was excited to get
back to my host family to practice my German, finally have some quality home
cooked Austrian food, and most of all for school to start so I can start making
Austrian friends. Now my exchange really begins!
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