Wanderlust Wednesdays: Austria

A bunch of my blog archives from my old site (which can be found here) talk about the most life-changing experience ever: my semester abroad.  While I have plenty of gripe about with my darling alma mater, the experience of living in a 14th century Carthusian Monastery in the foothills of the Austrian Alps made it all worth it.  I tell my students all the time: I don’t care what you do for college, you MUST study abroad.  For most people, a semester in Europe will be the only time in their lives that they’ll live abroad, and I’m beyond grateful for the experience.

This past summer, my travel buddy and all-around good pal, Joanna and I had the opportunity to visit Gaming, Austria again for a little reunion trip.  It had been over ten years since we’d been back, which is insane.  It was amazing being back, having been gone for so long.  It was home to me for four precious months, and I, of course, did not appreciate it enough.  I was 20 years old at the time, and all I cared about was hopping on the train for our long weekends to explore the fashion districts in major cities, like Paris, Milan, and Barcelona.  While those cities certainly had their merit..  My gosh, they are gorgeous..  It was where I lived that I did not appreciate enough.  The Kartause, which is the name of where we lived, was built in the 14th Century and was occupied for hundreds of years by contemplative, silent, monks.  Even though the monks are long gone, their presence is still so very much palpable, and living where they called home is nothing short of remarkable and amazing.  I said multiple times on our trip back, “if I could go back and wring my 20-year-old self’s neck, I would.”

Now that I’m a grownup (ha), I have friends who are only slightly older than me living over there directing the Austria Program, and I live vicariously through their family blog, Keeping Up With the Kissingers.  I remember being a student, thinking that the directors of the program at the time (who I’m 99% sure were younger than what I am now) were SO OLD and SO WISE.  I’m happy to be on the other side of that thought now, thinking that college students are still babies, and that my awesome friends who are the current directors over there, while definitely wise, are beyond awesome.

Revisiting a location of one’s past through the eyes of an “adult” (will I ever truly feel like an adult?) brings about a whole new perspective…  While we certainly learn things along the way, the sweetness (and sometimes bitterness) of memories make us who we are today, and I’m grateful for each and every sweet and bitter experience.

While we were visiting Gaming, we took little day trips to Mariazell, which is where a Marian miracle took place, and the Gottweig Monastery.

As cheesy as it may sound, Gaming, Austria, made me who I am in so many ways.  I can point to no other single experience that was so formative.  Being back there was amazing, and I can’t wait to go back again!