Schladming – Kelsi's Travel Times

My German friends that I was able to see one last time before leaving.

As I write this, (or at least the beginning of it because my laptop will probably die before I finish) I’m sitting in the Airport in Amsterdam waiting for my next flight which will take me home to Canada. I’m finally going home with the intention to stay, as far as I know at least. I first left for Austria 13 months ago and it has been a whirlwind of a year. The first few months were still “normal life” while I was there, but since last March the program of this trip has been constantly changed and redirected because of Corona (of course).

My crew from the last month with a snowman we made, affectionately named “Thicck Rick”

I decided to leave now because the center where I’ve been volunteering in Austria, Tauernhof, found out that they would have to remain closed for at least a few more months. And because I didn’t want to spend another few months in relative isolation in Austria I came to the conclusion that it was the best thing for me to come home. I have a lot of peace about this decision, probably because it’s not totally unexpected, but of course this isn’t exactly how I would’ve hoped my time here would end. With that being said though, I was actually able to say goodbye to many of my friends yesterday before leaving and that was a huge blessing for me and definitely gave me a degree of closure.

Mya and I at the train station in Schladming

I started my travels home yesterday when I took the morning train from Austria to Munich. After a tearful goodbye to a few of my friends in Schladming, I wasn’t really feeling the best about the whole situation, but in Munich I got a surprise visit that cheered me up a lot. Well, actually at first it terrified me, because my friend Marianne thought that it would be super funny to come up behind me, grab one of my bags, and try to run away with it. Of course at first I panicked because she was wearing a hat and mask and was completely unrecognizable, but once she pulled her mask down and hugged me my terror faded into joy at being able to see her. I had planned to take one more train from Munich to Ingolstadt, where I had made arrangements stay for the night. But Marianne had come to the station with a car so I ended up unexpectedly getting to drive the rest of the way with her, which was obviously much preferable to trying to haul all of my heavy luggage on and off another train.

Marianne and I on the way to Paul’s place

We then drove to my friend Paul’s house where we would both stay the night. I worked with Paul in the kitchen at Tauernhof, but interestingly I actually knew his older sister before ever meeting him because she was one of my roommates when I was at Bible School in Sweden. Small world. We spent part of the afternoon just talking and getting caught up before driving to an open parking lot where we would meet the rest of my friends who were volunteer staff at Tauernhof this season. They had all found out that I would stay one night in Germany before flying out and insisted on coming to stay goodbye which of course I was very happy about. So we were able to go for a walk in the countryside near where Paul lives, broken up into groups of two or three at a time to at least some semblance of social distancing. It was so awesome for me to get to see them one last time and say goodbye. Because when they all left for Christmas break we thought that we would be seeing each other again in a few weeks so we didn’t really say goodbye.

Rebecca, me and Mia. These girls have been my besties for the last few months!

Unfortunately most of them couldn’t stay for too long because they had to be home before their community curfews at 8pm and had to drive a ways. But it was nice to see them even for a little while. After they all left, Paul, Marianne and I went back to Paul’s house and played some games. Then we had dinner and watched a movie before going to bed pretty early because we knew we’d have to be awake again in a few hours.

At 3:15am my alarm went off to wake me up and by 4am Paul and I were headed out the door to the airport. I’m so thankful for friends who are willing to wake up that early to drive me to an airport an hour away. Otherwise I would have to stress a lot more about transportation. We were at the airport by just after 5am. The check in desk opened shortly after we got there and it was pretty easy from there. I had to pay extra for an overweight bag which was sucky though not unexpected, but on the bright side, I was able to check my carry on suitcase for free right from the desk instead of hauling it all over the airport with me.

Right before security I said goodbye to Paul and pretty much just breezed through from there. The airport was not busy at all that early in the morning so there was no one else in line for security. I was at my gate an hour early so I called a friend and took a nap before boarding. The flight from Munich to Amsterdam was about 2 hours and I slept the whole way.

Now as I said, I’m sitting at my gate in Amsterdam waiting to board which will likely not be for another hour or so yet. And look at that my laptop is still alive! I still won’t publish this post until later though, because I want to add a few pictures and I can’t do that until I get home because my phone is being silly and won’t connect to the WiFi here. So that means that if you’re reading this, I’m back on Canadian soil and have been for awhile!

Since this is the end of my time here in Europe, (for now) I won’t be using this platform much anymore – at least not till I plan my next trip. If you’ve been following along in my journey, you know how strange it’s been, but thanks for sticking with me and I hope to see you soon!

The view from the top of the ski hill that I live beside

In my last post I gave a little update on what my Christmas and New Years plans were going to look like as far as I knew. I was still waiting on a Visa to stay in country and waiting to hear more about whether or not our season would be able to go forward. Since then I have gotten my visa which is great because it gives me lot more freedom to leave when/if I want to, but things regarding my job here are still a bit uncertain as the restrictions in Germany and Austria remain in place. This means that we can’t start our programs yet and probably can’t for awhile yet and so I’m currently on the fence about whether it’s the best thing for me to stay here and keep waiting, or if I should just head home when it’s possible.

I’ll post another update when I get that all figured out, but for now I mostly want to just tell a bit about my last few weeks and show some cool pictures of the area where I’ve been living for the last while.

Most of my crew for the last month. Zach and Bree (from canada) and Merr (from Romania) On a walk up in the mountains on my birthday.

Christmas this year was a bit different to how I would have normally spent Christmas if I was at home, but I guess in some ways it also held some similarities to the last two Christmases that I also spent away from home. I was able to spend Christmas with a family that lives here in Schladming that I know because they work at the school here. With their four kids and a mix of German and American traditions, it definitely felt a bit more like home. My family usually celebrates with a mix of traditions as well so lots of the things that they did (for example, opening gifts on Christmas Eve) were very familiar to me. On Christmas morning we had sweet rolls (like a different version of cinnamon buns) and homemade eggnog which was delicious. After breakfast the rest of the morning was spent just playing games with the kids and chatting and such. It was relaxed but wonderful to spend Christmas with a family.

The days between Christmas and New Years were good as well. I had my first few ski days which were really fun and an awesome way to pass some of this endless free time. On New Years Eve I celebrated my twentieth birthday with pancakes, pizza, friends and a beautiful walk up in the mountains. Definitely the most low key birthday I’ve had in awhile but it was really enjoyable nonetheless. We ended the year off by watching a movie until midnight and then watching fireworks from our balcony. It’s a perfect vantage point because the main building here is one of the tallest in the area and has a wrap around balcony that allowed us to see fireworks all over the city which was super cool! My friend Mira also came to visit on New Years Eve and she’s been here since then. I’ve really enjoyed having a roommate again and the constant company that she’s provided!

Mira and I on the top of Planai (the ski hill)

The days since New Years have been a very relaxed cycle of skiing, reading, going on walks and playing a lot of games. There are currently five of us living at the center which isn’t much but it is nice to have a little bit of company. Other than those activities we haven’t done much because everything is still closed. We’ve been to church in Salzburg on Sundays and this last week we went to an open air Skating rink while we were in the city which was really nice!

This is the daughter of a family who lives on campus and she’s been my little pal these last couple weeks! Skating in Salzburg.

Ski day with Mira. The clouds were so cool in the valley, it looked like you could just ski off the edge of the mountain and continue right onto the clouds.

A lot of people that I’ve talked to lately have been pretty curious about how skiing here works since everything else is closed. It is also interesting to me that skiing is something that the government considers necessary to be open but I’m definitely not complaining. There are restrictions with how many people can be on a hill at a time, but with the lack of tourists here they’ve never reached capacity. You also have to wear a medical grade mask in the lifts, lift stations, gondola, bathrooms and anytime you’re waiting in life. They are really strict about enforcing it which is really good to see. Those are the main two things that allow them to keep the lifts open but I guess it does make sense to me that they can stay open because it’s really easy to social distance while skiing and it’s really nice for locals to have something to do during this quarantine time. I know I’m definitely taking advantage of this!

Mira and I on Reiteralm, which is 2 ski hills over. We went there to watch the world cup ski cross races happening there on January 9th and 10th.

So for the most part that’s what I’ve been up to lately, and just trying to get things figured out as whether I’m gonna stay here or head home. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this small update about my last bit of time here. I also want to put some pictures in here of the town of Schladming where I’ve been living for the last while, so if you’re interested to see what an Austrian tourist town looks like, then keep scrolling!

This is a picture of one of the more expensive hotels in Schladming, how it looks from the valley.

This is the lecture hall here on the Tauernhof campus.

A view from the valley of one of the ski hills, Hochwurzen which we can see from the school.

One of the main streets in Schladming leading to the square.

The white church is one of the two old church buildings in Schladming

This picture I think needs some explanation. So these are called Krampus and basically it’s just people dressed up who run around in the beginning of December with bells and whips in the town squares. They legitimately chase you and smack you with branches or whips if you get too close. They wear bells so you can hear them coming. It’s actually terrifying to be anywhere in town when you know they are there but the local kids think it’s really funny to hang around and get chased by them, so to each his own I guess.

Tag: Schladming

The End of an Adventure

Time off in Austria