The Austria 411

As many of you already know I am going to Austria for two months to volunteer (and by volunteer I mean to live with an Austrian family and help them with their English skills). I thought that by keeping this blog it would be the best way for my friends and family and whoever else is interested to follow me through my two month stay abroad.

I am going through Geovisions - Conversation Corps. Everyone from that organization has been absolutely great, especially Marybeth, who helped me get my package together and worked with their partner in Austria to find me a family. It's my responsibility to help my host family with Conversational English for 15 hours a week . That's it. Many Austrian families want to learn English or become better at speaking English through conversation. They are willing to provide me with a private room and 3 home-cooked, healthy meals each day (I haven't had this ever in my life, just kidding mom. I know I was a very picky eater growing up but now I am excited to try Wiener Schnitzel and Apple Strudel). The hours I am not spending teaching I plan to see/visit as many different cities/towns in Austria and surrounding countries as I can.

Now onto my host family. I will be living with Gunter and Gerlinde and their two sons, Michael (3 years old) and Richard (6 months old). As it turns out Gunter and Gerlinde (mostly Gerlinde) are the ones that I will be tutoring. Gunter is a software developer and Gerlinde is a nurse. I have exchanged many emails with Gunter. He seems very nice and says that the family is excited to meet me. The family lives in Grunbach (pop. 1,851, coat of arms above for all who is interested). Grunbach is located in the state of Upper Austria (if you see the picture above I am the little blue dot). It is about 15 miles from the Czech Republic border. Grunbach is about a 10 minute drive to Freistadt (pop. 7,437). From what I have read Freistadt seems like a pretty happening town. I hear there is even McDonalds there. The closest big city to Grunbach is Linz (pop. 188,968). Linz is about an hour drive from Grunbach and is the third most populated city in Austria.

I booked my flight this past week. I fly out of Dulles on Austrian Airlines will return the end of November. I will keep you all posted on any new developments between now and when I leave. Please feel free to leave any comments.