On the opposing end of last week’s post about why I was always destined to live in Austria, there are also plenty of reasons why I should not be here at all! Here are the top 10 reasons why I can never be a true European.
Even though I’m born and bred in Australia and actually never had any desire to live elsewhere, looking back now it seems that there are a number of signs that were always pointing me toward Austria…
We started a tradition when I arrived in Austria of visiting Reiters Supreme spa resort at the end of each year. In winter, snow falls softly, all outside is quiet and the trees are tinged with frost… time to get some R&R!
Reiters Supreme is a 5-star plus resort located in Southern Burgenland in Austria with a spa area that makes you want to throw your clothes off in joy, a dining experience that destroys any plan of a pre-Christmas diet and beds that just make you want to… sleep.
Austrians have some strange folklore, but perhaps the one which is the most disturbing, especially for kids, is the Krampus. Saint Nicholas is the good guy that rewards the well-behaved kids with gifts on December 6th. But instead of simply telling kids in Austria that he simply won’t come if they are naughty, what they get told is the following:
“If you are naughty the Krampus will find you, pack you in his sack, and take you back with him to hell.” Continue reading
I honestly thought snow would be the worst thing I would encounter when driving in Austria over winter.
I was wrong.
While snow does provide its own unique challenges, I have to say, in my first year of driving it wasn’t nearly as bad as the fog (Nebel, in German) – the dreaded, nasty fog. Austria, as it turns out, with its scenic vista of mountains and lakes, is a veritable fog-magnet.
If you’re a goose and happen to find yourself in Austria in November, you might want to start hunting around for a good hiding spot!
In November it’s tradition to eat goose, with every restaurant and guesthouse featuring goose on the menu, often as a complete meal that involves various courses of goose deliciousness.
I often get asked which English words have German origins.
I’m not talking about ‘baby’ or ‘party’, where they’re exactly the same word, I’m talking about the words you might think are English, when in actual fact they are German. You could easily google a list, but it’s probably more fun to read my Top 10.
When you think Austria, you probably think immediately of beer. Which is the right connection to make, but what you might not realise is that Austria also has a flourishing wine industry. Grüner Veltliner is the dominant white grape, producing dry whites, but there are multitudes of other varieties, from red to white to sweet to dry and beyond.
Moving overseas is an adventure! But it is also a lengthy and difficult experience, and along with all the emotional ups and downs, there are plenty of annoyances and bureaucratic processes that you have to deal with, usually when you least expect them or have time to deal with them. This post might not be much fun, but if you want an idea of some of the more practical things you should try to do before you leave your home country, keep reading.
My Austrian experience started with a student visa, progressed onto a red-white-red skilled worker’s visa and was now ready to move on to the big one – the family visa. In comparison, this visa is fairly easy to obtain (assuming of course, you are family) and requires only proof of marriage and passing of the A1 German test.
Pretty easy, we thought. Well I guess it was. But being a visa, it was still fraught with fun complexities and extra challenges that we hadn’t originally anticipated. Read on for the journey into my (hopefully) last visa in Austria.
an aussie in austria 