My second host family were the Breitwieser family who live in Steinhaus Austria in the province of Upper Austria. This family consists of parents Martin and Karin and their four children Julia, Christa, Markus and Andreas. They live on a market hog and cash crop farm.
This was a very special stay as their daughter Julia was an exchange delegate to Canada last year and my family hosted her. It was really cool to reconnect and see her part of the world. I owe Julia for the idea of doing an exchange and the inspiration to choose Austria as my destination.
During my 9 day stay we toured Salzburg, saw some of the Sound of Music sights, did a road trip to Germany, went hiking in the alps and went to a Landjugend mowing competition.
Our road trip to Germany was so much fun. We made a stop at the famous Neuschwanstein Castle which is a breathtaking sight and pictures did not do it justice. In Germany we reunited with another delegate we hosted last year named Marieke. It was so much fun to be back with the girls and catch up on each others lives. We went hiking together in Austria to hike around the Lunarsee lake which situated in the alps near the border of Switzerland.
Another really cool experience was travelling to Lower Austria for the National Mowing Competition. This competition is run by the Landjugend (rural youth) and consists of participants competing to mow grass using a hand sickle. It is quite impressive how fast they can mow and how consistent their cutting is. To finish the event they had an awards ceremony followed by dancing and lots of live music. Let me tell you, the Landjugend group know how to party and it was so cool to be apart of it
Another highlight from this stay was the opportunity to tour my hosts pig farm and help out around their farm. It was really neat to compare their operation to our pig farm at home and learn the similarities and differences between the 2 industries. Living on their farm felt like home and was such a cool experience for me
The last host of my stay was the Sackl family who live in Unzmarkt-Frauenberg in the province of Styria Austria. This place was unique from the others as it was in one of the mountain regions of Austria. This family consisted of parents Karl and Margaretha and their 2 children Christiane and Jacob. They own a Christmas tree farm however both parents also work full time. Margaretha as a headmaster of a school and Karl as a consultant and vice mayor.
My stay at this family was very brief but during my 5 day stay I was able to see a lot of the area. We toured the surrounding valleys, saw the formula one race track, did a chocolate factory tasting tour, toured a few farms, toured a school, celebrated Mass and had plenty of delicious food
One of the coolest thing is that there are dairy farms nestled in the hillside of the mountains throughout this whole area. I was fortunate enough to tour a dairy farm in the hills. The landscape was quite steep so they farm a lot different than we are used to. This particular dairy farm was an organic farm that milked 15 cows. They feed only dry hay so they have a hay drier in their barn. Another unique thing was that they store majority of their hay loose and move it around the barn with a hay crane. I was mesmerized by the crane and how it’s an everyday tool in their operation. Another cool thing from this dairy farm is that they graze their cows in the hills of the mountains
Another neat thing I was able to do was tour the high school where Margaretha is the head master. This school is in an old castle and is a boarding school that specializes in cooking, gardening, restaurant management and other home economic lessons. It was really interesting to learn about the school system and how different it is.
I ended my stay with an evening in Vienna with Christiane. We went supper at a rooftop bar that has a great view of the famous St. Stephens cathedral and took in the last few Austrian delicacies before I left for home
Overall this exchange was an amazing experience. It allowed me to immerse myself in the culture through the everyday life of my host families. Meeting all these great people made it really hard to say good bye but made be very grateful that I took the opportunity. Thanks to Junior Farmers for offering this great experience
Julie De Bruyn
Oxford JF
