Oliver Gamson writes "I feel very adapted to the culture now, here in Austria. I’m finding German to be a very difficult language, but aside from that I feel at home. At the beginning of the month, I took a trip with the other Rotary Exchange Students to Prague, Dresden, and Berlin. I liked these cities a lot. As with most European cities, they had beautiful buildings and boulevards, and had generally nice atmospheres, making each of these cities seem very livable. What I liked about Dresden, and surprisingly Berlin as well, is that they were not totally packed with tourists. It was nice to see the cities in a more real way without everything being designed to capture tourists’ attention. It felt like a more genuine representation of the culture.
Coming home from the trip, I felt like there was a new mindset that I developed towards this exchange. I think before I was so comfortable that it almost felt like I had been living here much of my life, and I forgot how precious my time is here. After the trip I began to be pulled back into the reality of how my life here is temporary, but I found that to help me enjoy each moment more. So, for me this month has brought, above all else, a new perspective and appreciation towards each individual experience, and this year as a whole. Moments in which I have felt this new mindset to the fullest include performing with my orchestra in Vienna, dancing the Viennese Waltz during dance lessons, and each time I order a coffee and pastry in German, and sit down to enjoy it."
The conductor of my orchestra and I shaking hands after our concert.