In the words of St. Augustine of Hippo, “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” For me, traveling to Salzburg, Austria will hopefully be the exciting first pages of a continuing story.
My one-month Austrian excursion will be my first time traveling internationally and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have the opportunity to document my newbie travel experiences in this blog.
In my corner of the blog, I will be focusing on chronicling Austrian culture through American eyes. As someone who shamelessly “people-watches,” I thoroughly enjoy observing how other people interact and communicate. During my time in Austria, I intend to take my “people-watching” skills to the next level and immerse myself in Austrian culture as much as I can to better understand the characteristics and roots of contemporary Austrian society. In doing this, I want to highlight the various dynamics that affect Austrian culture to shed light upon the differences in comparison to American culture and their implications.
In addition to being an avid “people-watcher,” I’m confident that being a double major in Communication and History will provide me with the skills to grasp Austrian culture. I often am asked why I decided to pursue a dual major in Communication and History, and usually my response is: “well both my degrees help me answer the question ‘why?’ History provides me with skills that help me research and investigate “why?” and Communication helps me to comprehend and articulate ‘why?’ to other people.”
When I’m not in the library writing papers, I’m usually rehearsing in a music classroom or on the stage. I also am a co-editor-in-chief for the Mount’s humanities journal Moorings, and recently finished up a Communication internship with the Mount’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts. In my spare time, you can mostly likely find me adventuring with my friends, hiking the Maryland wilderness, or simply napping.
Being a Mount student has provided me with numerous skills, and I’m ecstatic to take these skills overseas as I embark on my Austrian adventure. It’s truly a blessing to have the opportunity to study abroad in such a historically and culturally rich country, and be able to share my thoughts to all of you who decide to read the pages of my unfolding travel story. Danke.
To stay up-to-date on my escapades abroad, make sure you check back each week. Also, make sure to scope out Grace’s, Haley’s, and Emma’s blogs too! You can also catch snippets of our adventures on the Mount’s new travel Instagram: @msmutravels!