Exploring Austria

Times Reporter

 

Her love of music is what prompted Brooklyn Davidson to head to Austria this summer for four weeks. Davidson, and fellow Strathmore High School classmates Matt Rederburg and Parker Gavey, spent time overseas this summer thanks to the Lions International Youth Exchange program.

“I play piano and I knew a lot of classical composers lived in Austria, or had some experiences in Austria, it’s a very musical country,” said Davidson. 

She said they were given a large list of places to go by the Lions. When she saw Austria and that there was a music camp, she decided to go there. Her second choice was Germany, also for the musical history, and her third choice was Italy, which she is going to in the spring. Though she didn’t make it into the music camp, Davidson said she still had a lot of fun. 

“I just think that travelling is an amazing experience especially when you’re a youth because that’s kind of the age when you’re figuring yourself out,” said Davidson.

“It’s kind of seeing how my values and standards here translated into my trip over there and how I am confident in who I am enough to keep those.”     

She said she came back with a stronger sense of who she is, and is more comfortable with herself. Davidson stayed with two different host families while in Austria, and spent two weeks at camp.

At the camp Davidson said she was kind of forced to make friends, which growing up in Strathmore is not something she has really had to do, but found it neat to build new friendships with people from all over. 

“Camp was fantastic. It was two weeks long, and we did a lot of touristy things, we got a lot of free time in Vienna. The camp was in Eisenstadt, which I thought was interesting. It’s the size of Strathmore, maybe 2,000 more people, but it’s the capital of Burgenland,” said Davidson.

Her favourite day was going to Salzburg with her first host family. Salzburg is a beautiful city and has a huge musical history. She got to see the house that Mozart was born in. Her second favourite place was Hallstatt, which is a little town on a gorgeous mountainside. 

“The camp was probably the biggest thing for me because I got to meet kids from all over the world. I was the only North American, so I was the only native English speaker, so that was interesting,” said Davidson.

“The camp was amazing because not only did I learn about Austria, but I got to learn about all of their countries and their culture. There was a huge variety because we had Nations Night where they all presented their countries and it was great to see that.”

She said she made a lot of friends and every Saturday at noon they meet on Skype and keep in touch. If given the opportunity to go on another exchange through the Lions, Davidson said she would go to Brazil. She has been to Europe and would want to go see a different continent.