Summer holidays are now over and I’m back in school for the last quarter of my exchange. The 6am wake ups are not so hard now after a few days, but it’s no question that I’ll be missing the 10am sleep-ins! The last half of the summer saw me in France on a beautiful holiday with my first host family who invited me to join them in a camper van for a couple of weeks. I was lucky enough to finally meet my host sister Kathi who is now back from Columbia, and spend an amazing time sightseeing and exploring some of the towns all around France.
Our camper van for the time was definitely not short on space, with enough room to sleep and extra 2 or 3 people if needed. Our time was spent roaming around cities in the day, riding bikes, or being given special tours by old host family and friends of Kathi (from her years on RYE in both Colombia and France). From Laval, to Amiens, St. Jean sur Mayenna, Vitré and Pornichet, every town had something a little different to show us – but the crepes were delicious where ever we went! I was very lucky to be able to meet the host families of Kathi, who where absolutely amazing and accomodating as we stayed with them for many nights. Breakfast was a highlight of each day, filled with croissants, jam, fruit, tea, coffee and cakes to get us prepared for the day. A lot of hours driving with movies and music where made comfortable with family and a lot of laughing (and sleeping), and I was truly really lucky to be given the opportunity with the Sponners.
We headed off to Switzerland for one of the last nights to meet an old school friend of my host Dad’s. We had a bit of a view of the lake over to Zürich and I can say from the one night we spent there, that it seems like a gorgeous country. It’s a little weird to think that that was were I was originally headed on my exchange, because now I couldn’t imagine being anywhere other than Austria with my new families, friends and life. Kathi and I took a little walk to the lake in the evening (only managing to get a little lost and have the police stop us going down the wrong road), and the lights over the lake were absolutely beautiful – almost a little reminder of Wellington back in NZ. On the way home we got to spend a day exploring around Liechtenstein in the rain, before having another night in the main road in Tirol and driving home to Niederösterreich. It was definitely a highlight of my summer, and I am glad I got to spend some more time with my first family.
Coming back to NÖ and the Himmelbauers also meant the start of spending most evenings in the Keller helping out with food and drink, as well as putting my german to good practise and have a bit of fun.
Austria has streets of wine cellars -some dating back to earlier than the 18th century, where they store wine and entertain family and friends. My host family recently had an ‘Offenen Keller’ where they sold cold food and their wine to visitors. Many parties and meetings are held in the kellers, and the names of these streets of kellers is a ‘Kellergasse’.
It was absolutely awesome to get a bit of insight into one aspect of winemaking and trying out my family’s wine, and I am even more excited to start my Oenology and Viticulture degree next year. Working along side my host sisters and getting to know them a lot better was also really cool, and I am really lucky to have been given the Himmelbauers as my second host family on my exchange.
The endtail of summer saw me running a ‘Frauenlauf’ – womens run – with Kathi and Andrea, and coming 11th with an under 12 minute time for 2.5km (which is not too bad after next to no sport since January!), as well as watching (and understanding most of!) Suicide Squad with my sisters Sophie and Clara in Vienna. I’ve had visits from other exchange friends ranging from a week long to only a night or two, and biked over to the Czech Republic to do a little shopping and a picnic. And been to a few parties and met with Austrian friends in my home town and Vienna.
So after a pretty special summer that next will have to try hard to compete with, I’m back at school, and looking forward to a little bit of Wein lesen (grape picking) with my family as they are becoming ripe enough to harvest. A mountain climbing Rotary event is also on the books, along with presentations to schools and my Rotary club, so be expecting another update soon!
Bis bald und schönen Tag
Georgina Maud
georgina meets the world 
You are certainly meeting the World Georgina. Janet and I always enjoy reading about your adventures.Best wishes for the remainder of your RYE
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Thank you! I’ll definitely be coming back to the club for a chat about the year!
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