It is crazy to think that right now, there are several IFYE delegates traveling in foreign countries. All of us on the same program with the same intent, but none of us will experience the exact same thing. Even though many of us are in Europe, we will not learn the same things. Even though some of us come from farming backgrounds, we will not all stay with families that farm (and vice versa). Even though some of us are traveling within the same country, we will not experience the same day to day life. This is something that makes the IFYE program incredibly unique but also a challenge. Attempting to tick all the same boxes as another IFYE traveling at the same time is simply not possible. But something that this program does accomplish for all is the creation of a space to discuss our varying experiences. It opens the opportunity to be able to share different cultures and ideas. This is something that I have already gotten to experience during my trip. When I first landed in Austria, I went immediately to my first host family. For the first two weeks I stayed with them and started to learn their way of life. After the two weeks, I got to go back into the city center and attend an in-country orientation put on by the partnering IFYE organization in Austria. This orientation was just a couple of days, but during this time I met up with other IFYEs and what would we talk about? Of course our experiences so far, attempting to find the similarities and differences in our stay of just a two weeks. During this orientation we also learned about IFYE in Austria first hand from the staff, and got to spend some free time with them.
Site seeing during in-country orientation
When I would tell people about my IFYE trip before I left home, I would say “some families have a farm that you can help out on, some may have a family business you can get involved in, maybe a local program the family can connect you with, and some just want to show you about to all the sites”. This statement never really hit me until I experienced it. After my time in the city at the in-country orientation, I then went to my next host family. Our last morning of the orientation we finished up with a few site seeing trips then said our goodbyes at the train station. Once I had arrived at my next host family in the afternoon, it was soon time to feed and milk the cows on the farm. I was so glad to be able to help and learn something new, but was shocked at how I went from big city to small village farm in one day! I had to navigate a whole new way of living. This is something I also experience when moving from family to family. Not one family I’ve stayed with so far has been like the other. They are all unique in the way that they work, the meals they enjoy, how they prefer to spend their free time, and also their perspective of the IFYE (me!) - another challenge in the diversity of exchange. But again, it’s something I get to take with me and use to share about my unique cultural experience in Austria.
Helping milk the cows after a morning in the city