By Kerri Linsenbigler
Associate Editor
If I’ve learned anything this semester studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria, it’s how to live constantly in motion.
Studying at Salzburg College is about as hectic as it gets. It seems as if every day I’m in a new location or headed to a different destination. Along with my fellow classmates, I’ve had a front row seat at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Schladming. I have toured Mauthausen, a former concentration camp. I have snowshoed up one of the Alps. These trips and many other journeys around Austria and the city of Salzburg were only the beginning, however. Without my busy school schedule of traveling and classes, I never would have been prepared for the two weeks of little sleep and security checks that were my spring break.
The majority of my weeks off were spent in the United Kingdom visiting fellow Bonnie Alexandra Salerno, a junior journalism and mass communication major as well as my sister, who are both studying in London this semester.
My “break” officially began, however, at Salzburg’s Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Airport. The melodic sounds of flight announcements, heels clicking on the tile floors and the whirring of engines created an orchestra of sound only found in airport waiting rooms.
I tried to forget these musical notes as I hurried through London Stansted Airport, anxious to get into the city. But I couldn’t shake them. After five days with my feet planted firmly on the ground, I longed to hear the tune again and move on to another destination.
This time, I brought my sister along for the ride. As the plane touched down at the Edinburgh airport, I swear I could hear bagpipes mixed in with the usual airport melody.
This leg of the trip was more my style. My sister and I dropped off our bags at the hostel, and then we were out the door. We walked up and down Old Town, hit museum after museum, climbed Calton Hill and ate some great food along the way. Antsy as ever, we left after only two full days in the city. I instantly relaxed upon our arrival at the airport where I could hear that traveling beat once again.
Onwards and upwards, we went to Ireland. This was by far the most fast-paced and head- spinning part of my travels. We spent a night in Limerick with Julia Anderson, a junior sports studies major at Bonaventure who is also studying abroad, listening to an Irish cover band and drinking shamrock shakes. My sister and I watched the countryside roll by through the bus window as we made our way to Dublin for just one full day. It was here the sound of wheels on the pavement found its way into my traveling melody.
Just as quickly as we arrived, we left the Emerald Isle behind. My sister had a ferry across the Irish Sea to catch and I was headed back to my home away from home: the airport.
I soaked up the sunshine for one day back in Salzburg before I rejoined my Salzburg College classmates on a train to Vienna. Four days of Hapsburg history and Viennese coffee rounded out my mad dash around the European continent.
Even though my body is aching for some rest and relaxation, my mind is still caught up in the notes and tunes of airports, bus terminals and train stations. As I write this article, I am on one final train back to Salzburg. The sounds created by the wheels on the track rise in a crescendo. These are the final chords in my spring break symphony, and frankly, I find them more beautiful than anything Mozart could have composed.
