My 12 months as a European Solidarity Corps Volunteer with the European Wilderness Society have finished and it was again time to pack up my bags and move to a different place. The time in Tamsweg has really flown by within this exciting opportunity to work in nature conservation and live in the beautiful UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Lungau. In summary, this year was truly full of opportunities for learning and personal growth, skiing and hiking and regular dinners with the team. The last few weeks in the Lungau passed in the spirit of finishing my tasks and transfering them to my colleagues....
Volunteering at European Wilderness Society
Hi! We are writing from Tamsweg, Austria, where the European Wilderness Society is based. While Rebecca was the first volunteer, who wrote the earlier blog posts, the rest of us volunteers have taken up her mantle to keep this blog going. Here we write about the personal aspects of volunteering life and the adventures we get up to. In the office we each have differing roles but as a team we are all focused in helping each other, in order to meet the mission of making Europe wild again. Here you’ll read about our adventures in the mountains alongside office work and trips further afield.
Our destinations
In the middle of March, between the 16th and 19th, I was supposed to attend my Mid-term Training. I was already looking forward to spend a couple of days in Salzburg, meeting and sharing my experience with other volunteers. Yet, unfortunately, Corona arrived and instead, I went into quarantine. I soon forgot about the Mid-term, believing I’d still go to Salzburg after Corona is over. However, Corona lockdown lasted longer than I expected, so our training also had to be adapted. Two weeks ago, I therefore had an online training instead. 10 participants and two trainers gathered on Zoom....
For me, the lockdown was happening at an incredible speed. All the new measures the government announced one day after another – not only in Austria, but also in my home country Slovenia – meant that the first few weeks seemed like months. Never before have I seen our lives transform at such a high speed. One day, I was working in the office, hanging out with friends and saying how the Corona panic is overexaggerated. Three days later, I was not able to leave my home anymore. Read more about how our other volunteer Jonas and the rest of the team experienced the lockdown. As such....
Last time you heard from us, the world was still a different one. We were in the midst of the skiing saison, the busiest time of the year in the Lungau. We enjoyed the slopes, great weather and busyness that the tourists bring with them. My last skiing trip before the shut down Until the beginning of March, we thought we would have a regular winter. That would mean skiing until easter, going to the office almost every day and enjoying the first signs of spring together. As you can read in my last post, I had big plans for March. But as you know, everything turned out very differently. First....
When I last wrote something on here, it was still the beginning of winter. I had just had my first taste of the infamous Krampuslauf in Tamsweg and still had to catch up on my skiing skills after a few years of absence from the slopes. Now, three months later, I had a winter full of picturesque snowy landscapes, winter sports and work. Winter in Tamsweg A week after the Krampuslauf, we started a stand at the christmas market in Tamsweg. Six days – two weekends from Friday to Sunday – we sold crepes, waffles, punch and wild art. Our goal was to raise awareness for the European....
Living in Tamsweg in the centre of the Alps provides one with a great opportunity to experience the true winter. A winter where the temperatures often go below -10°C in the mornings and where there is snow for several months. The first snow was already back in November and the 30 cm we received in one day caused power shortages and large transport issues. However, mainly it just allowed me to admire the whiteness all around, especially the snowy peaks. However, while the first snow soon melted, the second one, from December, persisted much longer. Soon, I became very used to this whiteness....
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