European Wilderness Volunteer Diary

The Diary of the European Wilderness Society Volunteers
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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

Alone in an Hostel

1 month agoEmma Rubin2 min readAdd comment

Instead of traveling directly to Vienna, I decided to make a short stop in Salzburg. I started looking for the most economic places to stay, because I wanted to save some money. After some research I found an hostel near the train-station. I had never been alone in a place like that. Before arriving I was pretty nervous but I was looking forward to it. Experience I had booked a bed in a shared female room. When I checked in, it was 4pm in the afternoon and someone in the room was sleeping. Therefore, I had to put the sheets on my bed in almost complete darkness wich was pretty uncomfortable....

The office in Salzburg

1 month agoEmma Rubin1 min readAdd comment

One day before Christmas, the whole team and the kids from one of our coworkers went to Salzburg together. After work in the morning was over, we headed to Salzburg. The plan was to go iceskating and to eat dinner afterwards. It was pretty cold and there were a lot of people walking around Salzburg. We arrived at the ice rink and we were able to watch an artistic iceskating show performed by some young girls before we could skate ourselves. I skated for almost two hours and I talked with several young people from Germany. I had fun. The dinner afterwards was also entertaining. It was an....

My on-arrival training

1 month agoEmma Rubin4 min readAdd comment

From the 23rd of January until the 26th of January my on-arrival training took place. It was in Vienna. The group was made out of fifteen volunteers, 12 of us volunteering across Austria and three volunteering in Lichtenstein. The oldest one was almost 30 and the youngest ones (including me) were eighteen. We were a really interesting group coming from very different countries. During the four days, we learned a lot of different things and most of us became really good friends. First day, Monday Around lunchtime everyone started to arrive. We all were a bit shy at first, but soon we all....

From the Warmth into the Cold

3 months agoEmma Rubin3 min read4 comments

Hello to anyone reading this 😉 ! My name is Emma Rubin, I am 18 years old, and I am the new EWS volunteer from Spain. This is going to be my first post and therefore, the point from where my new journey in Austria is going to start! Everything leading to the current present, started around may 2022. I was almost finished with my last months of Highschool. I was happy about it, but I was a bit fearfull about having to take my university-access exams. Time passed and I took them. When I received my results, I was a bit disappointed. And in that moment, I somehow knew that something had to....

Late Arrival training in Wien

3 months agoKarolina Soliar3 min readAdd comment

Hello,  Dear reader of my wilderness diary In the middle of October I attended the arrival training in Vienna. I have already spent more than a half of my project, but according to the dates that was the first available slot, so I decided it would anyway nice to share my tips and tricks with newly arrived volunteers and meet some friends all over the Austria.  The training started from arrival to the hotel and small talks with cup of coffee. I was a bit in a rush after my trip from Tamsweg, because I had only 20 minutes to take a shower and get ready for the first session. Near the....

2-days of Alpine adventures

14 July 2022Karolina Soliar4 min readAdd comment

The best weekend so far, I spent with my friend in mountains. We had the plan to go hiking a few days long ago, but exactly this week she had an opportunity to come to Lungau. We were inspired by photos from previous volunteers’ adventures.  My friend had an opportunity to come just for three days, so we decided to spend two of them on mountain trails. Then we checked the Lungau map and find several appropriate routes. As I learn before from Respect Nature materials and my personal hiking experience, the planning of the trip is one of the most essential parts. You need to choose your route....

  • 6 Volunteers so far
  • 7 Countries visited
  • 120 km Kilometres hiked
  • 30 + Diary entries