European Wilderness Volunteer DiaryThe Diary of the European Wilderness Society Volunteers

Fridays for Future Protest in Salzburg

Ziva Alif

On the Black Friday, the 29th of November, the European Wilderness Society team headed to Salzburg to participate at the Fridays for Future protest. At 15.30 we met in front of the railway station where the protest started, together with two other volunteers, Abigail from Baden, Austria, and Andi working in Munchen, Germany. Together we marched through the city centre of Salzburg for about two and a half hours, chanting along the following lines: “What do we want?” “Climate Justice!!!!” “When do we want it?” “Now!!!”

2 500 people attended the protest and it was a great experience being surrounded by so many active young people who believe and fight for the same things as we at European Wilderness Society. The energy at the protest was incredible.

Christmas in Salzburg

Afetr the protest ended, we continued by exploring the christmasy Salzburg. We went to the Christmas market, where we enjoyed the lovely atmosphere. The stands were offering lots of delicious food ranging from classical christmas sweets such as gingerbread cookies, to churros. When we came across a stand that was selling all kinds of giant pretzels, we couldn’t resist it anymore. We each had a pretzel, some of which were pizza-flavoured and warm, while others tasted like cinnamon whirl, covered with chocolate.

To keep ourselves warm we also had a bit to drink – a traditional German feuerzangbowle and a cocoa with rum, both were delicious. At last, we set out to find some ESC volunteers from Salzburg with whom we were meeting. They were waiting for us in a special place known just to the locals – a small yard within a monastery, where tables were also set out. The other volunteers were already waiting for us there, and it was great seeing some of them again after my On-Arrival training, as well as meeting some new ones.

Finally, at about 9.30, we unfortunately already had to leave as we had a long drive back to Tamsweg ahead of us. We arrived back around midnight, all very tired but happy with the nice day behind us.

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