European Wilderness Volunteer Diary

The Diary of the European Wilderness Society Volunteers
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The hills are alive…

6 June 2022Victoria Steckhan3 min readAdd comment

For the last weekend before Elena would leave EWS, we decided to have a final trip together. We chose Werfen, a small town in Salzburg with a spectacular castle and even more spectacular ice cave. However, we opted for a third attraction – the picnic meadow from The Sound of Music! Let’s start at the very beginning… We got to Werfen later that morning and stopped at a small cafe before heading to the meadow. Having woken up very early and not encountered any coffee machines en route, we were in dire need of caffeine. We sat in the sun with our drinks and desserts, with Elena....

Hiking adventures in Lungau and Pongau

31 May 2022Victoria Steckhan3 min readAdd comment

The snow was melting, spring was coming to a close, and after a week in the UK, I was excited to head back to the mountains again. Every Friday since April, public transport has been free within the state of Salzburg so I wanted to take the opportunity to explore the region some more. One sight that caught my attention was the Liechtensteinklamm, one of the longest and deepest gorges in the Alps. So I got up early, packed some lunch and took an early bus out of Tamsweg. A gorge-ous sight The Liechtensteinklamm is located in the neighbouring region of Pongau, just outside the town of St Johann....

When the sun rises in the Alps

25 April 2022Karolina Soliar5 min readAdd comment

Hi! My name is Karolina and I’m from Ukraine. One month and a half ago I became an EWS volunteer. My story started in February. One of my work projects in Kyiv was coming to the end I had the feeling that I want to do something meaningful. After my quick research on European Solidarity Corps website, I found a lovely project about nature protection in Lung au, Austria. That was a pretty attractive offer because I worked with a phytopathological organization before and to spend 12 months near the Alps sounded amazing to me. I filled out an application and started to wait.  How everything....

Quarantine in Vienna

16 February 2022Elena Leonteva2 min readAdd comment

Upon arrival to Austria, I was graciously met by my EWS-colleague Nathalie and we headed straight to the vaccination. As a matter of fact, I already have a Russian vaccine, but since it’s not acknowledged by the EU I had to make another one.  The vaccination experience turned out to be surprisingly exciting, performed at the very heart of Vienna in Stephen’s Cathedral during the Holy Mass. A nice introduction to the Austrian Culture. Unfortunately, after that, I headed straight into the quarantine for the incoming 5 days. For that, I got a cosy little apartment in a nice....

Dashing through the snow… and driving through the Lungau

7 February 2022Victoria Steckhan3 min readAdd comment

Although I was able to see a lot of the Lungau since arriving in October, we hadn’t yet had an extensive tour through the region. That was about to change… Over the fields we go… A real treat was awaiting us after lunch last Thursday – a horse-drawn carriage, complete with sleighbells! Max and Anni had organised a tour around Tamsweg for us. As it had snowed heavily the day before, it was the perfect time. We sat in the back as the driver took us around Tamsweg and the surrounding villages. It was a lovely new way to experience the area. We were very lucky with the....

An evening of food and culture

1 February 2022Victoria Steckhan2 min readAdd comment

Hi, Vicky here! I’ve been a volunteer at the European Wilderness Society since October. So much has happened since then, and various daytrips, dinners and winter sport activities have let me properly settle into life in Tamsweg and get closer to everyone in the office. One thing I was really looking forward to was an international dinner, an EWS tradition. With just one volunteer though, it wasn’t really worth doing it in the autumn. When Elena joined us in January, it was finally time to have a multicultural meal together. Cooking up a storm Although we’d already prepared some of the....