When 2022–24 USTA Haleigh Drew arrived in Austria, she made an assumption that many people make: that Austria is a smaller version of Germany. Once in the country to teach English, Haleigh also set out to explore the country, along the way learning not just how different Austria was compared to Germany, but also how different Austria's provinces could be from each other.

Truthfully, before working as a US teaching assistant (USTA), I knew very little about Austria.

I did have basic information such as where it was located on the European continent, the impact of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, and, of course, Wiener Schnitzel and its prevalence across the country. However, I still associated Austria closely with Germany. I saw the cultures as practically indivisible, and the actual overlap was undeniable: the same language, similar food, and a shared history. Austria is a small country—roughly equivalent in size to the US state of Maine—and being from a country as big as the United States, I struggled to comprehend how a country so little could be so distinct from its neighbors. I also felt a need to see as much of the country as I possibly could and discovered along the way that I could not have been more wrong about my initial assumptions towards Austria.

The idea to visit the capital city of each Austrian Bundesland seemed doable considering that Austria has some of the best public transit in Europe. It was also a journey I began without fully realizing it. My first introduction to Austria happened in St. Pölten, the capital of Lower Austria, where I was welcomed to the Fulbright Austria community among my 2022–23 cohort of USTAs. Culture shock does not even begin to cover all the lifestyle differences I noticed in my one-week stay for orientation. St. Pölten is a deeply historical town, with areas of the city dating back to the Roman empire. It is also wildly quiet compared to any US capital city—nearly all shops were closed by 18:00 and finding a restaurant open past 20:00 proved to be a challenge. In the United States, there is a consumer culture that dominates most aspects of life and, as Americans, we are used to shops being “OPEN 24/7”. In St. Pölten, I was shocked but also somewhat charmed by this slower pace of life compared to the one I had grown up with, even if it meant there was nowhere to grab a late-night snack.

In the winter of 2022, I traveled to Salzburg upon the recommendation of a colleague. She had raved about their Weihnachtsmärkte and encouraged me to visit if I ever had the chance. Salzburg was like a village plucked from the pages of a fairytale, a quaint city nestled between snow-covered mountains with grandiose castles and the Salzach river running right through the heart of it. It was also the first time I encountered a dialect of German so different than what I had been used to, I was visibly embarrassed when I struggled to understand shopkeepers while wandering from stand to stand at each Christmas market. There was certainly a learning curve when I settled in Graz, and I recognized that Hochdeutsch was not the same as Steierisch, the local dialect in Styria, but being in a somewhat urban area, I had managed to comprehend the smattering of new vocabulary words (Sackerl, Erdapfel, and—every USTA’s favorite—Oachkatzlschwoaf). In Salzburg, the dialect was stronger and deeper, a bit more guttural, with its own inflection and pronunciation that I could not always comprehend. It was clear that I was a tourist as I ordered mugs of hot chocolate and admired intricate handmade souvenirs. I was fascinated by how this seemingly homogenous country still developed such distinct dialects across the borders of its Bundesländer. The Austrian Alps were formerly such an intense barrier that communities developed their own variations of German. These dialects have persisted over time and give each province its own vibrant character.

I visited Linz in Upper Austria to attend a soccer game for the Austrian women’s national team. Linz vaguely reminded me of the United States, partially due to the giant mall that you inevitably run into while admiring the historical architecture and facades of traditionally Austrian-style buildings on the Hauptplatz. I also think the night itself felt rather American as my friends and I made our way to Raiffeisen Arena, following the crowd of eager Austrians dressed in red and white to support their team. To watch the Austrian crowd engage in all the fanfare, and to cheer with them, solidified my feeling that Austria had become a second home for me. Although the women’s team ultimately lost, immer wieder Österreich!

Burgenland and its capital, Eisenstadt, are written off by many as the peaceful countryside with little to do. It only took me a few hours to realize that this comparison was quite unfair. When I visited Eisenstadt in the fall of 2023, I was surprised to learn about its history with the countries that border it and other countries further away. Being the Bundesland that is farthest east, there are many citizens with ties to neighboring countries Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia. I noticed that while everyone could speak German, many had learned it alongside another language. It was also fascinating to discover how a large influx of Croatian refugees in the 15th century had left a lasting linguistic mark on the province. Burgenland-Croatian is recognized as a minority language and still spoken by roughly 20,000 people. This also resulted in a large variety of food, and I will never forget trying halušky for the first time at a Slovakian restaurant—delicious!