George Sabonadiere in Austria

Last week George told us about his 2019 Rotary Exchange visit to Vienna. He found it was initially a bit of a culture shock, as he had jet lag, only  very basic German language and it was winter. However there was a definite upside as the Rotary host family owned the biggest brewery in the country and were comfortably well off.  He was determined to pick up the language as much as possible and attended school, as an 18 year old in a class of 15-16 year olds. Not surprisingly universal, when the teacher was out of the room, the class went crazy. The host family also helped him with the German language.  The 2nd family were also Rotarians. He was interested that there were no women at Rotary and at the next meeting, women were separate. Subsequently he joined 16+ Rotary for a bus trip to Paris, skiing in the Alps, 6 countries over an 18 day trip. George feels his experiences have made him much more resilient. Sometime he would like to visit Austria again as, it has been a life changing experience, for which he is most grateful for the amazing opportunity.