Everyone has seen that person: camera strapped around his neck, sensible tennis shoes, and fanny-pack in tow. This is the tourist, which we as travelers, strive not to be. We all want to do “not-touristy” things and see those “underground” sites that no one knows about. I’ll admit, I’ve had this attitude for a long time and I’ve never thought twice about it. It wasn’t until Gabi Szigethy, professor at McDaniel Europe and our tour guide around Vienna, made us think about the definition of “authenticity” and what it really takes to understand life in another country.
Me being a tourist in Vienna and eating an apple strudel.
Before we headed out of our hostel in Vienna for a tour of the city, we all sat around and discussed the readings we had done, while professor Gabi gave us her own insight. We talked about the meaning of travel and what we wanted to get out of our time in the city. Most of us claimed that we wanted to see the “real” Vienna and avoid the tourist traps where we would run into our fellow U.S. travelers with “American” stamped on their foreheads.
A pedestrian street in downtown Vienna.
Professor Gabi, who has done quite a bit of traveling herself, made us think about embracing our inner tourist and accepting everything as an authentic experience, even if it is going to the most well-known café in the city. We were only students, spending two days in a country – there was no way to understand the city like a local. She encouraged us to take the fact that we are tourists and use it to learn and to observe life in another country. She said that every experience is authentic to ourselves and to the trip that we are on. We need to pay attention to these experiences in order to attempt to understand the people of that country.
And it was with those words that I went about the rest of my trip; stopping to take a picture of the Viennese streets and walking around without worrying about my obvious appearance as an American tourist. It was relieving and I was able to take in more of the scenery and really immerse myself into the experience.
TravelWritingAcrossEurope 