My best year at Notre Dame was a year abroad in Innsbruck, Austria. I learned more in those 10 months that impacted my life than my three year undergrad and two years MBA at Notre Dame. It wasn't book learning. It was learning how to grow up, to be independent and how to rely on yourself. How to hitchhike from Amsterdam to Innsbruck with 75 cents in your pocket. How to deal with auto mechanics across Europe to repair your VW. How to survive Christmas abroad by organizing a ski hostel in the Austrian Alps and inviting members from all Notre Dame clubs to come and spend the holiday together. How to make locals your friends and integrate within a culture. How to take off on a bike and ride to Le Havre, France, 800 miles away. Innsbruck, surrounded with majestic mountains and wonderful people was a Shangrila for those that took a risk and committed early to spend a year there. Too bad you current students will miss this opportunity of a lifetime.
Auf Wiedersehen Innsbruck.
Peter Burke
alumnus
Innsbruck ‘70
Jan. 28
