Once upon a time, in a land far, far away from California, a little girl named Julia was born. She grew up in the Austrian Alps and loved it with her whole heart. Well “grew up” is a bit of an exaggeration, as she is no taller than 160 cm (5’2) and still has some childish ideas in her mind. Her life was a quite normal, yet happy one. She lived in a house with her sister, mum and dad, went to school and got good grades. Until she decided to do something out of the ordinary and went to England on a term abroad when she was 16. After that her life was changed: She knew she wanted to get herself out there, go abroad and have many, many adventures. But there was still school to finish, so she took on many weekend adventures, filled her summer up with traveling and decided to use the time she had at home as creatively as she could. Some of her favourite trips include a spontaneous journey to Slovenia, roadtriping through Austria with her cousin and hiking up the many mountains in her area. When the end of school came closer and closer, Julia realised that she didn’t want to go to university straight away and so instead decided on a gap year.
Julia is a person that loves to love. She has a passion for so many things, that it sometimes gets hard to decide what she actually wants to do. Here are some of the things she loves. A lot.
1. THE MOUNTAINS
The mountains have always been a big part of her life, mainly because that’s just where she grew up. But especially upon recent years, Julia has really developed a passion for the mountains. She loves to hike, she loves to ski, she loves to go up there with her mountain bike. And what she loves most about it all: That it all starts right at her front door.
2. TRAVELING
Even though she loves where she lives, she also loves nothing more than getting away and seeing new things (quite a weird combination, huh?). Her favourite places she has travelled to so far include Ireland, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy, but her list is never-ending.
3. MUSIC
Music has always been a big part of her life. She started playing the flute when she was 7 and has continued her musical journey until today. She also plays the ukulele, piano and guitar, but her favourite instrument to play is the trumpet. She is in her local village brass groups and loves nothing more than going to practice every Friday. But she also loves listening to music, going to concerts and singing in choir!
4. HER FRIENDS
Especially over the last years, Julia has learned to appreciate her friends a lot. They listen to her whenever she has something on her mind, they support her through everything and join in on the biggest (and maybe dumbest) adventures. They laugh together and just overall make her life a little brighter.
5. BOOKS AND ART
Everything that wakes the creative brain up is exciting for Julia. She loves to do arts and crafts. She loves to paint and build things just with her hands. But she also loves to play with words. She likes to write her own stories and throughout her life has already written multiple books. She also loves to read, her favourite is an Austrian book called “Brass-music-pop”, which is all about living in a small village in the mountains (just as her life has been so far!)
Here are some more things you also need to know about Julia:
- She has a pet tortoise named Yoshi. Yes. She has named the only pet she’s ever owned after a Mario Kart character.
- She has a weakness for Austrian traditions. Try quizzing her about the odd things about the place she comes from – you might be able to learn something new!
- She can not only touch her nose with her tongue but also turn her tongue upside down (only to the right side though).
- Her favourite meal to cook is vegan curry… yum!
- Her favourite animals are sheep and goats, she can’t wait to have her own one day!
- The thing she likes doing the least is laundry… yikes.
- Her old film camera is her trusty companion everywhere.
- Cinnamon rolls are her speciality.
Well, I’m just the unnamed teller of this story and obviously can’t speak for Julia herself, but she is STOKED to be working at camp this summer. She can’t wait to go swimming in the lake, share secrets when the lights have gone out and play all of the awesome games. It will be her first time at camp, so she is so excited to discover the wonders of camp together with you and all of the other campers.
This is just the start of a story that will get longer and longer as the years go by and Julia is so excited for you to be a part of it! I might not be able to say “she lived happily ever after”, but I’m able to say, she has lived happily all her life so far, and that is already so much more than one could ask for. To an amazing summer!
