2024-01-07 09:03:51
“When you find what works for you, then you should stick with it – and not let go of it in favor of your comfort zone, even if it’s not easy,” answers Irene van der Woude when asked what her life has taught her in recent years . The native of Dölsach has ventured out of her comfort zone and out into the wide world several times since graduating from high school – but never without forgetting East Tyrol as her place of well-being.
“After graduating from HLW in Lienz, I just wanted to leave,” she smiles. The choice was the ‘other side of the world’, namely either Australia or New Zealand. Eventually Irene decided to work as an au pair with a family in Brisbane and later near Melbourne. A time that had a huge impact on her: “Being on my own has definitely made me more independent, you have to make your own decisions – for me that means listening to my gut feeling.”
Irene doesn’t just listen to her gut feeling in a figurative sense, she discovered the topic of nutrition through the mother of her Australian host family: “I noticed that it’s good for me if I eat more of some things and less of others.” The positive effects of a conscious diet on quality of life have led Irene to deepen her interest by studying.
She enrolled in the “Global Nutrition and Health” course in Copenhagen, from where she chatted with Dolomitenstadt.at via Skype in her last homesick interview seven years ago. The young East Tyrolean lived in the Danish capital for almost four years: “I really liked it there, studying was exciting and there was always something going on. “It’s only in winter that you need a good social network and vitamin D drops,” she recommends.
In her free time, Irene loves to be outdoors – in the East Tyrolean mountains or the rolling hills around Graz.
Starting from scratch and building up a circle of friends far from home takes effort, says Irene, “but it’s also really important to get involved in new and unknown things and to approach people. Once the first step has been taken, everything becomes much easier anyway.” Openness and curiosity are definitely an advantage when you venture out into the big wide world alone: “But even when you meet people you are currently seeing If I can’t identify myself at all, it’s always interesting to talk to them.”
This changes your perspective on your own life: “It’s incredibly exciting what backgrounds people have. This gives you an insight into what is going on in other corners of the world and what challenges these people are struggling with – whether private, family, political or religious.” You often move too much in your own bubble, “it helps when you take a step back and put things in perspective. Suddenly you feel much more grateful because you realize how well we are actually doing, even if everything doesn’t always go smoothly.”
During her course of study, Irene also met her boyfriend, with whom she converted a van into a camper following completing her studies. “The plan was to travel with the camper across Europe and maybe even further. We wanted to leave Copenhagen behind us first,” she explains. However, the pandemic put a damper on both of their plans. “We started in the summer of 2020 and traveled to some European countries, but towards late autumn crossing borders became more difficult once more and we decided to stay in East Tyrol for a while.”
The timing of the planned European trip with the camper fell during the pandemic, which is why Irene and her boyfriend ended up stranded in East Tyrol rather unplanned.
“The planned shorter stay ended up being more than two years,” Irene looks back with a smile. “I like being in East Tyrol, the nature is charged in a special way and as natural as it should be,” she enthuses. Her boyfriend and she were working in their parents’ business during this time, “but at some point we decided that we would prefer to live in a larger city in our current phase of life,” explains Irene.
I like being in East Tyrol, the nature is charged in a special way and as natural as it should actually be.
Irene van der Woude
The choice fell on Graz a good three months ago and from there Irene laughs over the zoom screen to Tyrol during an interview with Dolomitenstadt.at. “Graz is a really pleasant city, you can reach everything by bike, just like I’m used to in Copenhagen. There’s also a lot on offer culturally, there are cool concerts, exhibitions, workshops, etc. It’s also very centrally located and it’s not a trip around the world to East Tyrol.” Despite the urban character, nature is within reach: “A little bit outside the city, you’re the same in the middle of the gentle hilly landscape, these are not the wild East Tyrolean mountains, but they are also charming.”
In addition to spending time in nature, Irene enjoys making pottery, growing vegetables and herbs and has also attended several medicinal herb courses: “I think it’s really nice when you can help yourself and other people with knowledge regarding medicinal herbs.” She also meets She enjoys meeting new and familiar people and exploring her new home from all angles.
“I’m also still looking for a job,” she explains. Her goal is to work independently as a nutritionist. The intuitive nutritional advice in particular piqued her interest: “It’s regarding a holistic change in life, away from diet thinking. From my point of view, that makes the most sense, following all, changing your eating habits is only possible if it seems feasible for you personally in the long term.” She still has to pass the final exam to complete her additional training, but this should be completed soon.
Irene describes her life as a puzzle with many different colorful mosaic pieces, “which will hopefully at some point come together to form a whole picture”. Her dream is to use her many different hobbies, interests and talents so that “I can inspire others and have a positive influence on people, just as those around me support and inspire me,” she says.
Using your interests and talents and passing on knowledge to inspire others and have a positive influence – that’s what Irene wants for the future.
Irene cannot currently say whether this will ultimately be the case in Graz, in East Tyrol or in another beautiful part of the world: “Going abroad once more would be an option, but then probably somewhere in Europe, where the geographical “The distance to friends and family is manageable and it’s not a two-day trip,” she smiles. Returning to East Tyrol would have to fit in with her professional ideas. “I have the feeling that many things are developing in a positive direction. There are always young people coming back to East Tyrol who bring new ideas with them, maybe I’ll be one of them at some point,” she laughs.
She tries not to have too many expectations and plans, “because it can drag you down if it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined,” Irene speaks from experience. “On social media you mainly see the highlights, which are usually staged. It is rarely shown that part of life is falling on your face and somehow getting back up once more.” It’s important to stay true to yourself and have the confidence “that you’ll find what’s good for you and then stick with it.”
Between 2014 and 2016, the artist Linda Steiner and the Dolomitenstadt editorial team asked more than a hundred students with East Tyrolean roots regarding their future plans and dreams. We called the interview series “Homesickness.” Years later, we invite the interviewees from back then to an interview once more in the second season of Heimweh 2.0. What has happened since then in this particularly exciting phase of life?
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