Le Jour Dix-Huit (Day 18)

Ah, dark room, comfy bed, and solid sleep! Thank you, Jesus. Kelly and I took our time getting ready this morning, had Jesus time, shared prayer requests, dressed in business casual, and were the first ones to be down at breakfast (well, excluding Brady and the Macs because we all know how they are). We were so proud of ourselves. Okay, these Austrian people really know how to eat; this breakfast was ridiculous! Cereals, meats, cheeses, every kind of bread imaginable, eggs, juices, fruit, and of course the infamous weirdo European preference of cooked tomatoes and beans (I still don’t get it, but whatever!) I had a precious waitress named Jeryn (pronounced SHERENE), and our friendship sparked very fast! We’re on a first name basis, and she is making me a special order of oatmeal, strawberries, and fresh-squeezed orange juice tomorrow morning! She’s so cute!

Today we went to Swarovski, a internationally famous crystal-making company whose headquarters and founding is here in Innsbruck, Austria! Crystals were EVERYWHERE: in the light fixtures, on the walls, on gloves, jewelry, and anything that one can put a crystal on, it was on, including this wedding dress!

Crystal wedding dress? Yes please.

Dear Ashley’s seemingly way too far off wedding, I would like to put in a request for Swarovski to be somewhat present on my dream gown. I would feel like an absolute princess and would dazzle and sparkle all the way down the isle if this happens. Thanks,

Me.

I have not been disappointed with a company visit yet, and they almost seem to get better as I’m learning so much about international business, how a company should be run from a managerial standpoint, and how communications skills play into each business and how they foster relationships and reach all kinds of people (for the Comm major in me of course). I wonder what everyone else is thinking…

Anyways, I have been the MOST impressed by Swarovski, their mission statement, the employee satisfaction and commitment, and overall how the company is operated and run. It is so incredibly impressive and earned a great deal of respect from me today; I would KILL to work for this company to do PR, tourism, or any kind of communication or relationship building/maintaining for the company. They have a company in London ;) ….Some of you may think I’m kidding. I’m TOTALLY NOT!! Especially after talking to the cutest, sweetest, most joyful woman I’ve yet to meet here in Europe. She was our tour guide, and her name was Silvia Aschaber, and I LOVED HER!! After she gave us a tour, I walked up and asked her to the side how she came to work for the company and she proceeded to tell me her story and her heart behind it, inspiring me in new ways I’ve never thought about or dreamed of before. She talked to me and looked at me in the eyes as she spoke for 10 minutes (actually causing us to interfere with the next group of students touring with her and causing me to walk into my part of the lecture from her colleague late, and I’m sure I received a lot of eye-rolling from my peers, but we were having such a great conversation that we were both so wrapped up in! Oopsies, sorry not sorry.

Her story: She grew up in Germany and studied many languages, and somehow ended up in the hotel management business in Florida for Walt Disney World for several years, resulting in a broadened view on how to work with all kinds of people. She knows English, German, French, and Italian. Her work visa was up in the U.S. so randomly knowing someone who worked for Swarovski, she applied for the open position in Austria in the tourism and PR. Sister literally has my dream job: she has a constant, changing environment, she meets SO many new people on a daily basis, she gets to build and maintain relationships for the company, she works with all kinds of famous people, and she wakes up every morning and cannot wait to come to work to see who she gets to meet or talk to that day, leaving a lasting impression on them. She described to me that everything has worked out so perfectly and that she is humbled by it. She said that she is filled with joy, and that joy comes from a spirit that lives in her heart and that she does everything with a purpose and with her whole heart. She meets people, does her job, and lives life with her HEART (as she pointed to it and rested her hand on the left side of her chest). I was moved by her passion, and I long to make the difference in others lives that she is making, leaving everyone she meets feeling special and loved and inspired.

At Swarovski, their mission statement is “To add sparkles to everyone’s daily lives, accessing all different kinds of people and making them feel special. It’s about the experience of the product, and they pride themselves on working with different people all around the world.” They even support Make-A-Wish and have a Water School in India for the less fortunate, allowing them to be a part of the sparkle too! They hire people of every ethnicity, language, and culture, and it makes it a huge attraction for EVERYONE; it’s not exclusive.

I thanked her for talking to me, and we grabbed hands. I briefly got to tell her my name, haha, and she exclaimed, “Ashley!! Ah, like Laura Ashley! I love it!” What a precious woman. I hope I run into her again in the future. If I didn’t learn anything else about Swarovski today, that one conversation I had with Silvia made a huge impact in my life, and I will never forget her or the words and encouragement she gave me.

Ya’ll. One of the best things about this trip has been meeting the people I have met, and those conversations and interactions have been the most memorable out of even anything I have seen or done.

Later today we went and visited a berry farm up in the middle of the beautiful greenery blanketed on a rolling hill, overlooking the town of Innsbruck and all its little orange roofs (my house will have an orange roof I’ve decided), yet still triumphed by the majestic mountains still surrounding it. Dear produce family, you would have appreciated all the fruits they grow and harvest on a daily basis. Whew, this looks like hard work! Afterward, they make their own jam, and they let us try some; it was incredible!!

When we got back, Kelly and I were starving, and after knowing we have a HUGE day tomorrow, we decided to do our own thing, go grab dinner somewhere, and go back to the hotel EARLY and go to bed. No, not lame. Smart. First, we went to this sandwich place that apparently closes at 6:30 (who closes at 6:30?). Well, it was 5:30, they were already all out of food, and no one spoke English. We said, “Danke!” And bounced. Next, we went across the street to some sketch butchery place that looked cute and good on the outside, but oh my gosh; I’m literally laughing out loud while typing this right now because I don’t even know how to put it in words. There were like weird meat (maybe it was cheese?) looking things all dangling from the ceiling, it smelled…strange, and there was all this food like lying out. I began speaking to the man in English, and the poor guy gave me the eyebrows, meaning, girlfriend, do I LOOK like I speak English to you? Okay, he was Italian. But spoke German. And all he could say in English was: NO, JUST PIZZA AND LAZAGNA! I attempted to say, “Parlez-vous Francais?” That was a disaster. CLEARLY he couldn’t speak French. HAHA!! All these languages were flying around but we couldn’t find a common one! Kelly and I were dying laughing. We whipped out our German card of common phrases and completely butchered the words to where he couldn’t even make out what we were saying. It was the funniest moment of my life. Now I know how they felt at the tower of babble. He ended up getting frustrated at himself for not being able to speak English (we were all laughing this whole time because we LEGITIMATELY didn’t know how to communicate), and he pulled out a paper plate and forks and gave us samples of everything to try. He gave us weirdo, slimy, cold lasanga and anchovie pizza. We were utterly grossed out and couldn’t hold back laughter and confusion on what to do, so we just took the plate of food, said “Danke!” and straight walked out! Oh my word. Dramatic. Okay so THEN we sprinted across the street to this other restaurant place, and as soon as we entered, the host was moving his mouth and looking our way, but all I heard was NIDKFJLSKNNVISIKJSNTNN. Kelly and I looked at each other and said, “UHHHH…” and he said, oh, you speak English. Right this way! Dear Austria, please just give us a menu in English and serve us something that won’t cause our stomachs to hate us for the next week. Thanks

Haha, long, dramatic story short, we ordered turkey and gravey, fries, green beans, mixed veggies, tomato soup, and yummy pretzel bread and split it all. It was so good but so much that we couldn’t finish it all! We watched our videos from earlier today and laughed about this evening’s encounters all of dinner. Ah, finally. Satisfied. Back to the hotel to chill, laugh, rest, and call it a night before our busy day tomorrow!

Famous quote from Drew this evening after he knocked on our door: “Okay, well I’m just chilling in my room, boiling water then cooling it down with ice because I bought sparkling water instead of still. Also, come get me if you would like to have a FOMO party with me, come to my room!” On that note, why do Europeans like sparking water? So strange; I don’t understand! Also, Kelly and I have had many heart to hearts lately. We came to the conclusion that despite who isn’t excited for any of our life endeavors and feeling like lots of people just…don’t really care, we will just be excited for ourselves. That’s all we need. That’s enough!