In the 1970s, my father was instrumental in creating the Iowa Regents’ Program in Austria. Students from the University of Iowa, Iowa State, and the University of Northern Iowa would travel to Austria for the summer and earn 10 hours of credit. The program started in Millstatt, which became too touristy and expensive, so by the time I was in college, the program had moved to St. Radegund – a little mountain town near Graz.
This would be the first time I had spent any length of time away from my parents and I remember the conversation we had the night before I left. I was trying to decide what to wear, and had settled on my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. My father identifies with Mickey Mouse because they are the same age, and had given me a white Mickey Mouse sweatshirt of a vintage Mickey on the front and the same figure from the back on the back of the sweatshirt. I wanted to pair this with a pair of baggy jersey pants that were so in in 1986. But my Dad had other ideas.
In December 1985, there was a terrorist attack at the Vienna airport. My father thought that Mickey Mouse would symbolize American arrogance. I maintained that Mickey Mouse was recognized all over the world as a symbol of good will. And to prove my point, there are pictures of me wearing my Mickey Mouse sweatshirt while waving goodbye to Iowa City. while hanging out in various airports, and grinning for the camera in St. Radegund.
The summer of 1986 changed my life in so many ways. I traveled overseas for the first time in my life. I fell in love with the country of Austria, and vowed one day to live there. I learned the importance of a foreign language. I learned more about my father’s passion for Austrian poetic realism and his chosen specialty author, Peter Rosegger. And I gained self-confidence by winning first prize in my class at the University of Vienna (my Miss America moment).
Now, nearly 33 years later, I live in Austria. I teach English as a foreign language to Austrian high school students. I know more about Peter Rosegger than most Austrians. And the teacher who gave me my self-confidence back in 1986? He’s now my boyfriend.
This year, for my birthday, DoD gave me a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I wore it this weekend in St. Radegund, 33 years after my first visit, to commemorate the fact that none of this would be possible, if my father hadn’t established the Iowa Regents’ Program in Austria.
Ganz liebe Grüße aus St. Radgund, und danke von ganzem Herzen!
KYDU and Other Lessons My Father Taught Me 