A Minnesota Meteorologist Moves to Mitteleuropa

How I Came to Austria

My new Austrian neighborhood

We’ll start by clearing up the title: I’m technically a hydrologist, which is a sub-branch of meteorology. Few know what a hydrologist is, and I thought Minnesota Meteorologist sounded better than Heartland Hydrologist, so there we go.

Specifically, I’m a desert hydrologist. I research agricultural water usage in arid regions. Or I did, until I chucked it all in to start a new life in Austria, where there are no deserts. Just desserts. And cows. And Alps. Here’s a dryland farm I worked on in the old life.

Also, I’m not from Minnesota, but I adopted it as my new homeland while still living in the US. I earned two degrees there and worked extensively, plus it’s much friendlier than the Washington state suburb where I grew up, so I call myself Minnesotan. I will yield to being a Puget Sounder when pressed. Here’s what I left behind in the Siberia of America. I did enjoy Minnesotan life but it was just a bit too cold….

Anyhow, I’ll skip to the end. I married an Austrian woman I met abroad and we have two kids and counting. I didn’t actively choose Austria until I met my wife. In fact, when I was planning my escape from America, I made a whole spreadsheet-and-map wall chart like where they’re tracking elaborate criminal conspiracies and trying to figure out who is connected to what, and I left Austria off that whole thing, even though Germany, Switzerland, and Hungary were on that list. I’ve no idea why, in 2013, I ruled out Austria, but that was a pretty large oversight.

I went elsewhere at first, but ended up in Austria on-and-off starting in 2015, and permanently in 2021. Since I’m also connected with Canada, South Africa, Turkey, Israel, Spain, and Portugal through my family background, not to mention a few places in Latin America and Eastern Europe, I had plenty of options. Perhaps it’s good I stayed away from the controversial countries and came here to Europe’s peaceful middle. You can see how peaceful it really is in the photograph at top, out for a walk here in Bezirk (District of) Vöcklabruck, near our home.

So here I am, with my growing Austrian family, in the Hausruckwald of Upper Austria. That name in German resembles Houseback Forest, which sounds like something that grows on your back, but is in fact a charming region of rolling hills between Salzburg and Linz. In Austrian terms it’s pretty much the middle of the country, logistically and practically, although it sits north of the Alps and the true geographic center.

On this site I’ll be developing my Austrian story more over time, and sharing everyday adventures of value to whomever is interested in Austria, either as a tourist or as an expat. I’ll probably not post pictures of my family or too many private details, for security and legal reasons, but I’ll start with a reveal that I’m in my 40s and enjoy long walks on the beach. No joke, I’ve made it a mission to visit all of the lakes in Austria and hike everywhere, and will certainly be posting lots of beach pictures. Since it’s also my mission to visit every Korean restaurant in the Republic (about three dozen), I may be too roly-poly soon to go for those long walks on the beach, but we’ll see which goal wins out.

Future highlights include tales of my alleged criminal activities here in Austria, what motivated my flight from the US (it’s not politics), maybe some Austrian dialect words of the week courtesy of the Missus, tons of beautiful landscape shots, other places I’ve traveled to, advice for day trips and restaurants all over the region, and of course stories about my past life in Minnesota—debt collector, law school dropout, remaking myself into a scientist, and finally making the move abroad. I plan to post once a week or so and not charge anything, so I hope you’ll enjoy this as it develops! Danke schön for subscribing.

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