Staying in a youth hostal is sometimes the most wonderful way of travelling, mostly because of the people you meet. Schwedenhaus (The Swedish House!) in Innsbruck is of the nicer kind. Right on the river Inn, at the foot of the mountains. Wonderful. I'm stuffed in to a room with one Italian guy and one German dude. The Italian speaks very little English. With a mix of Italian/Spanish/English I am able to establish that he's on his way back to Italy from a little Alp vacation. The German speaks very little English. Slightly easier for him to get around in German-speaking Austria though...I manage to establish that he's on his way to hitch-hike back to Dresden, in time for the spring semester. The Italian and the German decide to initiate a conversation. They have no common language, except for a few gruntings in English, and the always-working sign language. "Berlusconi" the German tries. The Italian does the thumb up and smiles. Probably not so much out of admiration for this Italian super-boss, but more out of excitement of a common word. It's rather painful to observe the "conversation", but yet very cute. I cannot feel sorry for them, as they seem to enjoy it very much. This is certainly "overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers" at grassroot level...
Innsbruck, Austria, January 2003
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