Arriving in Austria a week before the crowd, I was hoping that I would have first dibs on finding a job and a place to live. Mayrhofen is a popular winter destination for people who want to enjoy the snow as much as the nightlife.
 
I quickly found out that the town is nearly a ghost town until the first weekend of December. None of the shops, hotels, restaurants or bars are even open, which made finding a job before the rush quite difficult. The Brits all pile in on the same weekend and everyone starts scrambling to find work all at once.

How am I going to stand out amongst everyone else to secure myself an income for the season? Well to start off I’m not British, which is a one-up for my little Canadian self. Come December to April, the town becomes 70 per cent British and only 30 percent locals. So being one of the few North Americans here, I’m hoping it works to my advantage. Also having worked in a hostel bar in Cusco, Peru for a month looked good on my resume—not only do I have bartending experience, but I also have experience working in a country where I don’t speak the native language.

With a few things working in my favour, I’m hopeful to find work without a problem—and with most jobs here, comes accommodation. So it’s a waiting game for now, spending my days playing darts and pool at the hostel, looking for ways to touch up my CV for Saturday morning, when I’m going to head out with my backpack on, full of thin pieces of paper that will make or break my plans of living in Mayrhofen for the season.

I’m in the same boat as everyone else, wishing so badly to already be on-shore getting a head start. But for now, I have to wait until the gun goes off to start the race of securing myself a life in Austria.