Why Being a Tour Guide is Possibly One of the Coolest Jobs Ever!

Hey Guys! I hope everyone's having a great week. 

A week ago I hung out in Munich and worked for a couple days. Aside from working, I had a voice lesson (so great!), hung out with an old friend, and did a little (window-)shopping ;) 

I absolutely had so so so much fun though! That was definitely one of my favorite trips to Munich. First of all the weather was perfect (so ideal for giving tours in the city), and the tours were awesome! And I got to thinking, you know, this is one of the best jobs you could ever have (even if you're shy like me!). Here are some of my favorite reasons.

1. You can do this nearly everywhere in the world. People are always traveling, and if you're really lucky, you could be one of those guides who lives at home but gets to travel with the groups. Yes yes yes!

2. The people! Yes the people. I'm very shy and can be super introverted. But this job has really pushed me out of my comfort zone, in talking for almost three hours to groups of upwards of 60 people! And when you really give your best, it pays off. The people are happy, they're laughing, they wanna get lunch with you, etc. A couple from Siberia once gave me a magnet from their small russian hometown. So awesome!

3. When you give a great tour, people love it. And as result, you leave work with more energy than you started with. Hellooooo!

4. If you live in an interesting place where people come to visit, you can literally get paid to talk for a few hours about your favorite place. It's the most natural thing in the world! And if you want to live somewhere interesting, this is totally an option!

5. If you live in a place where tourists often come, but so far there are not really any tours, then you have a huge advantage on the tourism market in your location and could start your own company. Hello entrepreneurialism! And there are tours for nearly everything. Cheese, Beer, Chocolate, Fishing, Bungee Jumping, Bridges (yes there is a "swinging bridge tour" in Maui, Hawaii), etc.

6. Lots and lots and lots of free time. In my company, a guided tour of Munich lasts about 3 hours a day. Generally each guide would only work one shift per day, and not every day. And so you take 3 hours to work and hang out with awesome people from all over the world, and can totally get ice cream/go to the gym/hang out with the besties/bake that cake for Omi/whatever else afterward!

So I'm going back this weekend for even more! And now I must say, I look forward more and more to my trips to my european hometown. Why? Because I lived there for almost two years. I know where my favorite bars are. I know which restaurant is my favorite. I know where to find the least overcrowded but still cool beer garden. And best of all, I know the best places to find a hot deal on a pair of Manolo's (the best shoes known to man!).

This past weekend was also excellent. The weather was super beautiful. But I caught a cold, yay me! Being sick in gorgeous weather is also possibly one of the cruelest forms of torture ever. It's like one big massive hangover (minus the over 'alcoholized' feeling. but you still feel gross). The sun is too bright, the shade is too cold but the covers on the bed are too hot, you can't smell anything thanks to sinus congestion, you can't taste anything because you can't smell, and because your whole head is quite literally full of sickness crap, you can't think straight (or see very well) to save your life. Thankfully I'm mostly over it though, now that it's cold and raining outside. My life is like a trying-to-be-a-comedy-but-not-that-funny movie. But I still have fun though ;)

talk to you sooooooon (and get a job as a tour guide!)

Much Love

India

Music for the murky weather: Wait by M83

The One Thing That Changed Everything

Okay, I know for a while all I've written about is how wonderful life is here. But there is something that bothers me (here's my blog-rant). Central Europe is so traditional, that it makes it  conservative! I'm looking at you, Southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. You should have seen the way people looked at me in High School (in Munich) when my hair was slightly tinted powder pink. It looked awesome (and I felt awesome)! But I was the shock of the century, with all my non-Bavarian conservative a.f. ways. Then I went a few kilometers south to Italy where everyone loved my hair! Hello fashion capital- they know what's going on! 

Well most people know I had platinum blondest blonde hair for a while- starting in spring 2012 'til a few months ago. That was also a terror for my poor fellow Austrians. When I flew to America, all I got was compliments on my striking hair. Especially because I have such dark features, the contrast was pretty cool. Eventually, my closest friends told me "the rules 101" of living here in the country (which Innsbruck practically is). Be as natural as possible. That means- natural hair, no makeup (except mascara)- like Abercrombie-Uniform-Style. So I have to pretend to be an Abercrombie girl for as long as I live in Austria and am "un-famous." I was also told that once I'm successful and have made a name for myself, then I can do whatever I want. But for now, I have no name and no reputation, which means that people will make up my reputation for me based on what they see.

I'm sorry guys who say "natural beauty is the best." In High School in America, that's more what I was known for. But the amount of makeup I wore in America would be considered at least outlandish here. And "the natural look" is just not my style! I don't feel like I'm being myself or anywhere close to being true to myself when I wear dowdy plain jane clothes and a swipe of mascara. Sure, I'm confident enough to do it, but it's just not me. The India inside is loud, hot pink, full of glitter, glam and passion! I rinsed my hair powder pink because I'm an 18 year old just having fun! Okay, while I don't feel 18, I still very much feel my youth and I'm going to do youth-appropriate things now- I mean how silly will I look with pink hair at 35? See what I mean?

So I dyed my hair back to my natural color- dark blonde- and people's reactions toward me changed entirely. How insane is it, that we live in a society so heavily influenced by the appearance of things? Even though we know that most things are not what they seem!

Sometimes I feel so hemmed in. Like I have to live up to other people's standards. But it's my life! How can I please myself when I'm living to please and gain the approval of others? It just feels ridiculous and I'm really tired of it. I know this all sounds very much like a "first world problem," but I think there is no worse feeling in the world than being made to feel like you aren't okay the way you are. It's not fair to make anyone feel that way, no matter how they dress, speak, where they come from, whom they love, etc. I don't care what your society, religion, family, etc. tells you. Hatred/discrimination/intolerance is just not okay. Period.

All I pray for in the world is tolerance. That is the single message I tried to convey in my tours up in Munich. If we actually lived in a tolerant world, where we accepted one another because everyone has something amazing to bring to the table, we would live in one fantastic place!

Anyway, I landed my butt in "high society" here in Innsbruck. You would be amazed at all the rules of etiquette that exist that most people don't know about. So I am being groomed! For example, when a man and woman walk down the street together, the woman has to walk to the right of the man because a dog would go on his left. Excessive jewelry is vulgar- for a lady it should be simply pearls! And everyone is dying to watch how you act in public- it's like a royal court for the modern age. True, this is the life and world I always imagined for myself. When I was a little kid, I imagined that my family was royalty that had met some misfortune and that's why we lived in the ordinary. So my visions are coming true! But now that they're arriving (one by one), I am happy, but I wish I had known all of these petty "rules" sooner- then it would be easier to glide right through!

Wish me luck guys. I'm gonna have dark blonde hair for a while :P

India

Music today: Sympathique by Pink Martini

Secrets

No, no, no! I'm not revealing my secrets, but I am sharing one of the most important "secrets" in the world!

Last week I wrote that I would be recording a presentation of the book The Secret, and here it is! The link has already been shared, so there's no password necessary. Enjoy! I understand, I said "um" about a million times, I haven't done a public speaking assignment in ages. There's a reason why I'm a blogger ;)

The Secret- The Presentation

What I have been up to this week is contacts, contacts, contacts! Basically going out and meeting people, keeping in touch with special people. It's really a cool job, when you realize you have the chance to change people's lives (if they want it)!

I'm excited to see who I'll meet tonight and the next few days…

Otherwise, I'm getting ready for my trip to Florida (that fresh beaaaaach!) starting on Monday! I'm so nervous, I haven't been to the states in nearly two years!

And then there's my big plan to party hard Saturday in Munich (well not so hard), at my favorite place of course- P1!

Plus the weather here has been just so fine, warm and sunshine all the way through! I haven't seen snow a single time this entire winter! (Except for my view to the mountains)

Besides all of that, I'm singing- as usual.

Be back soon!

Happy Thursday

India :)

Viva Musica: Are You Satisfied? by Marina and the Diamonds