I stumbled accross This Post from @nainaztengra talking about India which lead me to the Cross Culture Question - Contest started by @abundance.tribe
This is my entry for this topic...
First things first, some of you might don't even now where my huge and famous country is located </ sarcasm>
Let me give you a hint:
Austria has a long history. Beeing a big empire until the first world war (1914-1918) going through the second world war (1939-1945) as a part of the German Reich ending as a rather small but independend country as it is now.
Often confused with Australia there are many many stereotypes about my country. Some of them became sort of a daily joke.
Lets take a look at the most popular ones:
"people in countries like Austria live in the forest" - Donald Trump
Yeah, good old Donald Trump won't let us down when it comes to weird statements...
Only a few days ago, there was some interview regarding the current fires in California.
Trump says people in countries like Austria "live in the forest" and have "forest cities." He says in these areas they "have more explosive trees" than California, but don't have the same kind of fire problems.
Well, no, we do not live in the forest. And we are also not aware of any exploding trees.
However ... the memes went viral:
The interview can be found here
Ah yes, Austria, kangoroos right?
Every Austrian knows the struggle. Sometimes it is even hard to tell if others are joking or serious. But just to make it clear:
Nothing more to explain here I hope :D
But the Schnitzels are a thing?!
Yes! And that's a fact!
Every Austrian loves his Schnitzel. Except vegetarians/vegans I guess...
So, what is this Schnitzel?
Schnitzel is probably the most famous food from Austria. It is simply a thin slice of meat (mostly pork or chicken) breaded before frying in oil. Allthough the original Wiener Schnitzel (Viennese Schnitzel) is made of calf meat.
You usually get it served with french fries or potato salad.
A golden pice from heaven! Source
Dirndl and Lederhosen
Allthough it is considered as traditional clothing and almost no one wears them on a daily basis in more rural areas the Dirndl and Lederhosen (leather trousers) is a bit more common.
However, tourists see them, tourists remember them. And that's how they look like, in case you have no idea what I am talking about:
Where is your emperor?
Yeah "good" old times...
As explained at the beginning, Austria was quite huge, as you can see:
Source
But war (in this case especially the first world war) changes everything.
Nevertheless Austrians still somehow stick to these old times. We have still a tight bond to the old masters of classical music (Mozart, Schubert, Strauss ... ) and we also love our old palaces.
One of the most famous ones is Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna:
This are probably the most common stereotypes - of which some are actually facts - of my country. I hope you have learned something new and if nothing else will keep in your mind, plese remember the difference between Austria and Australia ;)