It was well hidden, the little blue house down the street in the country side of Innsbruck. I parked the car in the street and made my way into the backyard, climbing carefully over the rusted fence. I advanced hesitantly, “am I at the right address?’’. The uncut dry grass rubbed against my feet as I made my way towards the house. It was old and resembled a barn: thin layers of paint left, square windows too close to each other and a door on the side that seemed to have been misplaced. It looked odd.
A small group of young people were eating at a picnic table while playing acoustic guitar. “Hi” I said, “I am the couch surfer, I am looking for Stephan”. They looked at me with confusion. The tallest man of the group could not have been more than 25, he gave me warm smile “My name is Matt, Stephan tends to forget about his couch surfers, he is out sailing tonight and he probably will not be back before morning. You may still sleep here, we have a mattress somewhere”. The sun was setting; the air was leaving my exposed skin with chills. Matt grabbed a wooden rocking chair and made space for me at the picnic table. “Where are you from” a girl asked, “Canada” I said. They proceeded with their conversation in German. I could not gather two words they were saying, but I managed to feel comfortable. I glanced around, everything felt artistic. There was a colourful 70’s Volkswagen Van parked further in the field. Everyone wore colorful handmade string bracelets and enjoyed sharing a joint.
They offered me some of their vegetarian leftovers. I began to chat with the girl next to me. “We are all musicians” she said. They started to sing along, the strum of the guitar being of comfort. “We will be filming a music video tomorrow, you should join us” one of them said. I was not sure what to think, but I nodded approvingly.
As the night went along, I continued to rock myself on the delicate chair and looked up. Being so far from the city, the stars covered every inch of the sky and reminded me of the grandness of the universe. Simply put, I felt like one them that night, a true hippie. A citizen of the earth, a simple person amazed by the delicate things life has to offer.
