Altoona mayor Matt Pacifico (right describes a piece of Altoona Curve memorabilia to Pirmin Rauscher, 18, of St. Polten, Austria, Altoona’s sister city, during a visit to city hall on Wednesday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Pirmin Rauscher recently had a moment – a two-week long moment.

Rauscher, 18, who lives in a village near Altoona’s sister city of St. Polten, Austria, left Altoona on Sunday after wrapping up a visit that began with Altoona Mayor Matt Pacifico and his legislative aide Bonnie Delozier picking him up at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 18.

Rauscher earned the trip by winning a contest among St. Polten students that called for explaining his take on the future – which in his case, reflects the appeal of a Viktor Frankl quote he saw once on a bridge and contemplates daily: “The meaning of life is to give life meaning,” which for him means appreciating the journey as he works toward his goal of influencing others “in a positive way” – even as he lives “in the moment,” Rauscher said last week at Pacifico’s office in City Hall.

At the interview, Rauscher envisioned himself back home in St. Polten today, lying in bed, contemplating the time he spent in the U.S.: an experience that was “stunning” in the number of things he saw, in the overwhelming friendliness he encountered, especially among temporary classmates at Altoona Area High School, and in his relationship with Pacifico and Delozier – all of them memories that will be tempered with sadness because it will be over, he said.

“(But) we’d love to get him back to study as an exchange student (at Penn State Altoona),” Delozier said.

“Oh yeah,” Rauscher said, when asked if he’d like that, too.

“We haven’t checked with his parents about that (though),” Pacifico said.

“I have new parents right now,” the youngster replied.

Rauscher’s visit is the first Altoona-St. Polten exchange since 2018, when 28 students and three adults from Austria visited Altoona, Pacifico said.

There were plans for a visit from St. Polten for the 20th anniversary of the sister-city relationship in 2020, but the pandemic shutdowns nixed it, Pacifico said.

To make up for that, The Altoona Sister City Committee is looking at Rauscher’s visit as a test run for a visit next year from 25 Austrian students and 10 to 15 adults for the 25th anniversary, Pacifico said.

It has long been Rauscher’s ambition to come to the U.S. – the world economic powerhouse, the subject of so much information on social media, the place where so many movies are made, the land of freedom, of big companies like Amazon and Google, of big brands that dominate in Europe and also the place where his countryman and hero Arnold Schwarzenegger immigrated, Rauscher said.

“A lot of cool stuff happens here,” he stated.

He wanted to see how the people who made it all happen live, he added.

While here, he lived with the Mitchell family: Brett and Sandra and their children, Luke and Addison.

He got to play American touch football with kids at the high school intramural field, scoring a touchdown and getting mobbed afterward.

“It was such a warm feeling,” he said.

He got to eat at Five Guys, where he had his first milkshake; got to visit Sheetz; got to watch NFL football at Champs, where he had a steak salad with french fries and where he was impressed with free soda refills; he visited University Park, the Mishler, Tom and Joes, the railroad museum, the Horseshoe Curve, Baker Mansion, Dino’s pizza and Harrisburg, where he talked with State Sen. Judy Ward and State Rep. Lou Schmidt and was introduced on the Senate floor by Ward; got a tour of Beaver Stadium; saw Chocolate World in Hershey; and ate at the Meadows, which he prefers to the Creamery in State College.

The students at school – 30 or 40 of them – treated him “like they know me about two years,” instead of less than two weeks, he said. “How kind, how lovely they are to me,” he said.

A fellow user of exercise machines at Gorilla House asked whether they could work together, sharing the machines, and as they went through a circuit, and hearing Rauscher’s accent, struck up a conversation – talking about his own travels in Europe and the western U.S. and averring that he found Altoona to be the friendliest town he’d ever experienced.

The lawmakers treated him with friendly informality, patiently explaining legislative mechanics, in contrast to the highly formal manner of politicians in his home country, Rauscher said.

At the Mishler, Blair County Arts Foundation Executive Director Kate Shaffer impressed him with how she “gives her heart to the theater,” while the building itself reminded him of home, with its age and decorative opulence.

As much as anything, though, he trained his focus on the normal trappings of life here – “the cars, the street signs, Route 99,” he said.

“He’s been delightful,” Delozier said.

“He’s like my little bro,” Pacifico said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.