Let me start by saying I was not the person who was being discriminated against. I have naturally blonde hair, blue eyes and ~painfully~ pale skin. The only way I get discriminated against is for my gender, but that’s another discussion. (Read: argument.)

I was studying abroad in Vienna, Austria, and I was put in a situation I have only read about on Facebook or Twitter, but have never experienced firsthand—my friend wasn’t let into a club because of the shade his skin is.

Vienna is a beautiful and amazing city and is decently diverse, but I expected that much. Being in such a central location I wasn’t surprised by volume of different ethnicities seen. What I didn’t expect was the general animosity towards Muslims and Arabs. To be fair not all Austrians acted like this, but enough.

The actual incident happened at a music festival. (isn’t everyone supposed to be high, friendly and not care about sh*t at festivals??) We were outside walking around to different DJs when a girl promoting her club came around offering wristbands for free drinks.

Free drinks?? Hell yeah.

We went to the club and I smiled at the bouncer and walked right in, three of my friends behind me. We stopped when we realized the two guys we were with (let’s call them John and Mike) being stopped and pushed back by the bouncer.

Maybe it was a girl to guy ratio thing like at frat houses?

I walked back to the bouncer to tell him the guys were with us and he shrugged and waved me off, dismissing me. I repeated myself and asked what the problem was. We even tried to say John was my boyfriend. He just kept shaking his head no.

Just no. Like not even attempting an excuse.

So I asked if it was because they were guys, not girls and he nodded.

AND THEN PROCEEDED TO LET IN A GROUP WITH SIX GUYS. Hello??

I pointed to the guys being let in and said “what the f*ck man you let them in. What’s your problem with my friends?”

Then it dawned on me that every other guy being into the club was white. Like Irish pale with freckles, white. My friends were not.

I accused him of being racist and he pushed me to the door. I told him I saw right through him and that he wasn’t sh*t. (This is not the best thing to do in a country where you don’t speak the language and the people generally don’t like Americans.)

The bouncer had stopped speaking English (just to be more of a jerk) and pushed the group to the door. We let security escort us out, you know, not wanting to be arrested and all, and threw those free drink wristband in the security guys’ faces. (mature, I know)

I didn’t realize until that incident how naïve I was about racism.

Maybe it’s because I’ve only read about things happening and while they always make me mad it’s removed from my immediate life. I can close the tab and go back to my soy latte and Pinterest planning my life away (I did say I was a white girl). But now it’s a vivid memory I can’t just close down.

But in a weird way, I’m glad I know I actually do take action against things that aren’t right in situations like that. Even if I can’t do a lot or change their mind, I know I don’t just talk the talk.

Even if you think you’re ready for whatever and you think you know how you’re going to react when you see certain things going down, trust me, you have no idea how you’re going to feel until you’re in the middle of it.