ERASMUS IN VIENNA (OR WIEN OR WINE :D)

The decision for our erasmus destination was very hard, because you are not thinking about one destination only. Let's be honest, you want to go to a place where there are good parties, nice people and it is located close to other countries or places worth visiting. I think this was the main reason why we chose Vienna as our Erasmus destination.

Life in Vienna is slighty different than life in Slovenia or especially in Portorož. First of all, there is no sea. But there is Danube (Donava) river, where you can bathe when it gets warmer. And it looks stunning, so it reminded us of Portorož sometimes. I am sure you have all heard about it from a famous classical song, written by an Austrian musician, Johann Strauss. We can tell you, it really is fascinating!

Vienna is also known for its classical music culture, many famous artists were born and working there. In the city centre, buildings are mainly built in the same style, which is Secession. If you can't imagine how this looks like, think about the buildings in the city centre of Ljubljana, which were built in the same period.

Vienna is also a destination for coffee lovers. You can find traditional Vieniese coffee places, where coffee is usually too expensive to go there every day, but in that way you can learn a lot about Vieniese culture and its people. Coffee places in Vienna are one of the best in the world and people go there to read books, newspapers, have a nice dessert or simply to enjoy some time alone or with friends. When in Vienna, visiting a coffee places is a must!

We can't forget about famous Wiener Schnitzel, that, I am sure, you have all tried at least once in your life. You can find Schnitzel places everywhere in the city, so don't worry about not being able to try it. There are some good restaurants you can visit and have a good  Wiener Schnitzel, two of them we would recommend – 'Centimeter' and 'Figmüller'.

When in Vienna, try to go on a classical music concert in Stadtsoper or go to a Theatre to watch a play. If you are more interested in rock / modern style of music, try to find some concerts of famous musicians in Wiener Stadthalle or Gasometer. We went to some really good concerts while in Vienna, so go for it when you go there. At the beginning of June, there is a weekend festival called 'Rock in Vienna', which is held on a Danube island. Tickets for this festival are usually too expensive, but you can listen to the music from the distance as well. You can hear it almost as good as if you were in front of the stage.

Parties in Vienna are not that bad, actually J. I am sure you will go to some places right from the start of your Erasmus in Vienna, such as 'Travelshack' and 'Loco'. There you can find other erasmus students from other universities in Vienna and the drinks are not too expensive there as well. In most clubs there is an entrance fee, for us usually too expensive. The prices are from 5€ to 15€ or even 20€.

If you don't like clubbing scene that much, you can find some good underground bars with live music on weekends and sometimes even during the week. Some of the bars are located under the metro line, which is very convenient. Some really good bars and pubs that we recommend are 'B72', 'Chelsea', 'Charlie P's'.

We were at the FH Wien Faculty, where we studied tourism related courses. We did not only choose tourism courses, but also other topics, such as International business, E-Marketing so on. Professors were mostly foreigners, for example, from Australia, Canada, Germany. They were usually very nice and kind and we learned a lot from them. Courses and exams work completely different than here at Turistica. For example, we had one course for about two weeks every day and right after that we had an exam. We think this is better than exam periods that last for one month at the end of the semester, because you can remember things you have learned in the past few weeks easily, that is why the results are usually better. Their grading system is from 1 to 5, where 1 is the best grade and 5 is the worst, e.g. you do not pass. At first we had some trouble with the grades, because we could not get used to this grading system. After some time, you get used to it and you are happy when you get 2 (in Slovenia you would probably cry like a baby). We can say that this faculty had some really interested courses held by professors from the real business and tourism world. They spoke from their experiences and they gave you the insight of what real life business works in the rest of the world.
We also had German courses at the faculty, which were really helpful and the teachers were really nice. If you want to improve your level of german language, do not hesitate to go to Vienna.

Most of the Erasmus students lived in dormitories, only a few stayed in private or shared apartments (flats). Accommodation price range is from 200-600€ for a student dormitory and from 200-500€ for a private or shared apartment. We suggest you to take a private room in a dormitory, because you will need some time alone and believe me, it is better this way. If you want to live in an apartment, try to find one that is not too close to the city center, because prices are higher there. A friendly advice when searching for a flat apartment – check if the owner is serious and is not going to take your money and leave you there without a roof. This happened to our friend from Portugal, so be careful.

Public transport in Vienna is well organized. We bought a student semester ticket for 75€ and it lasted from February until the end of June. You can use it for metro (U-Bahn), tram and bus. Metro is the fastest way to get anywhere. If you are waiting at the metro station for it to come, it takes from 2 to 15min, depends on the part of the day. Buses and trams are leaving every 10 min.  Public transport gets you anywhere in Vienna and it is really fast (not like here in Slovenia). This is one of the things we are gonna miss the most – fast and convenient public transport.

There are some nice restaurants that offer some good meal deals, where you can get a soup, main dish and a dessert for a reasonable price. Very popular are also brunch places, that you can find anywhere in Vienna. You can also find some 'All you can eat' restaurants, where you pay about 10-15€ and you can eat how much you want and whatever you like The faculty had its own restaurant, where they offered 5 different menus every day and one of them was cheaper for students (4,20€ for the main dish only).
There is also a very popular restaurant among students, travellers and young people called 'Deewan'. It offers Pakistani food, every day there is something new on the menu. You can eat as much as you want and for that you pay how much you want. Of course, you can not eat there for free, but you can have a good meal with different dishes for about 5€.

What to do in Vienna? Well… what you probably will do, is a lot of partying, some studying and having fun with new friends you will meet there. We are sure you will find something interesting to do every day. Even though Vienna doesn't seem like a big city, there is a lot to do, believe me. On rainy days go to theatre, opera, to the movies or simply enjoy a rainy day inside a traditional Vieniese café. Sunny days bring happiness to the city and somehow it becomes alive. Go to Schönbrunn and take a walk through beautiful garden, go to Kahlenberg, a hill above the city, where you can enjoy a coffee or a very expensive meal with a view. Go to Donaukanal and have a beer there, while observing grafitti artist at their work. Take a walk to the city center in the evening, buy some ice cream ('Eis Greißler'  or 'Tichy') and listen to some street artists performing near the Donaukanal.

If you think you did a lot of sightseeing in Vienna, hop on a bus to the neighbour countries. A bus or a train will take you to Budapest, Bratislava, Berlin, Munich, Krakow, Salzburg, Graz, etc. There are alson a lot of places in Austria that are a 'must-see' and we suggest you to take advantage of the cheap bus prices to other countries.

Costs while living in Vienna are higher than in Portorož, that is for sure. First of all, accommodation costs are higher, living standard is higher. For example, coffee in a normal bar is from 2€ on. Meat is also expensive in stores. Try to find 'cheaper' stores, like Hofer or Lidl, they are everywhere. Going out for a beer can get expensive too, according to prices here in Slovenia. A pint of beer costs around 4 – 6€.
We can say that Erasmus scholarship was not enough to cover all the costs, if you want to go somewhere and experience something new. Try to work and save some money so you can enjoy your Erasmus experience to the fullest, without worrying about every euro you spend.

So this is a quick summary of our Erasmus experience. We don't want to tell you everything, because you will have to discover it by yourself. If you have any further questions, write us on Facebook and we will be glad to help you J.

Barbara Kovačič in Polona Lopert

WIEN-VIENNA-DUNAJ


When you actually live in Vienna you can see that there is not all just about schnitzel, Sachertorte and classical music. There is more, much more. I can not really explain how I became from not-a-fan to a girl that is in love with that city. Vienna is a city that integrates anything and anyone but still I felt safer than in my home village.




Picture 1: Lights in Vienna


CEEPUS

CEEPUS is a inter-university cooperation and mobility programme for students and lecturers. In this programme Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech, Kosovo, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia participate. The student exchange is in the framework of university networks.

Picture 2: Slovenian students on Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna


I have been awarded with a 3-months CEEPUS scholarship on BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. The scholarship covers accommodation, health and accident insurance and all tuition fees. The condition is to complete the mobility report a month before leaving.

Picture 3: Party in Pratersauna

BOKU

The University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences has more than 10,000 students and is located on several sites in Vienna and the suburban area. I have been studying in the Department for Landscape, Spatial and Infrastructure Sciences. I have chosen courses not just from that field of study but also from others I was interested in. So, for example I took courses like Fish farming and aquaculture, Rural tourism, Traffic and transport planning, Project management, International agriculture and so on. I had all my classes in English so my low knowledge of German language was not a problem.

Picture 4: BOKU student card

Picture 5: Winemaking class

ACCOMMODATION, TRANSPORT, FOOD

I lived in the apartment with three Austrian guys called Michael, Martin and Peter (in the last month instead of him, Alfons). Rent that included all additional expenses was 300 euros. That was lower that most of other exchange students were paying (most of them 400 euros and up). My flat was a 5-minutes walk from Westbahnhof (big railway station) in 15 district called Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus.

To get to Vienna I took a ride with a van I found on the internet. I paid 20 euros for the ride from Ljubljana to Vienna, which is much cheaper than the train that costs up from 40 euros for one way and much more than just 4 hours of travelling. Transport in Vienna is very well organized. For 150 euros students can buy a semester ticket that is valid for buses, trams, underground, etc. And even more, if you come to Vienna before the first September the semester ticket is half-priced.

Prices of food in most shops are similar that in Slovenia. But on the other side, prices in restaurants and bars are much higher. For example, the wiener schnitzel costs around 15 euros, coffee and beer up from 3 euros , … For me the biggest challenge was with coffee, because my daily habit in Portorož was drinking coffee in a café and then I suddenly came to a city ion which the price of coffee was not 1,20 euros but 3 or 4 times more expensive.

Picture 6: Sacher coffe

WHAT NOT TO MISS IN VIENNA

1. Belvedere in the spring

2. Eating pork in Schweizerhaus (Prater)

3. Open air concert in Schönbrunn

4. Steiermarkdorf

5. Hiking on Kahlenberg

6. Rapidlauf

7. Coffe in Jonas Reindl

YOU ONLY VIENNA ONCE (YOVO)

Why did you choose this area for student exchange? 
Did you know that just in Vienna live almost 2 million people, the same number as in whole Slovenia. It is a totally different world just across the border and a drive that lasts 3,5 hours from our capital city Ljubljana.

We have chosen Vienna for our student exchange, not because we wanted to stay close to home, but to experience the culture, meet new people from all around the world, get to know the beautiful city of Vienna and of course to improve our German in a place where they speak it every day.

Opinion about faculty/company?
The faculty we attended is FHWien University of Applied Sciences, which is located 10 minutes from the city centre with public transport. It is a really great University, with great coordinators that are always there to help you and that give all the information that you need. Inside the building you have a cafe, restaurant, computer room with printers, smoking areas in every floor and a terrace at the top, where you can spend your free time and hang out with your classmates. We had all the classes in English, that are thought mostly by professors from around the world and some of the classes are together in English with Austrian students. The interesting thing that we experienced here was a two week class that was thaught via Skype, by the lecturer from Miami. The University organises also a lot of events, where you can get to know your classmates even better.



Stereotypes, first impression and reality?
Stereotypes about Austrians are that they wear the typical clothes called »Dirndl« or »Lederhose«, that they like to ski and listen to classical music.

First imression that we had was that they are really closed, its hard to make a contact and they are more serious and punctual.

Otherwise they are nice people and its interesting to see the people on the streets and the way they dress, even the older people are always looking their best. The Austrian language is also totally different from the normal German language, because of their dialect. For example, officially to say let's go home is: Gehen wir nach Hause, but in Austria is Gemma Ham, which is completely different and interesting.

There are also some negative things we experiences, for example that you have to watch out where you step, when you are walking around, because nobody cleanes after their dogs. And the other is that the people can still smoke inside of every place, so you have to know that everytime you come home you can put your clothes directly to washing mashine.

Local culture & habits?
Austrian culture is famous after their passion for coffee and all the famous cafes you can visit around the city. They share their passion for coffee together with classical music and desserts, like well known Sacher Torte and many other delicious cakes.

Their opening hours are also different than in Slovenia. They open the shops usually at 8 or 9 in the morning and work till 6 in the evening. After that everything closes, you can just maybe go to bigger shopping centres outside the city or some shops that stays open a little longer. On Sundays you shouldn't expect to find open shops, only the souvenier shops in the city centre.



Places & activities?
There is so many places in Vienna that you can visit. For example many sightseeing locations, such as Prater park, the oldest amusement park in the world. It is open from 15 of March till 31 of October. Then you have the city center with Stephansdom, Opera, many bars and restaurants and the Kärtner street for shopping.

You can enjoy your free time in many parks that are in Vienna or combine them with greatest mansions, such as Belvedere and Schönbrunn.

Culinary & student meals? 

As you all might know, the typical Austrian dishes are Wiener Schnitzel (Viannese steak) and Apfelstrudel (Apple Strudel). You can get these dishes in almost every restaurant together with everything else.

Very popular in Vienna are also the stands on every corner, where you can buy Austrian sausages (Würst), noodles or rice and kebab and are really good especially when you go home from a party.

In Vienna unfortunatelly they don't have student meals like we do in Slovenia, so everywhere you go in restaurant you will pay up to 20 euros or more, depends where you go. You can only get some discount in the University cafeteria with your student card.

mmmmmmmmm

Accommodation?
Accomodation is quite hard to get in Vienna. Really great is a group on Facebook in which there are people that are leaving in Vienna and they post sometimes some places that are free or they can give you good advices where to search for rooms.

We were leaving in different places, one in a Slovenian student dorm Korotan, which is located 30 minutes walk from the city centre and the other in an appartment with one girl from Slovenia, who is leaving here and it was also located near the University and 40 minutes walk from the city centre.

The places in Vienna are also quite expensive, so you have to be lucky to find something cheaper and in a good location.

Nightlife?
Nightlife in Vienna is fun. Like in Slovenia you can drink in public, so everywhere you go you see groups of people drinking and going to some club later. There is so many clubs that you can choose from, the only thing is that the entrance fee is everywhere 10 – 15 eurous, including the cost for the wardrobe.

There is also a lot of Erasmus nights and events, with Karaoke, special offers or free entrances with the Erasmus student network (ESN) card.

Two bars were great and close to our University, where you can get coctails very cheap, from 0,50 cents to 5 euros later in the night, because the price changes every hour.

Transport?
Transport is really great in Vienna. At the begining you can buy a student semester ticket that costs 150€, sometimes 75€ if you come to Vienna before the 1 of September and with the ticket you can use all the public transport inside the city, such as u-bahn, tram and bus. All these transport devices go to every place in the city and they go every 5 minutes during the week. During the weekend they drive all night, but with a little longer intervals.

Costs?
The costs that you have are the monthly payment for the room, semester ticket for the transport, food that you can buy in Hofer, Billa or Zielpunkt and cook at home or the price for the food in restaurants, entrances to the clubs if you party a lot and the cost for the mobile sim card if you take it.

Pros & cons?
For us this has been the best experience in our lives and we wouldn't choose any other place to do the Erasmus exchange. One classmate said when we took them on a trip to Ljubljana that you only Ljubljana once (YOLO) and we thing that the same goes for every place, because you can never have that much fun with so many great people in such great city as Vienna. So we quote him and said that you only Vienna once (YOVO).

The only thing that was hard for us was, that Vienna has that much higher standard of living and that everthing is more expensive than in Slovenia. But as our grandparents and parents always say: When you go to Vienna you have to leave your stomach outside. (Ko greš na Dunaj, pusti trebuh zunaj).

Other?
We will never forget Vienna, because it gave us everything. We met incredible people from all around the world, that we can visit them now, we improved our German and we are leaving home full of great memories that will stay with us forever.

Aufwiedersehen Wien und Danke.

Kaja Dobnikar and Zala Gregorič
kaja.dobnikar@gmail.com & zala.gregoric@gmail.com

Grüß Gott von Wien!

 It is so close, it’s like you’re not going on Erasmus exchange, I have heard a couple of times. But let me tell you Austria's capital Vienna was rated the best city to live in 2012 with highest quality of life and has almost as much inhabitants as whole Slovenia. 

Yes, it's an amazing city with numerous museums, parks and coffee houses. I was fortunate enough to get to know Vienna even before my Erasmus exchange, so my decision wasn’t hard. But the big role for me was the language. I have been studying German before and I wanted to improve my current knowledge.

FH Wien University of Applied Sciences 

FH Wien

Everything about university is well organized. The Erasmus coordinators provide you with all the information and are always there to help if you need them. All the courses I took were in English which means we also had some guest lectures. They were from USA so we experienced another teaching approach, which was very interesting and we had a lot of fun in those courses. Of course there were some courses that were not that much fun, but nothing you couldn't manage.

The university itself is a big glass building with a big cafeteria and coffee shop. Every floor has a smoking area and the balcony and the area where you can study. All in all it is taken care of students in the best possible way. 

Professor from the United States 

Stereotypes and reality 

It is true Austrians are really organized and precise. You need to get a paper, document or permit for almost everything. BUT as FH Wien student you are lucky, they provide you with all directions and information you need. Also the employees in all the offices you have to visit at the start of your exchange are really nice and helpful. As long as you are nice to them everybody will try to do their best to help you.

Austrian culture and habits

Austrians are not much different than Slovenes. The one thing that caught my eye was that they are really polite and completely respect the rules. For example no one will cross the street at red light even if there are no cars and it’s midnight.

Like use they like to enjoy with a cup of good coffee, but in a completely different level. Vienna has a lot of Kaffeehauses (traditional coffee house), where people gather and stay there even for a couple of hours. 

Café Sacher Cafe Demel 

Places 

You can visit sightseeing places in Vienna individually with your friends and almost everywhere you get the student discount. Or you can go on short trips with the Erasmus student network. They take care of everything so you can relax and enjoy your time with your Erasmus friends. For example they organized trips to Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, wine tasting and ski trip and much more. I would definitely recommend you to visit the palace Hofburg and palace Schönbrunn with the world’s oldest ZOO. And in December Christmas market in front of the city hall.

Schönbrunn Palace St. Stephen's Cathedral –Stephansdom 

    St. Stephen's Cathedral –Stephansdom

Christmas market

 Old Danube 

Student meals 

There are NO student meals as in Slovenia. In the university we have a cafeteria, where you get a discount with your campus card. But even with the discount everything there is really expensive. So the best thing you can do as a student is to cook by yourself.

There is one option though. Vienna is very famous for its Würstelstands, this are the fast food stands where you can choose from big variety of sausages served as hot dogs. Also a big hip right now are the noodles. You can get them at the same stands and a lot of them also serve sushi and maki. The best one for noodles is Happy noodles at Schwedenplatz.

Happy noodles stand Würstelstand

Würstelstand

Accommodation 

On this picture you can see my room, it’s bright and it has its own bathroom and kitchen. 

Is very expensive! The company OeAD Housing is the one that most of the Erasmus students uses for finding the room. They find you a room for sure, but just to get them looking for you, you need to pay 750€ deposit. It depends what kind of a room or apartment you want, the prices are usually between 300€ -500€ per month. If you are patient enough and have no problem with maybe getting some furniture on your own, you can also look for the apartment via online real estate companies.

I share an apartment in a student dormitory, which is cheaper for me but you never know what kind a person will you get as a roommate. In my case I was lucky with the first roommate, she was a really nice girl. But the next one... Ok she is nice, but she smells. I’m lucky to have so many great friends from my Erasmus group so most of the time I’m not at home. I just wanted to point out that you must consider all the possible options when you’re deciding about your accommodation. J


Night life

There are a lot of options for partying. You can go out almost every night in the week. There are some bars, pubs where you can attend at a solid party with student prices. And there are some posh clubs, which are really expensive and also have a strict dress code. On Fridays and Saturdays U-Bahn (metro) goes the whole night so there is no problem with getting home. All the other nights you need to take a taxi, which can get really expensive.

Student prices:
- Ride Club (Cocktails from 0,50€)
- Travel Shack
- Charlie P's Irish Pub
- Prater Dome

Monday night - Ride Club 

Posh clubs and bars: 
- Club Passage
- Volksgarten Disco
- Grelle Forelle
- Medusa

Transport – Public transport

All you do is use public transport. As a student you get a semester ticket for 75€, when the normal price is 150€. With public transport you can get pretty much everywhere really fast. With this ticket you can take the U-bahn (metro), Strassenbahn (tram) and the bus. In the rush hour U-Bahn drives every 2 minutes.


Costs

Vienna is a very expensive city. As I mentioned before my rent was 305€ per month and it was one of the cheapest. Prices of grocery and other home supply stuff are similar as in Slovenia. The biggest difference is in prices of services, restaurants and various tickets, they are really expensive. So there is no way that scholarship would be enough to cover all the costs. You need more money as in Portorož.


Pros & Cons

Vienna is a fabulous city and if I could do the exchange again next year I would. I've meet a lot great people from all over the world and some of them became my great friends. I got to know different cultures and people with different backgrounds.

The only con about Vienna is maybe the fact that is so close to Slovenia so for some of you this wouldn't really mean to go on Erasmus exchange. But trust me, despite the short distance Vienna is a completely different and amazing world! J

I hope I gave you some useful information and if you have any more questions don’t hesitate to contact me.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

Kristina Pangos
tina.pangos@gmail.com