In the last week I have finally been able to contact home by email. I read one of the returned student exchange reports before I left and she said to make sure you have a way to contact home when you get there. I thought it was going to be simple, but it proved impossible. I had no way of contacting them or no way of being contacted. So I second that advice! I bought a mobile phone and signed up for cheap calls to Australia, but frustratingly have not been able to call home yet. I’m not sure if I have the wrong area code number or what but no matter who I tried to call it did not work. Even more frustratingly the beeps on phones are different here, so I’m not sure if I am getting an engaged signal or if it’s ringing!
I’ve been able to meet lots of people quickly because the student dorm is huge. With 8 floors, 20 rooms on each floor and mostly double rooms, that’s a lot of students. Before I left Australia I joined a Facebook group set up by the university for all exchange students, so I had already spoken to many people. In fact, many people have come up to me asking me if I’m Eli, so it’s been great. I arranged to meet Sarah the Canadian who was kind enough to show me around the local area and at least get me some food. We organised to go ice skating that night and attempted to recruit other people. So in the end we went ice skating with two other Canadians. It was simply stunning, in the heart of Vienna. I was very unstable and could not even figure out how to tie my own skates! But with some encouragement and a helpful hand I eventually got the hang of and it was lots of fun. I even had my first ever gluhwein (a famous German wine served hot) here.
I met my roommate who is from Romania. Her German is really good and her English is okay, so we speak in either language depending on how tired we are. I remember being horrified in Germany in 2004 when faced with my first girls’ locker room. The semi-nudity was shockingly uncomfortable. But once more I think I have matured, my roommate seems very happy to change outfits in the room, I just ignore it and continue with what I’m doing. But change in the bathroom myself. Europeans are definitely more liberal than us; I’ve already seen a lot of nudity in advertising including a most disturbing picture of a topless old woman holding a revolver. My new outlook on this is to just not worry; as long as I’m wearing clothes then it’s not really affecting me. I have warned my friends to rein me in if I come home and start stripping off in public, so I hope they will hold me to that.
My buddy, Susanne, also met with me last Sunday to show me how to get to the university and where some important things are. She’s really nice and it turns out she is trying to get into UniSA in July, so she may be coming back to Australia with me which would be great. I did, however, find myself wondering, why does Susanne want to go to Adelaide? Adelaide is tiny compared to Vienna, it’s hot and there’s not a lot going on compared to here. As I’ve been talking to other people, I have discovered that Australia is a really popular exchange student destination and it is very competitive to win an exchange place there. My buddy told me that the WU (Wirstschaftsuniversitaet Wien – the university I’m at) only send 4 people. Sarah (Canada) said that if you want to go to Australia, you have to have the best grades and then still do really well at an interview, to win a place. This was quite a reality check for me. In comparison, I got to this university easily. It made me realise that I should appreciate this experience and my own country more. After all Australia is an island, while Austria is landlocked!
I was lucky enough to have my buddy take me out for coffee on Sunday, because nothing is open on Sundays here and when it was raining and only 1 degree outside, I had no idea what to do with myself. In fact, the trading hours are terrible here. Coming from a relatively small city, this is a problem I did not expect. The supermarkets close at 7pm, everything else at 5 or 6 and nothing is open on a Sunday. In addition, most businesses have a lunch break so they are open from 9am-12pm, then 2pm -5pm. Unbelievable! And people say Australians are lazy! I’m sure I can work with these trading hours once the semester starts, but at the moment I am participating in an orientation program which means I am at uni from 9am to anywhere between 5pm and 10pm. This obviously makes it difficult to buy groceries, let alone open a bank account.
As I alluded to earlier, my first week at university has been full on. My first day at university began at 8am and finished at 9pm, after which I still had to cook tea. I have never felt so well looked after in my life. The university offers so many things to exchange students from dancing classes, to international trips to free beer. There are 420 exchange students at WU this semester, which I guess is how they can afford to offer such great deals. For example, we all got a sim card for 2euro and can call each other for 2c/min. We were taken on a tour of the university, but this was lacking compared to UniSA standards. The tour consisted of walking 10 metres and the guide pointing in one direction and telling us what was in that direction. We didn’t actually go anywhere, or learn how to use the library or anything. However, we were overloaded with information about all of the events offered by the university.
This week we also visited Schloss Schoenbrunn, a huge castle that was home to the Habsburgs (Austrian-Hungary empire rulers). It was stunning and interesting but I was disgusted to see how lavishly this family lived while other people were living in poverty. We took an audio tour, where you get your own little talking ‘doo-flacky’, so it was one of the most anti-social experiences ever, but I learnt a lot about the history of Vienna. Overall, the tour was a little long but I am definitely glad I did it. Today we also had a tour of the opera house here. It is huge and also quite stunning. I’m not at all interested in opera or ballet, but the tour was short and historical so it was perfect for me. We also went to the opera house museum, but unfortunately it was all in German and very long so I could not be bothered attempting to read it. The highlight here was a costume pig nose – need I say more? One of the other girls has the picture of us with it and once I get it from her I can add this picture.
This week we also visited Schloss Schoenbrunn, a huge castle that was home to the Habsburgs (Austrian-Hungary empire rulers). It was stunning and interesting but I was disgusted to see how lavishly this family lived while other people were living in poverty. We took an audio tour, where you get your own little talking ‘doo-flacky’, so it was one of the most anti-social experiences ever, but I learnt a lot about the history of Vienna. Overall, the tour was a little long but I am definitely glad I did it. Today we also had a tour of the opera house here. It is huge and also quite stunning. I’m not at all interested in opera or ballet, but the tour was short and historical so it was perfect for me. We also went to the opera house museum, but unfortunately it was all in German and very long so I could not be bothered attempting to read it. The highlight here was a costume pig nose – need I say more? One of the other girls has the picture of us with it and once I get it from her I can add this picture.
On Tuesday we were taken on a tour of Vienna. The tour guide told us lots about the history and politics of everything we saw and it would have been a great tour if the weather was pleasant. Instead we (those of us who still attended) endured strong winds, heavy rain, hail and snow. Stupidly, I did not look at the weather forecast before leaving and I was wearing Australian causal sneakers which only have two strips of elastic to hold your foot in. This meant that my shoes soon filled with water so my feet were freezing. I found it hard to concentrate on what the tour guide was saying because I was thinking back to all those stories about Antarctic explorers who lost toes, feet or limbs and wondering if I would soon be one of them. In fact, my legs and feet were so numb that I could not enjoy my first experience of heavy snow. Later I described it as, ‘being attacked by large pieces of dandruff’.
In addition to all of these activities, I’ve also been taking a two week German language refresher course. This started with a placement test at 8am on my first day. From this test I was then placed in a level 5 (out of 8 levels) language class. I was very disappointed with myself that I did not do better. However, many of the activities in class are appropriate for me, while a select few are extremely easy. Mainly grammar exercises are too easy for me because I have already done them in Australia.
I now also feel more at home here because I have sheets! It certainly makes my half of the room look more lived in and like its mine. Sarah (Canada) and I also made the long trek to IKEA, in which we had to switch from train, to tram to bus. But I now have pots, pans and knives. My buddy was also nice enough to give me some plates, cups and cutlery. So now I can actually feed myself, yay! In the student dorm we have one kitchen on each floor. So I’ve been trying to cook with other people as much as possible. It makes it more interesting and we cook nicer food than if I was just feeding myself. Mum will be surprised to hear that I’ve had salad the last two nights and a plate full of it too, not just a mouthful!
I now also feel more at home here because I have sheets! It certainly makes my half of the room look more lived in and like its mine. Sarah (Canada) and I also made the long trek to IKEA, in which we had to switch from train, to tram to bus. But I now have pots, pans and knives. My buddy was also nice enough to give me some plates, cups and cutlery. So now I can actually feed myself, yay! In the student dorm we have one kitchen on each floor. So I’ve been trying to cook with other people as much as possible. It makes it more interesting and we cook nicer food than if I was just feeding myself. Mum will be surprised to hear that I’ve had salad the last two nights and a plate full of it too, not just a mouthful!
So it's been an extremely busy week and its not over yet. I have a uni trip from 8am-9pm tommorrow as well. So I hope to tell you more soon.
Elissa.
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