IES Abroad Vienna

As a vocal performance major I expected Vienna to just be classical and very strict in their ways of living. What I came to find was the Viennese culture is very welcoming to new ideas and ways of living. The transportation was the best you could find around the world. It was fairly cheap and efficient. When it came to shopping I was able to buy groceries for a week around 30$. IES Abroad helped me find places that were within my budget and also direct me to the vegetarian/vegan friendly restaurants. Since Vienna is welcoming to new cultures I was able to find any type of cuisine. One day I would have Thai food and the next day go to my favorite Australian restaurant. The faculty was very welcoming to all of the students especially the year students. As a year student you get a very different type of experience studying abroad. It has its trials and tribulations but with the faculty they were able to help us adapt and live the year to the fullest. One of my favorite things I like to mention about studying abroad is my second semester housing I was able to choose which apartment I got to move into and somehow I ended up living on the same street as the president of Austria!

I had such a positive experience. I learned so much about my host culture and about myself. I faced many new challenges that pushed me out of my comfort zone and promoted me to grow. I found all the IES Abroad Staff to be welcoming, supportive, and open for any questions. Abroad gave me the opportunity to travel to new places I never expected to be able to travel to. I found Vienna to be safe and relatively affordable. There are lots of great food options and fun places to go out at night. It has even encouraged me to consider living abroad in the future.

One of the best decisions I have ever made was to study abroad in Vienna, Austria during my fall semester. Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and I constantly found myself discovering new things to do and places to see each day I was there. IES was so helpful and knowledgeable about the city, and I knew I was in good hands. Can't wait for other students to experience this amazing city!

Halfway through my semester in Vienna, I got the strong sense that every music student should have this opportunity. Vienna is not only a city with a rich musical history but also a city today with huge community support for the Classical arts. There are three different opera houses and each fill up; it is not unusual for the State Opera to sell out! This kind of mass communal support and enthusiasm, as far as I have observed, is absent from American culture. As an aspiring opera singer, Austria’s commitment to the arts was truly inspiring. I attended operas (at all three opera houses!) as much as possible and attended many concerts. Hearing so much great music performed by many fantastic musicians, I was eager to work on my own technique. I took voice lessons and received one-on-one coachings. I collaborated with other singers and instrumentalists during a performance workshop class. I took a class a specialized music theory class, studying Fidelio and Die Winterreise, both by composers who lived in Vienna. It was an ideal study abroad for me, and I feel lucky to have received the musical education and experience that I did.

IES abroad did an amazing job at ensuring my study abroad experience was holistically AWESOME. From class trips to Budapest, strolls down historic Viennese neighborhoods, hiking trips, and trips to the vineyards, among a few other things, IES went above and beyond. In addition, IES did an amazing job at providing housing close to the palace (YES, palace) where classes were taught at. The transition from the U.S. to Vienna was exciting yet not overwhelmingly stressful. Indeed, the transition was closer to a cultural shift, not a cultural shock. For example, most of the people in Vienna speak English. Long story short, no amount of text box space will ever be enough to express just how life changing studying abroad in a magical city like Vienna was.

Vienna was the perfect location for study abroad. It immerses you in Europe's current political situation, being so centrally located, and it's easy to frame that experience in a historical context. The city itself is ranked the best place to live every year for good reasons—clean, safe, and cheap public transit, beautiful architecture, the excitement of a city surrounded by the escape of the countryside... But one of the greatest parts about my experience in Vienna was the IES staff. The people in charge of IES Vienna feel more like a family than anything else, and that made it so much easier to grow accustomed to a new city and see it as a home. The teaching faculty was also enthusiastic, and the European professors seemed to love the chance to work closely with American college students in small, discussion-based environments. My teaching internship at a Viennese high school also connected me with a tutoring job for a young Austrian family, which was a great way to earn extra money while feeling immersed in domestic Austrian life. My time in Vienna inspired me to apply to a Fulbright and some other teaching assistantships in Germany and Austria for after graduation, an opportunity I would not have pursued otherwise.

Studying abroad in Vienna through IES was an incredible experience. Although you need not have any prior exposure to German, I found that having some German experience helped me make the most out of my time there. Vienna is such a wonderful city to explore on your own too - there are so many cute cafes, bars, open markets, and parks. I really loved that I was able to live with a residential assistant, a fellow Austrian who I became close friends with and who showed me what local life was like. The IES staff in Vienna were also fantastic. They wanted us to have a great time, and were helpful with all roadblocks we might have encountered throughout the way. They weren't overbearing, at the same time, and encouraged our independence. I also really liked the people who were part of the program. I made many friends who I just clicked with immediately, since there aren't many music/arts kids from my home school. I'm still in touch with those friends now! Featured photo: the culturally acceptable daily cake and coffee!

Before I studied away, I had this vague idea of a semester abroad as an easy, fun, exciting experience where I'd get to see some amazing art, eat awesome food, and learn a new language. However, homesickness hit me hard during orientation. Additionally, not speaking German well made previously mundane experiences like food shopping difficult. Fortunately, the IES abroad staff are awesome- they are extremely caring about their students and offers all sorts of tips, advice, and events that make living in Vienna not overwhelming. On the other hand, they also give you a lot of freedom to do what you want, meet cool people, and travel. The classes weren't too difficult (except for German!). Most of my teachers really made an effort at immersing us in Austrian culture too- my art history classes half the time at various places around Vienna, and my German class would sometimes go to cafes or other places to get better at speaking in specific situations. Definitely recommend, especially for a beginner German speaker.