Hostel Living

We have survived two weeks at our hostel from hell! you think I'm being dramatic, but it's been a nightmare of rubbish internet, lack of kitchen to make food meaning massive amounts of money being spent on eating out and to top it off, weird European roommates that have no idea of modesty - stripping down to ones Yfronts and parading around is not a sight for the faint hearted :( 

Anyway, we have moved rooms now and settled in to our new home for the next 16 nights. The 30th September cannot come soon enough. 

Cafe Benno

James and I thought we would celebrate a successful first week at our placement - we survived - with a meal at a cafe we found in our first week here. 

The cafe has a great vibe, good music and cheap food just off the U6 line - the majority of good cafés, restaurants and bars are off this line. 

The meal was delicious, plentiful and CHEAP! I'd totally recommend this to future Erasmus Wien students! We plan to return here for a few beers soon and to play one of the many board games they had on offer - seems this is the thing to do on a night out.  

Cafe Benno

James and I thought we would celebrate a successful first week at our placement - we survived - with a meal at a cafe we found in our first week here. 

The cafe has a great vibe, good music and cheap food just off the U6 line - the majority of good cafés, restaurants and bars are off this line. 

The meal was delicious, plentiful and CHEAP! I'd totally recommend this to future Erasmus Wien students! We plan to return here for a few beers soon and to play one of the many board games they had on offer - seems this is the thing to do on a night out.  

Sunday Strolls

Sundays in Wien are pretty quiet. Unlike the UK, the shops, businesses and supermarkets are all closed on a Sunday - handy hint is to purchase any food/snacks on a Saturday, or you'll end up very hungry if you're on a budget and not wanting to splash out on a restaurant meal. 

This Sunday, James and I strolled the city in search of brunch and to help us try and get our bearings around this mammoth city. We enjoyed a casual brunch at cafe Einstein, just outside the centre. It was reasonably priced, but please be warned that European service is a tad different to what we are used to. In the UK, you can expect the waiters/waitresses to be hownding you to leave and offering you the bill; but Vienna is very different! You can sit, relax and contemplate hours away in cafe, or restaurant, until YOU ask for the bill :) 

After a hearty brunch; well not for James, we enjoyed a stroll around the beautiful city and stumbled upon a carnival in the park. One thing you must do in Vienna is sample the cakes at the local cafés, especially the 'sorta torte' cake (famous in Vienna) - ladies, you can not worry about calories whilst living here, you will be devouring cake! 

The best thing about this city is it's sheer beauty in the centre - you will be mesmourised by the architecture and history that is to offer - I'm still in awe that I'm actually living here :)

Beautiful Vienna

This city is truly beautiful! Even on a walk home from placement or university, you will find a hidden gem of beauty round the corner. 

Transport in Vienna

The amazing transport here puts the UK's to shame. The trains, buses and trams are so frequent and clean - makes getting about the city easy. All routes are easily found and it's great for the poor directionless like myself. 

Also, the transport links run 24hrs on a Friday and Saturday, and every public holiday - amazing!

For €48 a month, you can get a pass for all transport in the city - bus, tram and train. If you're lucky enough to be under 26 and a student in Vienna; you can get a semester pass for €150 euro. 

Erasmus Begins

We had a brilliant induction at our new university, FH Campus Wien and met the lovely bunch we will be with for the next few months. The induction was a full week of form filling, seminars and sight seeing - I'm looking forward to the brilliant memories we will make with this group. 

The Waiting game

My advice to you all, please do not rely on Erasmus funding to be paid before you start your journey! It won't happen. With the costs of finding an apartment, paying for hostels, rail fees and general living costs - you will be broke. I am praying finance happens before October!

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games!

Vienna is split into districts, which reminds me of the film 'The Hunger Games'. Each district has its own mix of sights, things to do and cost. As you can imagine, the central districts, such as 1,2,3 and 4 are pretty pricey for food and drinks, but it's the best for sightseeing. If you are planning on visiting Vienna or living here; it is good to have an idea of the district you will be staying in - many people will ask what district you live in and not the name. The transport in Vienna is amazing, so do not worry on the location you will be living in - I lived in district 10 and 20, and reached the center in 15-20 minutes on the underground line. Happy district hunting -  'May the odds forever be in your favour' :-)

Apartment Hunting is HELL!!!

Apartment Hunting is HELL!!!!

As we had not secured accommodation before we arrived - and by god, did we try! The first few days in Vienna were spent sightseeing, laughing and enjoying the sunshine.....NO! We spent our first few days holed up in our hostel sending emails, trawling the internet and having emotional breakdowns :(

Vienna's student housing is very different to that of the UK. They do not have their own accommodation affiliated to them, they use two outside organisations, officially, to recommend to their students to use and also various housing websites offering rooms in shared apartments (WG is the symbol to look for here). As we were so late (June) in getting our Erasmus place confirmed and our placement, too; we missed the deadlines for the 'official' student housing and got knocked back - joy! The summer was spent looking for apartments on various internet sites we found, which led to nothing. I was also swanning about Asia for 7 weeks and, to be honest, I didn't really have time to look whilst I was over there; so the job of apartment hunting was left to James - Sorry, mate :(

Anyway, after a further two weeks searching constantly before we left for Vienna, that added to the searches over the summer; we finally got accommodation through the website www.airbnb.com. OK, the accommodation is stupidly expensive, but it was the only thing we could find that met our needs and the location for our work placements was perfect. The only downside to getting this amazing apartment was that we could not move in until the 30th of September, thus meaning we would have to live in a hostel for a month. The idea of doing this wasn't so bad, the actual doing so is were the problems occurred. WARNING: Hostel living is not for the faint hearten - lack of sleep, noisy room mates, room mates that thinks its acceptable to walk around in their underwear and forget the rules on dignity are just some of the delights we faced - one guy enjoyed getting dressed in the middle of the room each day. Que me hiding under my duvet until he was done :(

So, my advice to future Erasmus students in Vienna:

• Make sure you have at least 800 - 1000 euros set aside for accommodation deposits.

• Apply for student accommodation, through the recommended sites, by at least the end of April. If your programme and placement still hasnt been confirmed by then; read the cancellation policy and just book it! 

• Join Erasmus Facebook groups in Vienna - many other people (and there is a lot) are looking for accommodation, too. You could share with them or beat them to it for rooms....it's up to you.

• Try these links - (https://www.airbnb.com/s/Wien--%C3%96sterreich?checkin=08%2F30%2F2014&checkout=09%2F10%2F2014&guests=2&locale=en&price_max=53&room_types[]=Entire+home%2Fapt).  http://www.athostel.com/de/,  www.jobwohnen.at, www.willhaben.at,www.flohmarkt.at and www.bazar.at, http://housing.oead.at/de/, 

So it Begins

And We Are Off.......

We have arrived and, sort of, settled into Wien (How the locals write Vienna) life...and my god it has been a whirlwind of emotion. We landed in Vienna and immediately were plonked with the mission to find our hostel for the first few days in Vienna. We met a lovely British woman, on the plane, who gave us lots of advice on Vienna life and living - she should know, as she has lived here for the past two years - she even gave us her number if we needed anything. WARNING: Please don't expect the locals to be as friendly as this woman was - that's another story :(

Anyway, the metro system is a dream! The different lines are colour coded and people with the least sense of direction (like me) can navigate around this city with ease and confidence - also, the metro runs 24 hours on a Saturday and Sunday; perfect for a late night at one of the many bars in the city. After arriving safety and rather tired after lugging 2 cases EACH around the metro to our hostel, we will spend the next few days apartment hunting and attempting to settle into our new home city.