The perfect semester designed by an expert administrator March 05, 2024

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Pre-semester German course was extremely useful (with Hildegund Heczko) and helped us meet a lot of other foreign students we befriended. Program mandatory course with Gerhard Unterthurner had very interesting readings and great field trips. At the university: Flexible choice of German and English coursework and diverse selection of courses depending on personal preference for rigor. One course I liked in particular was my history course with professor Julia Bavouzet.

On-site administration of your program

Administration done largely by Gerhard Unterthurner who was an endlessly helpful and caring resource we could get in contact with whenever we needed. He was highly organized and prepared for every situation and any mistake we student made could be rectified by his extreme preparation.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Beautiful living arrangements in a location near lots of important transportation and most delightfully an IKEA. Furniture etc. provided. Rooms were singles and very large.

Food was self catered. Rating does not reflect food in Austria in general (which is very middling) but rather that we were well taken care of on our field trips where the program paid for expensive and delicious meals in full.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

Even though I only made one or two Austrian friends, we felt integrated in the culture in some ways because I feel that we were all able to make our own lives in the city of Vienna. Some people did internships, other volunteered. We were able to carry conversation with waitstaff. We knew the city well and were able to explore the local culture a lot. And the way the program is designed made it easy to make connection with other like-minded European study abroad students, if not Austrian ones.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

One student we were with needed to go to the emergency room late one night and the administrator (Gerhard Unterthurner) was extremely helpful in his responses and helped us with a few things. Healthcare in Austria was great and we were able to get most of the expenses reimbursed. Even if they had not been reimbursed, I believe the emergency room visit was $100-200 and the dentist visit was $300-400 (expensive, but much cheaper than American equivalent).

Extremely safe. Could walk alone for miles in the city late at night as a woman and feel safe.

This program was absolutely the best choice I could have made. Vienna itself as a city was perfect for me because I prefer a quieter city with beautiful architecture (parts are almost suburban with boredom, and tourist flocks are undetectable outside a very small city center) and I am very much interested in the arts (I attended the opera more than a dozen times). The fact that we were there for an entire month before university started taking German, making friends, and getting to know the city was extremely settling and a very enjoyable time. The classes were neither too much nor too little work and I learned a lot. The program fee included three trips outside of Vienna which were also wonderful. So many little costs were already thought of and taken care of for us, like local transportation cards and university fees. We were picked up from the airport, etc. The structure of the program really helped us make the most of our experience and I've made a dozen friends for life, many of whom have visited us in the last year already.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Vienna is a relatively expensive city, but it's doable with careful budgeting.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

Even though this program doesn't have a fake "contract" to sign about using the language or even a language minimum, I believe the implicit structures really encourage you to improve and use the language when it is within you ability to do so through the thoughtful month of German immersion.

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• Dorm
• Apartment

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• Local Students
• Americans
• International Students

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• Local Students

• Structure
• Friends
• City

• Support with food costs
• Literally nothing else

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