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Neustadt
Vienna
What did you do? Assistant but also managed to
teach private English lessons
Where did you live? In a shared flat found through
Vienna University website
What was the accommodation like? Fine although
not all furnished. Teachers may help you out with some things
What was the cost of living like? Reasonable if you budget. If you want to
travel by train get a Vorteilskarte. I went to Munich, Budapest, Prague, Venice
and skiing in the holidays
What was the transport system like? Excellent trams, buses and trains
How was the social life? Excellent - it is a reasonable safe city
Favourite place to eat? Regazzi in Burggasse (nearest underground Volkstheater)
- excellent Italian and good value. Figlemuller - biggest and best schnitzels -
in Wollzeile in 1st District - good value.
Favourite place to drink? Benno Cafe - Bennogasse off Alser Straße (tram 44/43)
Favourite place to visit? Kahlenberg and Leopolds Berg - great views of the city
on a clear day
What not to miss? If you have a chance to go to a ball GO but do be aware that a
ball dress does mean full length and elegant rather than sexy!
What to avoid? "Giving up" and speaking English - use every opportunity to speak
German.
Any advice to students? Meet people - join a dance school and learn to walse or
salsa, do a course at the Volkshachschule, find out about university sports
clubs etc..
What did you do? Comenius language assistant.
Where did you live? Student halls, found for me by school.
What was the accommodation like? Very safe area, modern, clean, easy to get
anywhere, not too expensive.
What was the cost of living like? A bit more expensive than England but really
good for a capital city!!.
What was the transport system like? Very good, always on time, can get anywhere,
quite cheap.
How was the social life? Not too many clubs like in England but lots of bars.
Favourite place to eat? Centimeter, there's a few of them in the city. It's very
cheap with massive portions!
Favourite place to drink? All the Irish bars!!
Favourite place to visit? All touristy things, if you like loads of churches!!
Any advice to students? It's very useful to get into student halls. I've learnt
that put into the situation your language is much better than you thought! I've
also learnt to be more independent, you have to do everything for yourself,
finding out about transport, times everything, but I'm very proud that I did all
this and succeeded, so far!!
Wiener Neustadt
What did you do? Language Assistant
Where did you live? In shared accommodation with a lady and another Assistant.
What was the accommodation like? Safe, quiet area close to town, €300 per month.
My landlady does washing, makes breakfast and is all round lovely.
What was the cost of living like? Quite expensive to live in Austria but not so
bad that its that noticeable. A large beer is about €2.80.
What was the transport system like? Great in general, although the trains went
on strike in October. Buses are cheap in Neustadt, €7 for a weekly pass but its
quite easy to get around on foot.
How was the social life? Where do I start? I love it! Neustadt is only small but
there's never a dull moment. I've got Austrian & British friends. I go out until
10am most weekends.
Favourite place to eat? Auflauf. It's a cafe which does the best gorgonzola
baguettes in the world. there are also great Chinese, Italian and Schnitzel
houses.
Favourite place to drink? Clumsys (English bar) -great music and friendly bar
staff. Hemmingways does great cocktails. Duke is small but good atmosphere. P3
at 5am in the morning its a good place to have a boogie!
Favourite place to visit? I like to go to Vienna, but Sopron in Hungary is only
45 mins away. A ski resort, Semmering, is only half an hour away. Gloggnitz is
pretty and it doesn't take too long to get to Bratislava, Prague, Venice or
Slovenia. Eisenstadt in Burgenland is really nice too.
What not to miss? Fasching and skiing (or sledging-like a bobsled course in
Semmering!)
What to avoid? Try to get a bankomat card (Maestro) straight away. I had to wait
three months and it was a pain only being able to get money out from sparkasse.
I don't want to make anyone believe it is perfect here, but its pretty safe,
I've had no problems so far.
Any advice to students? Take everything that's thrown at you - invitations to
the theatre and meals. Do everything, even if you think you wont enjoy it. I
still make loads of mistakes but I've learnt to persevere even when the language
and the criticism is too much.