IES Abroad Vienna

I spent this past fall in Vienna, Austria and had an amazing experience. Vienna is an amazingly beautiful city that offers a large variety of cultural experiences. While studying abroad in Vienna, I was able to go to ballets, operas, museums and experience many of the delicious cafes. Vienna is a city that is very easy to navigate as it has a great public transportation system. IES is incredibly helpful in getting you set up in the city and the staff is a great support system to help you adjust to your new surroundings. IES gives each student housing and I lived in a great apartment with five other American students. The staff was incredibly helpful and willing to assist me whenever I had a question. Academically, IES offers a large amount of classes covering many different academic areas. Specifically, I enjoyed taking classes that had weekly outings to different museums and historical locations throughout the city. I felt that these classes really helped me to learn a lot about the city and Vienna’s history. The professors at IES were very knowledgeable and understood the different aspects of a study abroad experience the students were looking for. Overall, I had an amazing semester abroad experience through IES in Vienna.

Making the decision to go to Vienna was a highly personal one - I wanted to be immersed in a musical culture and environment that my school could not offer me, to be interacting with fellow musicians and improving my own skills daily.

This program met and exceeded my expectations, and also settled the worries I had about my living situation and adjustment to the new culture.

Living:
I lived in the 5th district with 5 other girls, and the program did a fantastic job with placement according to interests and personalities - I can say that I finally found the group of solid college girl friends I had been looking for ever since freshman year.

Adjustment:
The adjustment process was definitely tougher than I imagined, but the kindness of the staff and the teachers on the program eased the process greatly. One day I was feeling very emotionally overwhelmed due to a family situation and my own personal struggles against the pressure to do well on the program and just left class. I emailed my teacher afterwards and he was nothing but understanding. I appreciated that student well being was a top priority for IES.

Music:
It was a struggle trying to balance rehearsal time, personal practice time, private lessons, and concert/opera attendance. I ended the semester more frazzled than I would have liked to be, but I still would take this overload of music training and experience to a less challenging experience. For me the highlight was my private lessons and the weekly accompaniment sessions that IES offered to music students. I gained invaluable experience from my accompanist and my teacher regarding expression and performance technique. Of course, being able to go to the Musikverein for 5 euros and listen to things like Mahler 1 and Schubert's 9th didn't hurt the whole experience either.

Overall, if you are a musician looking for an environment where you can have fun and thrive, you should definitely consider this program.

If you are a musician Vienna is most definitely the city for you to study abroad in. The IES Vienna Music staff does an incredible job of assigning small chamber music which is a wonderful way to learn to new repertoire and an excellent way to improve your musicality. SO many things are accessible to you for a cheap cost, whether that be an opera performance at the Staatsoper or a symphony playing at the Musikverein, the possibilities are endless! Don't miss the opportunity of a lifetime!

When I decided to study abroad I had 3 main goals:
1. Meet locals
2. Learn the host culture
3. Explore places less traveled
I accomplished all of these and more to the point where I have a life in Vienna that is calling me back.

I skateboard so naturally I wanted to find people to skate with. For the first few weeks, I'd set out on my longboard exploring the city, finding skate parks, meeting people and having them draw on my map of new places I should go (I highly recommend you doing this, the map thing).

This routine led me to meeting a few other female skaters who were my access to 'the other side'. I hung out with more Austrians than Americans in my 4 months abroad. All it took was the effort to get myself out there and be the kind of good, cool American they'd want around. Anyone can do this as long as they are willing to adapt to their surrounding environment and culture. There is #2.

Sitting back and quietly observing Europeans has made a huge impression on me. I love the simplicity and solidarity of Viennese manner. I have adopted this into my own manner, as I know how much I can learn by simply watching.

After living amongst European culture, American culture defines itself as much more stereotypical. I do see us as lazy, overindulgent, gluttonous when compared to the simple way Europe runs and has been running for years. Basically, now that I've stepped out and back in to the dome that is America, I've withdrawn from 'the juice' and see through it; America doesn't seem to be chalked up to what it always has been. This is a personal opinion so don't take too much heed to this...

What you need to know is that studying abroad will be the best thing you'll ever do for yourself. It doesn't matter where you go (although some places are cheaper than others (Budapest, Prague)). What matters is that you temporarily leave what you've always known to go off and experience something completely different, where you'll learn new things and see in a different, worldly view. Any apprehension should dissolve because if you choose a great program with IES there is an incredible team of locals who are there to make your experience the best it can be. They are super helpful and want to make sure you're safe and comfortable.

I hope this helps to get you excited about the journey you'll hopefully be making soon! You can try to prepare yourself as best as you can (pack light, keep track of expenses, DELETE FACEBOOK, DON'T BE SO CONNECTED TO HOME) but really there is no way you can expect what your abroad experience will be like. It will be better than you can ever imagine. Get out there and see the world!

THe IES program in Vienna was incredible. The staff is a wonderful community, all of whom are willing to help with anything and everything. The classes are interesting with professors from varied backgrounds. One of my professors was a curator at the Art History Museum, allowing us to have class there once a week. Vienna is a beautiful city full of culture.

I couldn't be happier that I decided to do this program! I was able to perform music, explore Europe, and make life-long friendships. If you are a musician who wants to study abroad, this is the program for you!

Studying abroad with IES was my best decision in college so far. Being located in the middle of Vienna, I was able to see the magnificent beauty of the city. The IES classes allowed me to engage and understood the way that I learn. Also, IES gave me the opportunity to grow my friend network across the country.

My time spent with IES Abroad in Vienna was one of the most enriching experiences of my life. Living and learning in the heart of central Europe allowed me to travel to much of Europe, including places I had previously not thought about going to such as Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia. The classes were engaging and the teachers took an interest in every student. IES made it easy to socialize with many trips and events throughout the semester. I cherish my time spent in Austria and hope others will too!