Amazing Study Abroad Experience

Vienna is literally all I could have asked for in a city in term of studying abroad. There is always something happening (concerts, operas, musicals, plays, festivals, parties, and so much more), it is an incredibly safe city, it is clean and green, surrounded by alpine mountains, full of life, and so so amazingly easy to get around in. Not a day has gone by since I have been in Vienna that I haven't found another reason to love this city. And I certainly think that IES Abroad Vienna has a lot to do with this. They provided my the resources and the knowledge necessary to make the most of Vienna. The IES staff are wonderful. Always so helpful, no matter how mundane your question is and just generally excited to show you as much of Vienna as they possibly can. However, I must say that IES can become sort of a bubble. You take all your classes with the same students in the same buildings. If you wanted to, you could easily limit yourself to the easy, comfortable life provided by IES. However, with just a little effort, it is fun and rewarding to step outside this bubble. For an example, I started taking two sports classes with Austrian college students at the Universität Sport Institut Wien (which IES staff helped me do).

One of my goals in this program is to not let a day go by without having done something new or exciting. This can be anything from going to an opera or trying a new restaurant, or going on a new hike. It is incredibly easy to make this happen. Most days it happens without any effort at all! It seems as though tons of amazing opportunities are simply everywhere in this city.

I have been enjoying all of my classes so far. I am a neuroscience major at my home school, so the idea of taking all history, literature, music, and language classes is both foreign and exciting. My professors have all been extremely well qualified and enthusiastic. I truly feels as though they are excited to teach this material and are excited by IES students. The language program has been wonderful. I adore my German class. I truly feel like my German skills have been improving every day and I have been enjoying it. Each class we find ourselves laughing and joking, all in German! It has truly been a great experience thus far.