As I was flicking through my camera roll a few weeks ago, my phone reminded me that Halfway Hall was One Year Ago. Photos of my friends and I all dressed up and wearing our Hogwarts-like gowns, huddled together for a year group photo after dinner in the wood-panelled College Hall, a sea of faces grinning up at the camera – almost delirious and in disbelief that we had somehow survived half of our undergraduate years in one piece. Blissfully unaware of the havoc that Covid-19 was about to wreak just a few weeks later; of the terms, memories, friendships, and people, it would so ruthlessly snatch away from us.
Looking at these photos, I had the baffling realisation that the start of March marked the half-way point of my time here in Vienna. As Bon Jovi sang, whoa, we’re half-way there, whoa, livin’ on a prayer – and given that I’m living in a Catholic KHG Studentinnenheim, I don’t think it could have been said any better. To mark this bittersweet halfway house, here are some reasons why I’m convinced Vienna is the most underrated Year Abroad destination…
Wien: Die Kulturhauptstadt Europas? The Cultural Capital of Europe?
Whether it’s art, music, architecture, theatre, or literature you’re interested in, Vienna will be just your cup of tea – and if it’s not, then the world-famous Kaffeehauskultur will ensure it will be your cup of coffee instead. The Kunsthistorisches Museum, built in a majestic Italian Renaissance style, is overflowing with spectacular artistic treasures assembled by the Habsburgs, and holds an extensive collection of Old Masters’ paintings. The Albertina and the Leopold Museum are slightly more manageable in size but nevertheless packed with masterpieces. The Albertina palace houses seven major art collections, including works by Dürer and Klimt, while the world’s largest Egon Schiele collection can be found in the Leopold. In pre- and post-pandemic times, the Burgtheater, Musikverein and Staatsoper would of course be unmissable cultural highlights. Many prominent European figures have lived in or been drawn to Vienna over the centuries, leaving the Alumni list of the Universität Wien looking like a who’s who of Nobel prize-winners and influential intellectuals.
The Volkstheater junction just outside the Museumsquartier which is home to The Leopold, Kunsthistorisches and Museum of Modern Art (Mumok) among others.
A Lovable Livable City
Vienna has topped the rankings of the World’s Most Livable Cities, compiled annually by Mercer, for the past ten years. Berlin comes in at 13th, Paris un peu plus tard at 39th, with London following shortly thereafter at 41st. Having learnt my lesson from choosing a Cambridge College based off the scrummy biscuits at Open Day, rather than consulting the ranking table and considering the academic pressure involved to maintain a college’s spot at the top, I’m glad to say I did at least think about the statistics this time round. Vienna has an extensive and accessible public transport system (a yearly adult card is €365!) and is a clean and comparatively safe European Capital – although I did sadly have to amend my Risk Assessment which stated “Vienna has not seen any major terrorist attacks in recent years” after the November Attack. It is much smaller than the sprawling metropoles of London or Berlin, and being able to get everywhere I need on a 30 minute tram ride made moving to a foreign city a far less daunting prospect.
An oasis of calm; Türkenschanz Park one spring afternoon this week - perfect spot for some reading!
Raus in die Natur! Out into nature!
One of the reasons the quality of life is so high in Vienna is perhaps the city's attractive location – surrounded by the Viennese woods and just a train-ride away from the idyllic Austrian mountains and lakes, as well as from Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest. The Danube does not flow through 'the centre' of Vienna, nor does it divide Vienna in the same way it does Budapest, but its banks can nevertheless be found filled with joggers, cyclists and walkers at the weekend. The more modern Business District, as well as UNO City, one of the four official headquarters of the United Nations, are also situated along the Danube. For a comprehensive yet enjoyable meander (if you’ll excuse the pun) along this key European artery, I’d highly recommend giving Claudio Magris’ Danube a read. I feel like I couldn’t possibly not mention Vienna’s Stadtwanderwege – signposted (to a certain extent…) popular walking routes around Vienna and it’s surroundings, which provide beautiful views and a refreshing weekend activity. I’ve just returned from a trip up Kahlenberg, which was far more vertiginous and strenuous than I remembered it to be!
Views over the Donau from a rather steep Stadtwanderweg 1a up to Kahlenberg.
Ein gutes Gemeinschaftsgefühl
‘Gemeinschaftsgefühl’ is one of those terribly handy German composite nouns, which translates to ‘the feeling of community’. When considering Year Abroad destinations, and especially during a pandemic, it was important to me that I would live somewhere where I knew I could find a community to slot into. I knew that I would personally find living alone in a foreign city during interminable lockdowns unbearable, and am very glad to be living with other students. I’ve weirdly felt less homesick than I do at Cambridge (which is only a 45-minute train-ride from home!), and I think that’s largely because there are always people around – even if they’re just sitting on the sofa when I come back from the library and ask me how it’s going, it does make a difference. I’ve also found the Catholic Student Community – the KHG Wien – to be incredibly welcoming and friendly – going to Church being the most exciting corona-secure activity in the phases of strict lockdown. I’d definitely recommend scouting out your options and being open-minded when you’re doing your research; no matter how thrilling the course is or how good the internship looks on your CV, you don’t want to be stuck abroad feeling miserable about it.
The Main Altar at Stephansdom in its current Lenten state... I'll just leave this one here...
The Wildcard
‘Rogue’ is one of those words that my group of linguist friends started using at the beginning of our degree and which sort of stuck ever since. My decision to choose Vienna was definitely up there on the ‘rogue’ list alongside our inexplicable choices to pick up Dutch, Portuguese and Ukrainian over the past few years. Many friends went to Paris to do internships, and the German cohort split between the techno scene in Berlin and the corporate worlds of Stuttgart or Frankfurt. While it’s true that the lockdown hasn’t been conducive to meeting swathes of Erasmus students, I would say Vienna doesn’t have nearly as many British students lurking about. While this might seem like a challenge, I’ve found it to be great for my German practice, and I’ve enjoyed living a very different lifestyle from my fellow Year Abroad-ers. There are also plenty of German students who come to Vienna for exchange, or simply to study. Three of my closest friends here all come from the same community in the Ludwigshafen, a German industrial city in Rheinland-Pfalz, which even by my standards is rather rogue indeed.
So there we have it – five reasons why Vienna has personally been a smashing choice for my Year Abroad. I’m glad to be back and excited to share more of what I’ve been getting up to recently, which may or may not have involved an impromptu escape to a Sound-of-Music-style-cloister - see below. Given that there are still no direct flights allowed between the UK and Austria, I think I’ll have to relinquish my dreams of all of you coming out to visit me, and settle for this Vicarious Vienna experience instead.
Bis bald!