8 April 2022

9am -German class 

I have my German class three times a week in the mornings. In the beginning of the semester, this was the hardest class for me since learning German was new to me. It brought me back to High School when I took Spanish. It’s interesting how my attitude for the class has changed; it’s now my favorite class this semester. 

11am -practicing my German

After my German class, I tend to just stay on the third floor of the building talking with friends or doing some small work like catching up on my emails. Then, at 11am, I have my tutoring session with Hanna. We usually meet once a week and it’s been super helpful getting to practice speaking German. I’m finding that it’s a lot more challenging pronouncing words in German than writing them. Recently, my favorite word to practice has been “spazieren,” which means to go on a walk. Z’s are typically pronounced harsher than English Z’s in that it almost sounds like an “s”. Learning a new language was something I knew I wanted to do while studying abroad and so I purposefully chose somewhere where English wasn’t the dominant language. 

2pm -Cafe break

I had a late lunch with my friend Annabelle at 7stern Cafe. I would usually have my Art History class on monuments and memorials, but it suddenly got cancelled. On Tuesday, I would be out with my class on an excursion relating to what we talked about the previous day. It was about three stops away from Stephansplatz, so super close from IES, and it was a much needed break from my academics. The atmosphere was lively with lots of young people talking and working on group projects. I even saw some dogs there! We stayed there two hours and decided to head back to TSH. 

5pm -running in the rain

A little past 5pm, I put on my running clothes and went out for a run. But, unfortunately it suddenly started raining, so instead I decided to workout at the gym. TSH is such a perfect place for students, like me, to live in that there are washing/drying machines, a gym, and events like kick-boxing and Zumba –all free! I was bummed that I wasn’t able to go on my weekly run at Prater, but I was glad I was able to get a nice workout. I think it would be good to mention here that Prater is an iconic amusement park in Vienna. It first opened in 1766 to the public and is still one of the most popular meeting spots for Vienese people. It has a 2.7mile running route called “the Hauptallee,” which I typically go on. 

6:30pm -cooking my own meals

I had leftovers from the night before for dinner. 

*Vienna has lovely Easter Markets and they start in the first week of April. I was able to go to one the next day (I inserted a picture of the decorated eggs)*

5 April, 2022

There are three mandatory excursions for IES Vienna, the program that I’m in. Last weekend, I was able to go on two out of the three trips by visiting the Mauthausen and Milch/Krems with my Arts and Humanities program. 

On Friday, April 1st, the day started early in the morning at 8:45am where we all met at Schönbrunn station. IES Vienna and Austria in general are super strict with COVID restrictions, so we had to show our negative PCR tests before getting on the bus. After about two hours of driving, we stopped for lunch where I had the most delicious “Apfel Strudel”. So far since this semester started, I’ve eaten so many Apple Strudel! There are definitely many types of deserts here and I absolutely love trying them out. 

Before starting our guided tour of Mauthausen, we had a one-hour lecture by one of the professors of IES who spoke about literature having the power in needed times. Overal, the experience of being in the actual spaces where Jewish and other marginaliized individuals were murdered and brutally abused was something I still can’t wrap my mind about. 

The next day was more light-hearted in that we visited Melk and Krems. It is in a beautiful part of Austria with old buildings and cute towns. We were able to go on a tour of the city and while walking around, it suddenly started to snow! 

For the past few months I’ve either been traveling or exploring Vienna, so I appreciated being able to see another part of Austria. 

While deciding on where to study in Europe my sophomore year, Vienna stood out to me as the central location. Just last week, I was able to fly to Dublin on a Wednesday and then to come back to Vienna to fly back out again to Stockholm on Friday for the weekend! 

I’ve been traveling almost every weekend since coming to Vienna. It’s exhausting and definitely makes it hard to fully relax and start new for the following week. But, there’s also so much I’ve gained from visiting new places with different people. Some of my friends I’ve traveled with like to create a structured schedule, while I noticed others like to go with the flow by just walking around and stopping when something interesting stands out. It’s been so much fun experiencing how others travel. Its been interesting traveling with others and learning what works for me about traveling. I’ve learned to pack the most essential things in my one and only carry-on backpack and learn to navigate a new place by talking to strangers (which is terrifying!). 

On top of exploring new cities and different cultures, I’ve also been meeting up with some Whitties! 2 weekend ago, Katie, who’s studying in Granada visited me in Vienna. Last week, in Stockholm, I was able to meet up with Emma and Maya (I’ve inserted a picture of us down below:)) They showed me around they’re favorite spots and places to eat and we were able to catch up a ton. Hearing about how they’ve been having so much fun brings me so much joy. For some people, studying abroad can be the best time of their lives. Seeing them in a new country, when I would typically see them on Ankeny made me wonder about the future after Whitman where everyone will be away from each other just like being abroad. 

It’s getting close to April which means I only have about a month and a little bit left of being here in Vienna and since it’s finally getting warmer outside, I’ve made it my goal to try to explore and spend more time here. For me, this means blocking out chunks of time during the week to get out, instead of staying in my room studying or watching my favorite shows. A conversation I had with my study abroad advisor has been lingering in my mind lately. It was a conversation we had a while ago, when I was struggling in the beginning, about the importance of enriching one’s study abroad experience by getting to know one’s location. Fantasizing about places to visit outside of Austria is easy to do, sometimes even effortless, but for now I want to try to find unique and special places in Vienna. 

Today marks the first day of the beginning of midterm exams. I can’t believe it! It’s already been seven weeks since arriving in Vienna and a lot has happened since I wrote in this blog. 

I want to be real with you. The first few days in Vienna were one of the hardest times of my life. I cried. A lot. Studying abroad during the pandemic made everything so much more difficult, especially in the social aspect. Everything was turned online, so I would only meet my fellow IES students on my screen.

All of the sad, frustrating, homesick feelings faded as time passed. But, at random times, like when I’m walking to and from my study abroad building I get into my head. I’ve been recently thinking about how this study abroad experience has taught me a lot and in a lucky way has forced me to become more independent. This is embarrassing to share, but before coming here I had never taken a train by myself, alone! But now I actually enjoy having the freedom of being able to go anywhere, by myself, with a book in hand. It feels empowering and has become second nature to me.

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Hello from Vienna!

Welcome to my blog:) My name is Wako, I’m a junior Psychology major studying in Vienna for the Spring 2022 semester. I decided to study abroad in Vienna for many reasons some including to immerse myself into the Viennese culture, to learn German, and to explore the art and music that Austria is famously known for.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my first post and I’m excited to share my experiences with everyone.

The picture on the left was taken at the city center near my housing location, The Student Hotel and it’s called die Wiener Pestsäule (Plague Column). I actually had a picture of it on my Lock Screen for months before coming to Vienna, so it truly hit me then and there when I saw it in-person for the first time that I was finally in Vienna.

The group photo on the right was taken in front of Wiener Riesenrad during our walking tour around the area. I was able to meet and connect with so many people from it!