Badgers Abroad

Episode #6 - Austria with Mia

• UW–Madison International Safety & Security

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0:00 | 17:22

In today's episode, we discuss traveling in Austria with Mia, a UW-Madison undergraduate student who is studying international studies with an emphasis on global security and political science. Mia recently studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, with one of our International Division's programs. She shares some of her experiences from Vienna and provides insights for future travelers who may be interested in studying abroad in Austria or Europe.

References and resources from the podcast are listed below:

Jeremy: All right, welcome to the Badgers Abroad podcast. My name is Jeremy. I'm the Assistant International Safety and Security Director at UW-Madison's International Division and the host of this podcast. Today, I'm here with a special guest. She's a student here at UW-Madison, and I'm going to let her introduce herself.

Mia: Hi, I'm Mia. I'm studying international studies with an emphasis on global security and political science. And I studied in Vienna, Austria, this past semester.

Jeremy: Awesome. So first, Mia, what inspired you to study in Vienna?

Mia: I think there are a few factors. I have my personal factors and then the studying factors. So, my family, my mom's side, is Austrian, Swiss, and German. My grandpa speaks German fluently. And as a kid, I was always around that. He was playing the accordion. He yodels. He won many yodeling competitions. So that kind of cultural influence has always been present in my life. And then, the person who originally planted the seed for me was my high school English teacher, who studied in Austria. And ever since I heard about his experiences, it's just kind of been in the back of my mind. So, I've always thought about it. But then, when I was researching programs, I found this business and international studies program in Vienna. And I found that it would align with my major really well. And there were a lot of really cool experiences with the program. And so, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me. And that's ultimately why I decided on it.

Jeremy: So, you were studying. Were you at a university studying?

Mia: Yeah, it was through the IES program. So, it wasn't actually at VEU, which is like the Vienna University. It was kind of like a setup, an American university almost there. But all of the professors were local Austrians who had been doing this for years and basically volunteered to teach American students.

Jeremy: So, how did you prepare to travel to Vienna and Austria? And did you work in any language, cultural skills, any financial planning, security preparations, anything like that?

Mia: I definitely tried my best. There were probably better ways I could have gone about certain things. I used Duolingo just to get the basics of like, thank you and please. I drink a lot of coffee, so I was like, maybe it'd be good to know how to order a coffee at a coffee shop, something like that. 

Jeremy: Yeah, that's very important. 

Mia: So I did that to prep, and then I also knew that my program had three weeks of intensive German at the beginning of it, and then German throughout the semester, so that we could get to the point where we could order at a restaurant, ask for directions, or something like that, just like very, very basic. When it came to cultural skills, though, I knew going into it that Austrians were very kind of straight and narrow. It's like, it's very rules-heavy and regulated. So, I did look up a few things, and I will say my program was very helpful in this, too. Like, it's just certain things, like if you're going to stand on the escalator, you have to stand on the right side, and people will yell at you if you're on the left side, unless you're walking. Just things like that. You can't really eat on public transportation. People will like, frown upon that. So just little things like that, so you don't stick out like a sore thumb. And security-wise, I'd been to Europe before, and I'd travel outside of the country. So, I had my pack that I wore in the airport. I had locks on my suitcases and everything like that. And I'm a pretty self-aware person. So, when I was taking public transportation, and especially in airports and busy areas, I was always double-checking my pockets. I never really kept anything in there anyway. And I was just very aware. So, I think that was important, and I knew I would be like that. The only thing I think I struggled to prepare was my finances. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I was a camp counselor for four years in the summers. And then I was kind of working part-time in college. So, I was like food running and lifeguarding. I didn't make that much money. And I definitely underestimated the cost of what it would be to go abroad, especially just based on the fact that I was traveling every single weekend. You really underestimate that. And of course, a year out, when you're looking at, oh, flights are 29 EUR to London. And then when you're booking like 3 weeks beforehand, it's 150 EUR, you know?

Jeremy: All right, those are great answers. Did you have any concerns or anxieties before you departed? Did you encounter any of these concerns? And how did you overcome or accommodate those issues?

Mia: Yeah, for sure. I mean, my brain automatically, I think, went to am I going to make good friends? Am I going to have people with me? Because I actually pretty much went alone through the program. There were other Wisconsin kids going, and I pretty much loosely knew one friend. And he was bringing a few others, but for the most part, I was pretty much going by myself into this. So I was most nervous about that, I would say, even though I'm a pretty social person, and it worked out very well, and I have many good friends from there. So that was like immediately what I was most nervous about. But I think I was just nervous about traveling in general. I love being abroad, traveling, and being in a different location. I sometimes get pretty anxious about the actual act of traveling. So just like everything combined, the time, the bags, I don't know. I'm just, I like to, once I'm on the plane, I'm good to go. It's just like the act before that. So, I think I was a little bit nervous about that too. But once you're there and you've done it a few times, it starts to become like a habit for you. And especially like taking the train, I got really good at doing that. Vienna's in a very central location. So, you know, you're able to take a train to Prague, you're able to train to Munich, to Budapest, even down to Italy, honestly. So it kind of became habitual, and I became a lot more comfortable as I went along.

Jeremy: Yeah, no, that's great. Tell us about the most memorable interaction you had with the locals in Vienna or Austria or in Europe in general, just on your trip.

Mia: There's a few. I've even made some Austrian friends who are my age, and one of them is in the United States right now. I might be able to see him sometime soon because he has some other friends at Wisconsin, which is really cool, just to hear about it from the perspective of someone who's your age. You know, he was working, and it was just cool to hear about his life. But the one experience that actually comes to mind is I was outside of my school in Vienna, and I was with two other friends, and we were just talking, probably loudly in English, and this man walked past us, who was probably in his mid-60s, and he stopped, and he was like, are you guys American students here? And we're like, yeah. And we chatted for a bit, and he was like, I actually have this art exhibition over here that I'm working on, and it's all my paintings in there. And he was like, the building is mine for this certain amount of time, would you guys be interested in coming to see this local Austrian art? And it was right down the street from my school. And I was with two guys, so I felt pretty comfortable. So, I was like, yeah, always traveling in groups. So he was like, would you guys like to come see? And I was like, yeah. So we went in, and it was beautiful. He had all of his art all around, and he just talked about how lucky he felt that he was this guy from the Austrian countryside who got to come into Vienna and show off his art. And here he was in the central 1st district of Vienna with this whole art exhibition. And he sat us down, and he gave us coffee, and he offered us cake, and we sat and talked for a while, and he really instilled, this was towards the beginning, so he really instilled like, to kind of soak everything up, soak the cultural experiences up. And he ended up giving us his card and his number. And it just showed me, I think, that sometimes you get nervous as an American abroad, but it just showed me that people are really kind, especially in Vienna. Every experience I had was that people were very, very kind as long as you were kind back to them, and you wanted to learn from them. And so that was something that opened my eyes. If you're a kind person and you're willing to learn, more often than not, they'll be kind back to you.

Jeremy: Well, like you said earlier, too, you took the time to learn about some of those cultural norms as well. A lot of that goes a long way. Or having the willingness to learn a little bit of the language and at least attempt to speak some of the language probably helps a little bit, too.

Mia: Yeah, I mean, it's nice in Vienna because they make Viennese kids take English from like first grade on, they're mandated to. So, pretty much everyone speaks English there. There were only a few encounters, I add, in Vienna, where people didn't speak English, and I had to use my elementary German to get by. But even when I would try, they'd often laugh and speak to me in English, but they always appreciated the gesture, I think.

Jeremy: Yeah. All right. So, what was your favorite food in Vienna or in Austria in general? And where did you get it?

Mia: I think my favorite would be the Käsekrainer, which is this sausage they have with a kind of cheese in the middle. And the best places to get them are where they have, it's basically like food stands all around. They're basically like sausage sticks. And you just go up, and they put them in a bun and fry them up there right for you and get them hot. And it's like 3, 4 EUR for one. So that was pretty awesome.

Jeremy: Probably amazing bread too.

Mia: Oh, it's so good. Yeah. And so that was one of my favorites. And then the one that, the one that took my money a lot was we had this kebab stand right outside my school. These things were just amazing. It was like fresh chicken every single day on a rotisserie thing. And all these veggies in it and their special sauce. And it was hard to go a day without ordering that.

Jeremy: So, what was something that you used in Austria that you couldn't have lived without? Maybe something you didn't think that you would need, or maybe something you didn't bring, and you wish you had brought, but what's one item that you used while you were traveling that you couldn't have lived without?

Mia: I think I might have an interesting answer to this. That's great. We love interesting. When I got there, I started looking around for a guitar, because I play guitar here, and I've never gone like four or five months without playing. And I was like, it might be nice. It was actually my first time having my own room, also. So I was like, it could be nice. I could play, maybe play guitar a little bit. I found this 30 euro classical guitar and brought it back. And I think that was something that, when I felt stressed, when I could come back from a long day, gave me a little bit of peace of mind. It was kind of a little slice of home, too. I'm not necessarily a huge homesick person, but being thousands of miles away from your family and friends can be difficult at times. So, I think that guitar was something I'd come back to every day after class. I'd play a little bit, and it just kind of made me relax a little bit. And I think that's pretty much the thing I couldn't have lived without. I was really, really glad that I decided to just go get that.

Jeremy: Is there anything you brought with you?

Mia: I had a travel backpack that was like the perfect regulation size for all those budget airlines, like Ryanair and Wiz Air. And it was great because it was zip-up like a suitcase. But you could also wear it on your back, and it could fit under the seat. So that was honestly a lifesaver because paying for that extra baggage fee is horrible. When you're a student there, it's like 80 EUR. So, if you don't pay for it and you go to the airline and your bags are too big, you've got to pay like those 75 Euros too. So, I think that was something I did my research on before, and I was really glad I had that because I was able to pack so much stuff in there that I could go for a full week. I could go for four or five days and have enough stuff in there. So yeah.

Jeremy: Did you have any issues with plugins or anything like that doing the conversions?

Mia: I just got an adapter from Amazon, and it worked everywhere for me. I had like the UK, EU, and a US adapter on it. That's perfect.

Jeremy: So, what was the most significant challenge you faced in Austria, and how did you overcome it? And if you have more than one, tell us about more than one.

Mia: There are probably two. One is more academic. So, I think when you go abroad, a lot of people are like, the focus is on the experience and not necessarily the classes that you're taking. A lot of my friends didn't have classes on Fridays or Mondays or things like that. They were in different cities. But in Vienna, we had class five days a week. Every single day, attendance was mandatory. They were long classes. They were like 3-hour classes at some points. And so I found myself having to put more effort into the classes than I thought I was going to, which ended up being great because I really did get to learn from these amazing professors who are so overqualified to be teaching us. But I did have one class, I took the business of wine in Austria. And I kind of, I thought it was going to be a fun class, like, oh, to learn about wine. Like, that's awesome. And it was great, but I had to study. So, this is one of the midterms and finals on this. I was studying for hours and hours on end because my teacher was basically like you need to act like a sommelier when you're done with this. You need to know, like the entire fermentation process, all the different types. And you had to be able to label them. You had to be able to say, these are the aromas. This is what the taste is like. The viscosity of the wine. We would taste wine and we'd have to guess what wine it was. And we did all regions of the world. And it's not that it necessarily aided my field of like international studies or poli sci, but it definitely was a good reminder that sometimes there are things out there that you don't think are going to be difficult. And I had to study so hard for this that it was good to have something like that to keep me, you know, in that school mindset.

Jeremy: That's awesome. So, what advice would you give to other individuals who are considering traveling or studying abroad in Austria?

Mia: I think something I wish I knew. Obviously, everyone's going to tell you it goes by really fast, and it does. And there were times where I was like, I'm not, I'm not eating as well as I used to in the US. I'm not exercising as much, or I feel like I'm always go, go, go . I never have alone time to just sit. And my advice is, you're going to have time when you come back to get back to where you want to be, to get back into your routine, everything like that. And in the moment, it might feel go, go, go. You might feel a little bit burned out at times, but that's what makes the best memories. That's what gets you the best experiences. And so I would, there were sometimes where I think I held back because I thought like, I don't know, I was used to my life in the US, but you're only in Europe for however many months you're there, weeks even. And so my advice is to just kind of soak it up while you're there and push through and just do everything that you can possibly do, because you're never going to get the chance to be young like that, not have that many serious responsibilities, travel all the time, and you're never going to have that type of experience again. So I would say go all out while you can.

Jeremy: So, how did traveling to Austria affect your personal growth and career aspirations?

Mia: I think spending a significant time abroad was definitely an eye-opening experience as to what it could be like to work abroad. And I actually had the great opportunity, one of my friends, her uncle, lives in Vienna, and he works for the nuclear sector of the UN. He's a very high-up lawyer in there, in those ranks. So he was a phenomenal connection and I got to have dinner with him at one point. And he got to talk me through what his experience was, kind of working up into that, what it was like to live abroad for him, be away from family all the time and things like that. So, I got to kind of hear all sides of this from someone who is working an incredibly lucrative job there.

Jeremy: Very prestigious job there in Vienna.

Mia: And he also did get to talk to me about potential grad school options and things like that and what he did and what he sees a lot of young people doing. And he even told me about a program that I didn't know about that I then got to research. So that particular instance was very, very eye-opening to me. It was a great connection that I got to make. And then my professors as well, as I said before, they were super overqualified. Like they were teaching us basically because they thought it was fun to do that. So one of my professors was actually, he managed like the Cirque du Soleil for a while and things like that and got to travel around and he had these great connections. Every week we went on a different field trip to, and we got to talk to one of the top managers there about that, or we got to go to the Prater area of Vienna, which was like this giant amusement park and this huge, and we got to learn about the business of all that. So even just beyond, like politics and international studies, what I'm kind of used to studying in my realm, I got to see some of the business side to things too, which also kind of opened the door a little bit to would I want to do something in the corporate world, like with my skills that I have from international studies. So it definitely just gave me options it felt like. I felt like my horizon got broadened a little bit.

Jeremy: So is there anything we didn't cover or are there any other things you'd like to share with future travelers?

Mia: One thing I would say I wish I did, although it may seem like a task, if you're there, I would recommend getting a journal or if you don't like writing, opening a Word doc and just every week, maybe like summarizing the things you did, where you went, who you were with and things like that because Things like that fade very easily in your memory. I'm currently going back right now and journaling about my entire time there, because I know in even a few years, like the details are going to be a little bit fuzzy. But it's been really, really fun for me to like look back on some of that. And I think It's just great to have that down, just to look back on later in your life. And also in meeting connections, make sure you grab their number, grab their e-mail, like get their name or their card, because you never know like what you're going to need. Like, because it might sound weird, but if you make a meaningful connection with someone, they'll remember you. Or even if they don't and you e-mail them or you text them or something and just check in and use that connection, like they're going to want to help you. And they're going to see that you're taking that advantage, taking that opportunity. So even if you don't think I'm going to live abroad in the future, I'm going to work abroad. Just make sure you write stuff like that down. And yeah, I think that's something that I was glad that I did.

Jeremy: All right, Mia, so that concludes this podcast. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today, and we'll talk to you next time.

Mia: Yeah, thank you for having me.