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Overview of the exchange semester in Austria
Facchochschule Wiener Neustadt - The university consists of a big building located at the industrial area of the city with approximately 40,000 population. It is only 5 minutes walk from the dorm and easy to get to the center by bus and there are regular trains going to Vienna all day long. It takes approximately 40 minutes to get to Vienna by train. Unfortunately though, most business are closed on Sundays except restaurents, cinemas, and bars. The people here are very friendly and helpful especially the staff from the international office. Living expenses are not too high as well, the prices of goods etc are close to those in the states except to take into consideration the exchange rate where 1 Euro = aprrox. US$1.35. Cooking would be the best way to safe cost. Wines are especially cheap in Austria, 3 Euros is enough for a pretty good one. The work load are not much however most of the grades are highly weighted on the final exam. Learning the German language is particularly interesting. Enrolled in 12 credit hours, i found myself plenty of free time to travel, especially in May and June where i had only 3 or 4 classes each week. The only thing i have to complain is the schedule which could differ from week to week and it changes so often that we had to check our timetable frequently. The 'buddy network' was another great success, which basically assign each exchange student with a 'buddy', a regular student that could offer help once we arrived. Life in the dorm is amazing, this is the place you are looking for if you love to party where plenty of parties going on throughout the semester. This program provided me the greatest opportunity for networking and meeting friends from all over the globe. If you like to travel, Austria itself has plenty to offer, especially for nature lover, from the beautiful city of Vienna to breathtaking mountains and landscape. Located at the center of Europe, Austria provides the convenient for traveling around Europe, either by flight, train or even bus especially airfare are surprisingly cheap if you can plan in advance. One of the best part of this program for me is that they do organize some excursions for the exchange students, not only that, the university offer financial support to cover part of the expenses which makes traveling more affordable. Last words, i had some of the greatest times of my life during this exchange semester and i still keep in touch with my buddies i met in Austria, the experience is simply priceless. I would highly recommand anyone taking a semester or a year here. Feel free to drop me a line at [email protected] if you want to know more, i'm looking forward to meeting more friends.
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