Julia's Exchange to Salzburg University of Applied Sciences | Austria
One of the biggest regrets I came across while meeting new
people, is that they didn’t go on an exchange during their university years. I
came to quickly agree with them, going on an exchange is quite thrilling, and
scary, but definitely worth all the trouble!
First day in Salzburg, Austria
I went to study in Salzburg, Austria at the beginning of the
year, and while I had some difficulty with my visa, accommodation and
Centrelink, it did not stop me from having a wonderful trip! For those planning
on going on an exchange, make sure you organise your visa BEFORE you leave
Australia, not after, like I did. It tested both my patience and reasoning to
achieve my student visa, and communication is a definite key, make sure you
know exactly which documents they require, and double check it. It is possible,
however, to obtain a student visa in Europe, just so you know, and once I had
mine, I was free to go study in Austria. Once in Salzburg, my FH Salzburg buddy
met me at the train station to take me to my accommodation, this was literally
the last resort to student accommodation in Salzburg, and surprisingly it was
my cheapest and best-looking housing I could find, or so I thought. What was
advertised as a nice, normal student housing, deceivingly left out the part
where the second half of the building was a monastery. My buddy prepared me for
the worst, thinking I will have to eat dinner with the nuns and confess my sins
to the priest every Sunday. But as it turned out, the students are left completely
to their own devices and I think I only saw a nun twice during my 5 months stay
there. So the accommodation worked out! Even if I felt like Julie Andrews at
this point. Once I settled in, my buddy took me out to the Old Town for a
traditional Austrian meal, we had something the lines of a spinach knödel,
and when we received our beers, I recalled my aunt saying “Gesundheit” as
cheers in German. So I cheered away only for my buddy to almost spit her beer
up, saying I just blessed her as if she sneezed. That day I learnt “Prost” is
cheers in German and made a new friend.
Student accommodation in Salzburg, shared bedroom
Fast forward to my studies at FH Salzburg and I met loads of
others just like me on an exchange and made some lifelong friends. I was even
lucky to be visited by my friends from Australia during the summer holidays and
meet up with those living in Europe.
Fellow Graphic Design exchange students
There truly wasn’t a
dull moment on this trip. Almost every weekend I was off travelling somewhere
in Europe either to an old friend or with new friends. I went snowboarding in
South East France, travelled to Poland almost every second weekend seeing
family, went to Vienna for the Forward Festival, Munich for Frühlingsfest and
Wine Festival, Milan for Design week, Venice for Le Biennale, Dublin for Lana
Del Rey concert, Paris, Croatia for a sailing tour, and Budapest.
How did I manage all this travelling? I looked into a train
pass and Eurail became my best friend. They offer 3 month passes with unlimited
journeys, a winner in my eyes. At first glance the price looks too steep for
any travelling student’s pocket, but after some heavy contemplation and
comparisons, I realised purchasing single train tickets would add up very
quickly and surpass the special train pass (and that’d have been for just two
return journeys!)
Palace
of Culture and Science, Warszawa, Poland
When you take my
experience studying in Austria and compare it to studying in Australia, in my
degree it did not seem very different. But I do recall focusing more on
analogue techniques to later translate to digital, and as a graphic designer,
this opened my eyes to a new process of thinking. However, I did get smashed
with the foreign semester schedule, where classes ran irregularly every week,
and at first made me believe I have time to travel every week, but then killed
me towards the end when everything was suddenly due after the 5th
class.
But seriously, despite all the mishappens during my
exchange, I would recommend the experience 100%, I’m even thinking of doing my
Masters degree overseas now…
- Julia studied abroad at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in Austria
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