Vienna: First Impressions

Featured in this post: 
1. Putting Vienna in Perspective
2. Finding Affordable Accommodation
3. City Life
4. The School 
5. The Austrian Education System.

1. Putting Vienna in Perspective

I had only been to Vienna twice, for a couple of days each time, before making this move. The first was while inter-railing through central Europe in 2009 and it was a quick stopover before moving on elsewhere. I remember we stayed in a decent hostel that had an awesome view over the city and we spent our only full day exploring Schönbrunn, Vienna zoo & maze, and the Riesenrad ferris wheel. A day spent as typical tourists here. The second visit was over a weekend at the end of July this year, precisely during the hottest weekend of the summer (38-39˚C.) It was a productive time to organise my flat, etc. in preparation for moving and it turned out rather convenient to travel from Sopron (just 1 hour 10 mins by train.)  

Now, I have had some time to process a proper first impression. This is the largest city I will have

ever lived in. The population of Vienna alone (approx.. 1.7 million) is the population of my home country Northern Ireland. That's just to put it in perspective. I'm fully aware that Vienna is far from big on the scale of the real super cities of the world (in comparison to London or Paris) but for me, it is as large scale as it gets. My previous places of residence include Lisburn, Belfast (both NI), Turku (Finland) and Klaipeda (Lithuania) - it should give you an indication how small they are if you have never heard of any of these. 

2. Finding Affordable Accommodation

I’m living in the 18th district in Vienna. First of all, I was absolutely clueless about the districts in Vienna. After two weeks here, I now know that there are 23 districts and they are recognisable by the postcode; don’t ask me to name them though! Secondly, I have realized that the first reaction when people hear I live in the 18^th district is, “Oh, that's a nice area!” Translation: that's a fancy, expensive area, how can you afford to live there? Well, rather easily actually. Because I was luckily offered a very cheap garconniere (this is how it has been described to me, though I never quite grasped the meaning of this word) for only 260€/month (including electricity, water and heating) with a 350€ deposit. This is incredibly cheap for Vienna considering a student dorm room will fair somewhere between 280-360€/month with a deposit of 3 times the rent. 

Nevertheless, there is a reason why this ~30m² flat is so affordable. It has more-or-less everything one might need for temporary accommodation: a bed, sofa, table, chairs, plates, cutlery, pans, shower, wardrobes, etc. But, it also has some quirky features, like the fact that the toilet is in a separate, little cubby hole out in the corridor (at least I am the only one in the building with a key to it so it is exclusively for me) and instead of an oven, there is a small, two-ring, electric hob. I am also lacking a washing machine here but it is manageable as my landlady lives just across the road and I can use hers. I’m living in an old building that looks lovely from the outside, like many of the beautiful buildings in Vienna. The flat is sufficient for my needs and I have made it somehow like a little home but I am rather apprehensive about how it will be in the winter, especially with that toilet in the corridor. It already gets rather cold there during the night and early morning and I’ve been told that I need to use an electric heater in the winter to make sure the toilet water doesn’t freeze. 

The only other necessity that was pretty much a top priority for me is the internet. During my visit in July, I managed to organise a decent pay-as-you-go Smartphone tariff that allows me to access the internet on my phone. After moving here, I purchased an internet stick for my laptop that I can also top-up as I need. The only thing is that because both of these services are prepaid, I have limited access per month in terms of gigabytes. To ensure I don’t spend ludicrous amounts of money on internet access, I have been trying to ration my usage – that means if I don’t need it, I don’t use it and I no longer use the video function during Skype calls. It’s actually making me think about what I should use the internet in general, and because of this, Facebook has taken a major hit as one of the biggest data consumers – I now find that using WhatsApp or Viber is much better for keeping in contact than FB.  


3. City Life

Living in an area like this makes me feel slightly self-conscious about looking like a scruff. I think twice before putting on my converse, as the thought that a stylish pair of pumps will blend in better invades my mind. However, after exploring the area more while my Swiss man Thomas has been here, we concluded that you can find all kinds of people here – in a city like this, it seems that everyone is an individual outcast trying to find a place to fit in; in a way, that means everyone fits in here.

As tourists in 2009, my friends and I abused the transportation (yes, we were free-riders; we literally didn’t understand how to pay.) Now I am happy to pay for the transport because the city is so well connected (though it can easily take up to 1 hour to travel from one side of the city to the other, which I have to do if I want to take a train somewhere.) As the ridiculously over-organised person that I am, I had already ordered a yearly ticket (Jahreskarte) before moving here which covers the subway (U-Bahn), trams, buses and local railway (S-Bahn). This was down to two reasons; 1) Austria has an inconvenient system whereby weekly tickets can only begin on a Monday, and monthly and annual tickets must begin on the 1^st of a month. Hence, I ordered mine in July so that it was already valid for my arrival at the end of August (valid from 1st August). Because of the green party in power at this time, the Jahreskarte was only 365€ for 12 months (1€ per day). Even though I’m only planning to stay here for 10 months, this is absolutely worth it as it is more economical than buying 10 monthly tickets at 47€ each. 

As an aside, I always seem to notice the small matters of change that the locals obviously take for granted. For example, as I was buying groceries the other day, my change included two 1 cent coins and a 2 cent coin. After living in Finland, where these are simply not in circulation and everything is rounded to the nearest 5 cent, I found myself swaying to the opposite side of the pendulum than I used to be. Originally, in Finland I felt I was being slightly ripped off - all those rounded cents add up in the end. But now, in Vienna, I find myself wondering why people bother with these ridiculous small-scale, useless added weights that are 1 and 2 cent coins. Anyway, that’s my coin related rant is over. 
 

4. The School

I am the second Comenius Assistant to be placed at Vienna Bilingual School after they applied for the first time last year. What a coincidence it was to learn that their first Comenius assistant was a girl from Finland, whom I actually know! I met Laura in Turku through an Erasmus in Schools

project and later via ESN. Because of this coincidental connection, I could gain some insight into the school before going there. However, it only seemed to make sense after experiencing it first-hand myself. After hearing about Laura’s experience, it was clear from my first day at the school that they have improved their Comenius connection and taken on board Laura’s recommendations – everyone was super friendly and welcoming; I was given a tour of the school (in German, by four 4^th-graders) and provided with a key that unlocks almost all of the rooms in the school, including the “teachers’ toilet” (which is in the same bathroom as the toilets the children use.)

The school is nicely refurbished providing a modern and pleasant environment to work in. I have to use the term ‘modern’ rather loosely though, because there is a surprising lack of technology. The classrooms are equipped with chalkboards and only two computers at the back of the room. There is no beamer/projector, no computer room and no internet access in the classrooms. This makes most of the recommended online British Council resources unusable for me, which is somewhat of a disappointment but considering how my hours are spent, this is not the most prominent concern.

Despite being a bilingual school, 60% of the classes are not bilingual but regular German-speaking classes. Initially, it was a bit of a shock for me to find out that my hours (16h/week) would be split between the 6 German-speaking classes (more than 120 names to learn!), ranging from 1^st to 4^th grade (children aged 6-10.) With only an A1+ basic level of German, it is easy to imagine how overwhelming this seemed and the limited potential for teaching. It has to be said though, that this is the best way for me to learn German and along with an evening course, I hope this means my language skills will improve! My school week will be from Tuesday-Friday, with Mondays off.

5. The Austrian Education System

I have heard some critical things before about the Austrian education system but I have been determined not to let these influence my own experience before I have even started. I am yet to form my own opinion about it but I can at least report what I have learned so far.

A typical school day will start at 8am sharp and finish at 1pm. It consists of 5 hours (roughly = 5 lessons) with each lesson lasting 50 minutes, with a 10 minute break before the next one. For the children, this ten minute break in every hour can be spent eating a snack, having a drink or playing. There is no lunch break as such. Most children seem to stay in the classroom during the breaks as some teachers have a rule that only 5 children can go out at a time. Going out means playing in the corridor so during the breaks, the adults have to watch out for sponge balls flying from different directions! After the school day ends at 1pm, most children go home for lunch and can return to the school around 3pm for after-school clubs such as Judo, Science Club, etc.

In public schools, of which there are approx. 96% in Austria, tuition fees are non-existent. One teacher informed me that class sizes in public schools are capped at 25 by law and in private schools there can be no more than 28 children in a class. The primary school years range from 1^st to 4^th grade, starting from age 6 until age 10. 

An unusual feature that struck me was the fact that the children have the same teacher (and therefore, the same classroom) for all 4 years in primary school. Some teachers feel this is a good thing because a strong rapport is built with the class and progress can be closely tracked. However, some teachers feel there should be a change, even just after the 2^nd grade, so that the 1^st & 2^nd grades are taught by one teacher, and the 3^rd and 4^th by another. This current set up spanning all four grades is a significant contrast to what I’ve seen before. In Northern Ireland, one must specialize during primary teacher training in a ‘Key Stage’ (see table); I specialized in Key Stage 2.

Foundation Stage	Key Stage 1	Key Stage 2
Age 4-6	Age 7-9	Age 9-11
Primary 1 (P1)-Primary 2 (P2)	P3-P4	P5-P7

I am curious to see more of how the Austrian system works and can subsequently reflect as I experience it throughout this school year.

For now, my first impressions of Vienna, and Austria in general, are quite overwhelming but manageable. As the time goes on I will gain a much deeper insight as to how it is to live here, and hopefully integrate well as I progress in the German language.