IES Vienna: Unbelievable Experiences Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

Honestly, I was not a huge fan of the majority of my classes. Some of the teachers were unengaged in our class and I really do not feel like I learned anything in 3 of my 5 courses. The information was very basic, and for someone who is not a freshman or sophomore in basic level courses, I felt like it was a lot of review. Because I was travelling frequently and enjoying the nightlife on almost a nightly basis, I didn't mind terribly but for people who are looking to learn a lot, these were not the best classes. I did enjoy my German language class and my art history class though. Those made me much more culturally aware and allowed me to enjoy my time in Wien thoroghly.

On-site administration of your program

The people who worked in the IES office were pretty cool for the most part. Tobi was absolutely the man and was awesome to hang out with. Kent and Dieter were both cool too. Also, the program size was good, I just wasn't a huge fan of the massive amount of music kids. They tended to be kind of weird and somewhat annoying. I wish there more society and culture kids like us.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

Housing was pretty good. All the apartments that I visited around the city that IES provided for us students were nice for the most part. My apartment was moderately far from the school, but it was not difficult to get there. It just took a solid 40 min.

Food was never an issue, we had supermarkets near us and near the IES center. And the street food is fantastic. I already miss the wurstel stands, kepab stand and nudel stands.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I visited a lot of places, some of which I did with IES. I went with the program to Prague, Budapest, and Krakow which was beautiful and a ton of fun. I also went skiing in the Alps in the Western part of Austria which was incredible. Personal travelling is also a must and I loved visiting friends in Spain and going to Oktoberfest in Munich. But Vienna has a ton of stuff to do all throughout the fall semester...honestly too many things to name.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I'm pretty sure that Vienna is one of the safest cities in the world. Nobody I knew had incidents there. I knew people that had problems in Spain, Italy and Germany but nothing too serious I don't think. One thing to note though is that they obviously had different viruses and stuff over there and I caught a few colds. So having Nyquil or something was a lifesaver.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

I had German classes 3 days a week and we used the language a lot in everyday activities. As I said above, most people (especially those under age 30) spoke varying degrees of English.

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• Apartment

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• Americans

• the city of Vienna
• good friends
• nightlife

• teachers
• less music kids
• attendance policies