Comments about the Vienna Summer Program from Past Participants

for more complete comments, please check out the binders in 1055 BIF

Useful Advice

"The most valuable thing I learned on the trip was from my classmates from around thirty different countries around the world. Living with people from so many different cultures, I learned about the life of a college student in each of those different countries. I can now say that I have a place to stay in dozens of different countries in Europe because of the friends I made in three weeks in Vienna. Overall I feel like my trip to Vienna was one of the most fun and enriching experiences I have ever had."
-Kevin Bergeron, Summer 07

"I wish I had more knowledge on how people dressed in Vienna. I was stold that people in Europe dressed a lot more formally than here in the U.S. However, I found that college students all pretty much dress the same as students here in the U.S."
-Diana Liao, Summer 07

“The program in Vienna was amazing. Overall, I had a great experience in Vienna and I want to travel to Madrid for spring break. Europe is a place with endless things to discover and I think everyone should study abroad!” – Melissa Colgan, Summer 06

“Overall I had an amazing experience. I think what made it so great was my study abroad had a really nice mix of time spent in the classroom, time spent exploring the city of Vienna, and time getting to know the other students who came from all over Europe while simply having a good time. This was the best trip I have ever taken. It was also the first time I had been outside of the US.” - Matthew Larson, Summer 06

Location

"Vienna is a great location in that it is only a few hours train ride away from several neighboring countries. This makes visiting other countries in a short amount of time very manageable and convenient. The city itelf is very nice because of all the different sights, and the well-designed metro system makes it extremely easy to get around. Vienna is in the northeast corner of Austria, so it was actually closer to travel to the neighboring countries in that area than to travel to the other parts of Austria. This made it more difficult and time consuming to see other parts of Austria and the countries bordering Austria on the southwest side."
-Diana Liao, Summer 07

“Vienna is a medium-sized city, so it is big enough that you never run out of things to do, but it is small enough so that you can feel comfortable in your surroundings.” – Melissa Colgan, Summer 06

“I found Vienna to be a beautiful city that was also tourist friendly and offered many fascinating things to see.” – Matthew Larson, Summer 06

Courses

"The courses I took, International Marketing and Cross Cultural Management, were very interesting and provided good knowledge on international business. It was interesting to take classes in Vienna because teachers use examples from countries all over the world. It was also interesting to compare the different teaching styles in Europe versus the United States and also to see the similarities that exist when it comes to teaching theories. My International Marketing course was taught by four different teachers. This made it more difficult to gete to know each teacher and for the teachers to get to know the students. Some of the teachers didn't coordinate their lesson plans very well with others and often times we ended up learning the same concepts from several teachers."
-Diana Liao, Summer 07

“The courses are at a medium difficulty level, which is perfect for learning, but also not studying all the time so that you are able to experience the city.” - Melissa Colgan, Summer 06

“My courses were interesting and helped facilitate interaction among the students who were from all over Europe along with the few of us from the U.S. The coursework was both insightful and not too heavy.” – Matthew Larson, Summer 06

Housing

"Although the dorm was only a 5-minute walk from the nearest metro line to the university, the metro ride itself was still 15 minutes. This is a lot different than living on campus like here in the U.S. Also, the laundry facilities in the dorm required a card that we had to obtain from a bank. This made doing laundry extremely inconvenient and many people had trouble working the machines."
-Diana Liao, Summer 07

“The dorm situation gives you easy access to train stations, and food but also to all the other students within the building. It was great having a bathroom in the room. There are kitchens where you can make food if you want to.” – Melissa Colgan, Summer 06

“My housing accommodations were very sufficient. I considered my housing to be even a little nicer than most of the dormitories here on campus.” - Matthew Larson, Summer 06

Costs

"As part of the progrram fee the school gave us vouchers for breakfast and lunch for every weekday at the school's cafeteria. For dinner and food on weekends I spent probably around $50 or so a week, but that includes drinks and eating at restaurants. There was no textbook for my course but there was a note packet that was included as part of the initial fee for the program."
-Kevin Bergeron, Summer 07

"I probably spent about $50 a week on meals. The University provided breakfast and lunch vouchers on lecture days. So, we only had to worry about eating dinner on weekdays and eating on the weekends. I didn't spend any money on textbooks. The University provided all the materials that we needed for class."
-Diana Liao, Summer 07

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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