Nerves, Plans and Sightseeing

August 20, 2018, by stydest

Nerves, Plans and Sightseeing

With just under three weeks to go, it’s fair to say the nerves are definitely building

I’d love to attach a picture showing all my bags packed and ready to go but that would be a lie, I can’t pretend that I’m that prepared! My suitcase is instead still somewhere in the loft ready to be

hauled out the day before I depart.

Contract finally signed

I’m not completely disorganised, following my recent visit to Vienna last month I have now confirmed my accommodation for the coming year. I’ll be staying in a WG flat share with two Austrian students, I’m really looking forward to this opportunity and hope it will give me a unique insight into Austrian culture.

Since meeting with them we have stayed in regular contact, which has been great to get to know them better. Now the prospect of leaving the UK on my own isn’t as daunting because I won’t be on my own when I get there. I will at least know two friendly faces to start off, and hopefully many more to come!

Getting around

Easy. like many European countries the transport here is excellent, and nowhere near as expensive as the UK. The trams, buses and underground all connect up, and you only have to get one ticket to be covered on all of them. Throughout our whole visit we didn’t have to get a single taxi! We did do a lot of walking but that was by choice, there are so many amazing things to see around every corner!

Sightseeing

While in Austria I also managed to squeeze in some sightseeing. I would definitely recommend a visit, there is so much to see in this city.

In four days I only managed to catch a glimpse, however my highlights were:

Schloss Schönbrunn and Schloss Belvedere
Stephansdom
Naschmarkt Film Festival
Rathausplatz

Schloss means palace in German, the ones I visited are both surrounded by beautifully maintained gardens that you could really make a day of just walking around.

The architecture and overall scale of the buildings in Vienna is something else, and the Stephansdom in no exception. This in the largest cathedral in the city and a massive tourist attraction, but you can see why as it really is a beautiful building.

We went to the Naschmarkt for lunch on the second day, this huge market seems to go on for ever with lots to choose from. I had the best vegan falafel wrap I have ever tasted. The food isn’t typisch österreichisch, but is fusion of cultures, colours, and flavours.

Finally the film festival at Rathausplatz, this is a pop up festival that is only open during the summer. We actually stumbled across this on our first day, but ended up going back as it was so good. Again it had a wide variety of different food stalls and bars, and the atmosphere was brilliant.