Monthly Archives: September 2014

Budapest is calling

Over the weekend I was at Budapest! A really nice city that has grew and got better since the last time I was there (which was around 8 years ago).

I was guided there a colleague of mine who was born and raised there. The first day he organized a pub-quest. There is a street near the old city center with all the possible different bars/clubs/cafes. On the way to one of the bars we have met a group of super-heroes: there was a batman, spiderman, hulk, etc. So I couldn’t resist and took a picture with them. This was actually a bachelor party. Have you seen something similar in Vienna? I don’t think so. It is because Eastern Europe is a completely different world.

Next day, we started with Spa – a huge old building with several types of swimming pools and special treatments such a massage. It is much cheaper than in Vienna, I should admit. The lunch was really massive. I didn’t want to order a lot, however, the portions of food in Hungary are huge, so anyone will be so much full as you could never imagine.

On Sunday, we visited the Parliament – the hugest governmental building after the Romanian one (if I am not mistaken). We have seen only several halls and rooms, but it already took us 90 minutes, so I could imagine how politicians are actually getting lost there. No trip to Budapest goes without taking a ride along the Donau river. The view, the feeling of water, the wind – everything is amazing. By the end of the day, just to close our wonderful weekend we did the beer-biking. It is a really weird mean of transportation connected with beer and pedaling. I would strongly recommend.

This is the short overview of how I spent my weekend. I hope that you had as exciting couple ofdaysas I did.

Semester planning!

The October is coming almost in a week, and this means that the university time starts officially.

Of course some poor students had to be already at the Uni in September: either to study for the coming year or to pass the exams from the previous one. However, it is still very different from what is actually experiencing a student in October.

It is a wonderful feeling when you get to know your classmates, professors, when you are experiencing new offerings from EBN or ÖH (student organizations), new events and parties.

All the clubs are waiting for the moment when they can open their doors for students, who returned from summer vacations full of energy and enthusiasm. The libraries are procuring more and more books and studying materials counting minutes for the first course’s assignments. Mensa is developing menu for everyday’s stream of hungry students.

Sounds like a busy time for everyone, but it is still not about different organizations or services – it is all about the students. It is their time!

They are the main characters of this movie. Students will complain about immediate workload, about their colleagues and professors. Students will also complain about borings events and even more boring lectures. But in reality, they all love this time! They love this period in their lives when you are living in the constant stress and experience all possible emotions to the fullest. It is time of opportunities when the world is open for whatever you would like to try: create a start-up, organize a conference, take part in students’ organizations or just be the coolest guy in the class. This is the brightest time of your life and years spent at the University will stay in your memories forever. So please, get ready for the New Year and make it unforgettable!

Herbst is coming!

The autumn came to Vienna unexpectedly. The weather keeps surprising us. Just couple of weeks ago it was raining like crazy for several days in a row. When I was walking on the streets my feet were basically drowning! And this week the weather was completely different: the sun was shining, 20 degrees above zero: a perfect atmosphere to lie on the grass in one of the many parks in Vienna.

But no matter, how long we wanted to enjoy this wonderful weather, the coming week will prove that it was the last gift of this year, a reminder of a hot summer. Pouring rains and drop in the temperature are waiting for us.

A new school year is coming together with the autumn. New courses, subjects, assignments and exams will take over the minds of students and pupils instead of parties, beaches and relaxations.

But don’t be upset! This is a wonderful season that brings not only the beautiful colorful trees and fresh wind, but also new opportunities, knowledge and acquaintances. For me personally, autumn means a stage of growing up as I have my birthday in October! And birthday is a perfect chance to make resolutions. My resolutions for this year are: to learn German at B2 level, to find a job, to find a boyfriend and, as a result of implementing all these points, to stay in Vienna. Quite a lot for one year, don’t you think? But this is the way it should be: you should aim high to achieve a lot! I do really hope I could manage with these points. And I hope that autumn will be a good and promising beginning of a new stage in my life.

Sachertorte

Zubereitung:

Backrohr auf 190 Grad vorheizen. Schokolade schmelzen, Eiweiß mit Feinkristallzucker zu Schnee schlagen. Weiche Butter schaumig rühren, geschmolzene Schokolade unterrühren, Staubzucker, Vanillezucker und Salz einrühren, gut cremig rühren. Nach und nach Dotter einrühren. Zuletzt Schnee und Mehl vorsichtig unterheben. Teig in die befettete und bemehlte Tortenform einfüllen. Torte ca. 60 Minuten bei 170 Grad backen. Torte auskühlen lassen und anschließend aus der Form lösen. Marmelade erhitzen und Torte an der Oberseite und an den Rändern bestreichen. Mit Schokoglasur rundherum bestreichen.

Guten Appetit 🙂

Unabhängigkeit

Independence

Today I would like to share my experience as a person who lives independently from his/her parents.

For the whole of my life which is basically 20 years, I have been living with my parents in our apartment in St. Petersburg, Russia. I was completely and totally domesticated. When I was coming back from school or university, there was always a warm dinner waiting for me, nice smile from my mom and interesting conversations about the day. I didn’t have to think about financing myself as there was father who is the main earner in our family and we could go shopping with my mom when we wanted.

Here, in Vienna situation has changed drastically. I was on my own without the support of my parents. So I had to find a place to live, to cook for myself and try not to damage my stomach, to clean the apartment, to organize my days, to find a way of earning at least some money, etc. The list can go longer and longer. I should admit that this independence is attractive from one side. You can plan your own day without consulting with anyone, you are responsible for your actions and words, you feel like you are stepping in a new grown-up life. However, on another side, there is no one near you who can give you advice and help you with serious issues. You are actually on your own.

Do I enjoy being independent? Yes. Do I miss being surrounded by people who make decisions instead of me? Yes. But this is life. People are getting older, more experienced and children grow up. So I am looking forward to whatever I will face in the nearest future while living here in Vienna. Hopefully, the possible difficulties will make me a stronger person, and potential success will make me a better one.

What do you do on Sundays?

I have been living in Vienna for a while already, and there are a lot of things that I got used to. For example, shops opening hours, fees for clubs’ entrance, service routines, etc. However, there is still one thing that makes me wondering! What people occupy their Sundays with?

For sure, city administration organizes different events, especially when the weather is good. This weekend there was a Street Festival, when some entertainments were offered in every district. Personally, I believe that it is a good initiative from the government’s side. Though, let us assume there is nothing going on. All stores are closed, most of the restaurants (except for city center) are closed, libraries are closed, so are cinemas and in addition the weather is bad (so you cannot go for a walk). What do you do?

Frankly, speaking Sunday became my least favorite day of the week here in Vienna. Of course, one could argue that students can study at home, parents could spend their time playing with children, love-birds could enjoy each other. Sounds like a nice plan, and I would like to believe that this is what actually happens. Though, there is this sixth sense that keeps telling me that most of the people no matter what their age or family status is spend their time in front of either TV or laptop. And this makes me said.

The question I would like to raise is whether this lazy day is actually needed in Austria, whether it actually helps to develop yourselves, or it only brings harm by creating laziness and apathy in people? Internationals in Vienna hardly get used to the fact that Sunday is a “dead-day” of the week, and I am among those people.

So if you have any suggestions what to do, how to get busy, please, let me and the rest of Vienna know.

Spaziergang am Samstag

Spaziergang am Samstag 🙂

Job suchen!

Every student at some point of their life is in desperate need for pocket money.

Especially, when the city offers so many interesting entertainments. No matter what some people say there are a lot of things to do in Vienna. If the weather is good you can go in different parks and enjoy true Viennese ice-cream, if the weather is worse, you can always stay at some cozy bar and drink a glass of wine or beer. There are so many different museums, exhibitions, concerts and events, that everyone can find a way to spend their money. And let’s add here hundreds of parties for students and youngsters in general.

So one day you realize that it is time either to start saving or earning money.

As the most “traditional way” of saving money for students is to stop buying food, it may be healthier to look for a job. Though the Austrian job market is not that big in comparison to German one, for example, you can still apply for some part-time positions via different agencies or websites. So that is exactly what I have started to do last year. Here are some tips where you can find job openings. Try willhaben.at (a website where you can find everything from used furniture to apartments for rent), karriere.at (that offers also full time positions in different firms), studentjob.at or manpower.at. These are the most well-known databases for possible jobs for students.

However, here comes the difficult part! As you may have learned from my previous blog – German is essential in Austria. Not only these websites are in German, but they also offer the positions for German-speakers. So we are back to the main idea: learn German! There are so many opportunities to get some money for students: promotions, catering, cleaning, etc. Still, you need to have your German at a proper level. To summarize: practice, practice, practice, and the world will be your oyster! Or at least Austria will be your oyster.

So, I guess it’s time for me to go and learn some new vocabulary.

Deutsch wanted!

Vienna <3

As soon as you land in Vienna and make couple of first steps outside the airport, you realize that everything is in German: billboards with advertisement, signs of grocery shops, people’s jokes…Simply everything! And the second you realize it, you feel lost.

At least that’s what happened with me, when I arrived in Vienna last year. Since that time I had a resolution to learn German. I should admit though, that in reality it turned out to be much more difficult that it seemed. And there are several reasons for it.

Last October I started my English-speaking Master program at WU where half of the students were Austrians or Germans. However, as they wanted to be nice, they never talked German with international students, thus I couldn’t practice my language skills (that were pretty low actually) since the very beginning. But let’s go further. As Vienna is the capital of Austria and quite an international city, everyone speaks English here. It doesn’t matter whether you go to Starbucks, WGKK (governmental insurance) or Bank, everyone who struggles to understand your poor German is eager to practice their English.

After I lost my hope to gain some German knowledge through everyday communications, I turned to Tandem partnership, which I thought could be beneficial for me as well. To my huge surprise though, time management problems appeared to be the hurdle that I couldn’t overcome on the way of successful German studies.

Rumor has it that one (and the best!) way to learn a foreign language is to find a native speaking boy/girlfriend with whom you could practice speaking and also learn grammar. Well, leave this theory to rumors. It simply doesn’t work that way.

After several months of useless attempts to learn at least something in German, I finally understood that I should find time for German courses. And here is when Deutsch Akamedie comes for help! Last week I have started my course there (it has been a year since I arrived) and I am really curious how it is going to turn out. One thing I could tell you for sure: at least now I feel the obligation to learn German in order not only to keep up with everyone in the group, but also to justify my monetary investments. Anyways, I will keep you in touch how it goes and in the next posts I will share some interesting experience that I have faced in Vienna.

Mein Kurs – Deutschakademie

Ich mag meine Deutschkurs Gruppe. Mitschüler sind sehr freundlich, hilfreich und lustig. Sie sind aus verschiedenen Ländern, wie zum Beispiel: Türkei, Serbien, Slowenien und anderen.

Wir haben Spaß aber wir müssen auch sehr viel lernen. Jeden Tag bekommen wir auch Hausafgaben von unsere Lehrerin. Unsere Lehrerin ist sehr schön und freundlich.

Ich emfehle Ihnen Deutschakademie 🙂

Naschmarkt

Naschmarkt ist mein beliebter Einkaufsplatz, weil ich dort alles kaufen kann. Die Obst und Gemüse sind immer frisch und sie bieten wirklich alles, zum Beispiel: Kürbisse, Oliven, Meeresfrüchte und andere verschiedene Dinge. Besuchen Sie den Markt.

Deutschkurs Blog Wien

DeutschAkademie Studenten Blog