Tag Archives: Wien

Neue Donau, An excellent spring outing

Lets face it, learning Deutsche can sometimes be hard work. Poor, unsuspecting students regularly  have to confront complicated, cryptic rules and more numerous, but just as baffling exceptions. The drudgery goes on, class after class, week after week, so every once in a while, the brave new Deutsch learner needs a good break from the classroom and has to head out to get some fresh air.

Fortunately, we in Wien are blessed with many scenic locations right at the doorstep of the city that make it a naturist’s paradise. The city’s Public Transport System makes many of these natural attractions so accessible, that an outdoor excursion is pretty much as easy as visiting a mall. Among the many beautiful locations that Wien boasts of, I rate Neue Donau among the best.

The U6 line takes us right to the doorstep of Neue Donau, and here, if the weather indulges you, one can take part in a plethora of activities – biking, jogging, swimming and boating or any other outdoor effort that catches your fancy. The elegantly laid out jogging trail and cycling paths right by the gleaming waters of the river and the pristine green meadows get you straight in the mood to burn some calories and if you are not ready to to sweat it out, just get you to relax by the river bank, feeding the swans and gazing at the occasional boats that traverse the waters serenely.

Another startling aspect of Neue Donau is the urban skyline that makes a contrasting backdrop to all the nature that surrounds you.  The city dweller in me is reassured by the imposing Donauturm and the Millennium tower right by all this greenery. On weekends the place is flooded with families that come out to enjoy the crispy spring weather.

Neue Donau also boasts of summer stations that serve refreshments to visitors and facilities for trampoline enthusiasts and a small football court. And if you are really fortunate, you may also encounter a couple of rare skateboarding xenophobes, who will expose you to areas of Deutsche that are generally not addressed in the classroom! If it happens to you, just take it sportingly and continue to enjoy the many great things about the place.

Secrets of the Innenstadt

Warm days are slowly returning back to Vienna: days are getting longer and you can already feel this warm spring wind blowing in your face. I guess now we can start preparing some space in our closets for the winter jackets, and take out the comfiest shoes for long walks – you’ll need them!

One of the best areas in Vienna to go out and explore is, of course, Innenstadt. You can easily spend a whole day wandering around here because of countless activities and sights you can find here: Rathaus, Hofburg, Opera, Stephansdom, Graben, Kärtnerstrasse, museums and many other things. This would be your typical tourist walk though. There’s another, less known side of Innenstadt: quiet, calm and almost devoid of people.

One minute you’re standing near Stephansdom, another – you’re in absolutely peaceful and charming old area, where it’s so quiet, that you start lowering your voice almost to whisper, too. The area I’m talking about is located right near Stephansplatz: what you need is basically just to dive into one of the surrounding arches, big doors, or just follow tiny streets that are spreading from the cathedral.

It’s easy to get lost here, but you’ll enjoy this feeling of purposeless and carefree wandering around. Try doing this walk on a warm spring day and flee away from the big city while not even leaving its borderlines.

Giant Ferris Wheel

One of the symbols of Vienna is deservedly considered the Wiener Riesenrad. It is a beautiful decoration not only for Prater, but also for Vienna. You can find it on many post cards, among other famous attractions. Moreover, you can notice it in the emblem of Deutschkurs Akademie.

With 60-meter height it offers an incredible panoramic view of Vienna, so that is the main reason of being a symbol. I was riding on the wheel at night in the dark, but this did not spoil the experience at all, but rather added some charm and unique atmosphere. One turn of the wheel takes just 10 minutes, but brings a huge number of impressions.

The wheel consists of 15 large bright-red cabins, in the center of which there are long benches. You feel in safe, so do not be afraid of height. Some cabins are also used as a cafe, where romantic evenings and even a wedding ceremony could be arranged.

If you have a ride on the Wiener Riesenrad, you can confidently say that you have visited and experienced Vienna.

Best Wishes,

Valeriia

P.S. Wiener Riesenrad played a major role in the world-famous film „The Third Man“. Therefore, in June 2016 The European Film Academy has included it in the list of „Treasures of European film culture“.

How I Fell in Love With A… Library!

What comes to your mind when you hear the word „library“? I, personally, instantly think of a bunch of students, who are consuming liters of coffee, stressing about their deadlines, and spending days living as hermits somewhere between library shelves. What if I told you that a library can be a breathtaking and inspirational place?

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

Yes, like this. Pretty amazing, huh? Welcome to the State Hall of the Austrian National Library – the home for more than 200,000 books, the oldest of which date to around 16th century! Located in Hofburg Palace, this library/museum is open for the public eyes all year long. In the same building of Hofburg you can find the Literature museum, the Papyrus museum and the Globe museum.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

Obviously visitors can’t touch any of the objects inside, but the good news is: you are allowed to take pictures, so make sure to capture this gorgeous interior in your memories and on your cameras!

Austrian National Library – State Hall

P.S. This Sunday (February 19th) the Library and all museums will be free of charge, here’s the link to the event. You don’t wanna miss this!

Quiet Corner In A Busy City

I believe, everyone so frequently dreams to escape from the city bustle and relax alone with your own thoughts. This fall i found this quiet and peaceful place. I was pleasantly surprised, as I had no expectations. It was Setagayapark, built in 1992 and located in Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna.

Park was designed by a Japanese landscape architect Ken Nakajima in the best traditions of the Japanese garden. Setagayapark symbolises the old friendship between  Döbling and Setagaya, Tokyo region. The park is small, but full of pretty details and spectacular views. You can find a large tea house, stones, bridges, exotic plants, aquatic animals, and small waterfalls. You have a chance to sit on a bench, enjoy the incredible view and listen to the murmur of the stream away from a city chaos. 

I will definitely be back there in the spring, as this is the best time to visit the Japanese Garden during its spring flowering.

Best Wishes,

Valeriia

My Favorite Museums in Vienna

Vienna is undoubtedly a paradise for those who are, like me, addicted to museums (one more reason why I love this city!). There is SO much to see museums-wise here, and I’m trying to be really careful and not go overboard with visiting all of them, because I want to save some of museums for my next semester here 🙂 So far there hasn’t been any single museum here which I didn’t like, yet some of them I found exceptional and they really stood out for me. So, here’s my personal Top-3 of Viennese museums. Hope some of you feel the same way about them!

Naturhistorisches Museum

Located at the Maria-Theresien-Platz, this enormous museum holds a unique collection of objects and artifacts related to the natural history. You can find anything from meteorites, minerals, precious stones to dinosaur skeletons here. This museum is home to more than 30 million objects! Fascinating, right?

Besides its huge and impressive collection, the Natural History Museum is simply beautiful on the outside and inside. Wandering through the museum, you feel yourself like in a palace; I didn’t know what I was supposed to concentrate on: objects behind the glass or all this beautiful architecture and paintings.

Recommended to: anyone, really! So far I haven’t me any single person who didn’t like this fantastic museum. Even you aren’t into museums very much, I can guarantee that this one will make you want to come back, so interesting it is.

MUMOK – Museum Moderner Kunst


Let’s be completely honest here, not everyone likes modern art. I am, apparently, a big fan of it, and I never miss a chance to visit a modern art museum. MUMOK was the first museum that I visited here in Vienna and it’s safe to say I loved it: I have returned back two times more ever since. MUMOK holds a pretty impressive collection, featuring such famous artists like Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst and many others. There are also various temporary exhibitions going on all the time, and on top of all that, you can go to the cinema here.

One of the features of MUMOK is that it really stands out among all the other buildings in the MuseumsQuartier. And not only it is fabulous on the outside, it’s very interesting inside too, I’m totally fascinated by its design.

Recommended to: everyone, who is into modern art / is open-minded when it comes to art and knows how to appreciate the variety of it / wants to explore something new and non-traditional, or simply to anyone who wants to buy all the small, cute and unnecessary things in this world (I’m referring to the shop in MUMOK now, it’s amazing!)

Kunst Haus Wien. Museum Hundertwasser

Kunst Haus Wien is the home to the biggest and the only one permanent collection of works by Friedensreich Hundertwasser in the world. You have probably heard about this artist and architect before – he designed the famous Hundertwasser House here in Vienna. Kunst Haus Wien is a unique building too, and definitely worth at least looking at it outside. However, I really recommend you to find some time to see the museum inside and take a look at the collection. I was personally astonished by Hundertwasser’s works, their techniques and individuality, his philosophy, principles and life journey. Tip: plan your visit in the evening (the museum works until 18:00), because there are much less visitors at that time. I find this museum especially magnetizing when it’s quiet around and you are left alone with Hundertwasser’s works, free to interpret and ponder them as much as you like.

Unfortunately, it is not allowed to take pictures in the museum, so all I have is this ticket, which reminds me of that wonderful evening together with some of the greatest art I’ve ever seen in my life.

Recommended to: all of you who were fascinated by the Hundertwasser Haus, and to everyone who wants to learn more about Austrian art world.

B1.2 is over!

Yesterday was the last day of my B1.2 intensive course here in DeutschAkademie. Long story short: it was so, so, SO good! That’s why in this post I want to tell you more about my progress, the course itself and my impressions about it.

To be honest, before the beginning of the classes, I was slightly worried about the course level I was put into, but eventually it turned out to be a perfect fit. I have already done a couple of intensive courses in my home country before the beginning of this one, so I knew what to expect from it. An intensive course is usually a perfect and balanced mix of reading, listening, writing, and, of course, speaking: your brain works non-stop during the class, and even after the end of it you still think about German 🙂 However, don’t worry about the big amount of workload – doing an intensive course is easier than it sounds! The atmosphere in the class is very nice and informal, everyone has more or less the same language level – that’s a perfect environment to learn (also from each other’s mistakes!). And of course I totally must mention the importance of the teacher: my class had an absolutely professional, competent and super friendly one! He was keeping us motivated and concentrated during the whole course, and he was very supportive, which I find very important in learning. But I’m pretty sure that this description applies to all teachers in DeutschAkademie.

Class routine at DeutschAkademie

So, did I learn a lot during this month? No. In fact, I learned a massive amount of stuff! Finally all the grammar gaps in my mind have started to fill themselves, now I’m able to express myself much better, both in speaking and writing. One thing I need to work harder though, is my vocabulary. But this 100% depends on me: I can access all the possibly existing German words straight from my laptop, which can be used not only for endless Internet surfing 🙂 Just a little less procrastination and it’s all good!

P.S. The course was so much fun, that I’ve decided to continue further! Very excited to start B2.1 next Monday and to learn more of those cheeky grammar rules & verb conjugations!

Hallo to all fellow German learners!

Hi there!
My name is Viktoriia and during this month I will be sharing my experience in learning German and exploring Vienna. Well, actually, the last thing we will be doing together with you, my dear reader! 🙂

Something about me: I’m 19 years old and I’m originally from the capital of Ukraine – Kiev. I’ve spent half of my childhood in Kazakhstan, then returned back to my homeland and at the age of 17 I’ve moved to Finland to study in a university. But I guess an inner wanderlust has always been hidden inside me, probably that’s the explanation of why I’ve changed places again? Now I’m here in beautiful Vienna doing my Erasmus exchange year since September 2016 and I absolutely love it. I couldn’t make up my mind about the place for my exchange for a very long time, but finally Vienna won my heart, because of all amazing things and opportunities this city offers, and of course because I can improve my German here. And you know what? I didn’t regret my decision for any single second! There’s so much to see, try and experience here – in this city, “more” is never “enough”.

At some point of my stay I have realized that maybe it was the time to take the opportunity of living in a German-speaking city more seriously, and that’s how I ended up doing an intensive course here at DeutschAkademie. I’m studying B1.2 level now, and have already secured my spot for the next-level course – B2.1. To be fair, I couldn’t have wished for a better German course, I love everything about it! But I’ll tell you more about it in the future posts. For now, enjoy these pictures of wonderful Vienna 🙂

 

Stay tuned!

Cheers, Viktoriia

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.

Job suchen!

Strabag, Praktikum, me

 

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.