My Study Abroad in Austria

I'm 21 years old and one of the few females to become an engineer. For my study 'Mechanical Engineering' I will study abroad in Innsbruck during spring semester 2017.

[mystudyabroad]

Time for another hike

- 17 June 2017 -

With the exams drawing near, it would be a good idea to stay home and study. That was the plan for today, but then ESN planned a hike / swimming day. I really enjoyed previous activities of ESN and didn't really want to miss this one. So I decided to be a semi-good student and join them for the hike/lunch but skip the swimming part :)

We had 2 choices for the hike: 'the steeper hike' and 'the not so steep hike'. We unanimously decided to go for the latter. With a couple unexperienced hikers and the warm weather, we were glad for our choice because it was already quite a tough climb. But the place where we stopped for lunch was really nice and made it worthwile.

We had a great time with good food (only a shame that the kaiserschmarrn were sold out). However, during our talks the realisation kicked in that soon we would be going back to our own countries already! Some of our group were already leaving end of June and this would probably be the last time I would see them before leaving Innsbruck.

After lunch they went to the lake to go swimming so I said my goodbyes and went home. It's so peaceful to walk in the mountains by yourself so I really took my time to walk home and take it all in.

[mystudyabroad]

Give this man a medal

- 16 June 2017 - 

One of the laboratories I have at school is programming a robot so it can pick up dices and place them elsewhere. We had a bit of trouble with the programming and today we started working on it at 2 pm thinking we could finish it on the end of the afternoon. Unfortunately, we were still working on it at 11 pm. Then all of a sudden one of our teachers was standing outside the lab room asking us to let him in. When I opened the door he gave us a sixpack of beer saying we should be going out on a Friday evening instead of working on a school assignment. Then he left again wishing us luck with the assugnment. 

I was flabbergasted. Is this really normal here? But the others seemed surprised as well. By far the coolest teacher I ever had.

[mystudyabroad]

Summer games

- 15 June 2017 - 

Our school had organized a contest with summer games. I was invited to take part by a classmate of mine while they were looking for their fourth team member. It said there would be games like human table soccer and bungeerunning, so how could I say no?

It took a while to get started but we had a lot of fun. I would say bungeerunning was my personal favorite and the pictures that were taken just look so funny. 

Other games were hammering a nail into a log with the wrong side of the hammer and they even made beer pong a game. Not really something we excelled in. But we were undefeatable with human table soccer. The first round we played we scored 10 against 3. 

It was a cruel game though. You had to play barefoot because there was a lot of kicking involved. After we had been challenged for a second game, I had blisters on my feet because of it and one of them was so bad I was limping. My arms were dirty and scratched by the inflatable field. But we still won :)

Even though our scores with the soccer game were great, we didn’t got a place worth mentioning in the end rankings. But we had had a lot of fun and it was a lovely day. That couldn’t have been any other way with this team:

I think it’s better to not mention our team name.. Let’s just say the guys are proud they know a couple of Dutch words but they succeed to embarrass me with it. 

[mystudyabroad]

It’s a game of give and take

- 12 June 2017 -

Sleeping in a train is weird and exhausting. After almost 12 hours awkwardly lying because I couldn’t sit up on the bed or I would hit my head, I arrived at Cologne on Saturday morning. But it was worth it. A bit more waiting at the station but then I was wrapped in his arms again. It felt like ages ago since the last time Thomas and I had seen each other. Because it was still early morning and we wouldn’t be able to check in in the hotel until the late afternoon, we went swimming first. After a cup of coffee at the station because I needed one. 

It was a great swimming pool. They have 7 different water slides and one of them even has a looping! But I found the start scarier than the looping itself (I hardly noticed it). You had to stand inside a cabin waiting for the floor to vanish beneath you. 

It was getting pretty late when we checked in at the hotel and went searching for a nice restaurant. So we picked one where we knew it would be good: Hard Rock Cafe. 

On Sunday afternoon we went wandering around the city. The day seemed to rush by while we tried to catch up the last two months. Then in the evening we were ready for an awesome concert from Phil Collins!

I was a bit scared to see the waiting lines that long. It went quickly enough though to score some tour shirts and to grab a drink. It was so amazing to see and hear Phil Collins live. They even played a Genesis song! 

We sat a bit far away as you can see (the prices of the seats below were cruel). Nevertheless we had an amazing evening. After the show when we walked out of the arena, it was so funny to hear people listening to their recordings on their phones and cd’s in their cars everywhere. Wonderful how much love one person can spread.

In the weekend we had spotted a cool geek shop with things out of movies and stuff like that. So we decided to go there on Monday (when we were there in the weekend it was closed). It was so tempting to buy sacks full of stuff there but many things were just overpriced so I came out empty handed. Strolling around, we spotted a very familiar beard on the streets. 

Suddenly, we were talking with Leland Sklar, the bass guitarist of Phil Collins! He was very kind and even told us to wait to take the picture so he could throw away his fries paper cone because it wouldn’t look good in the picture.  

After that we went for a ride in the cable car that goes over the river. And immediately back with the same cable car because there was not much to do on that side of the city. In the evening we had a craft beer in a cozy beer cafe. But then it was time to head for the station again. Only to find out that my train was delayed. At first for 40 minutes but in the end I waited two hours. It was really hard to say goodbye again. Only about one month left though and I will be heading home to the Netherlands again. 

[mystudyabroad]

Pieuw pieuw!

- 08 June 2017 - 

As soon as I saw that there was going to be a lasergame event with ESN, I checked my school schedule if I was able to go. Turned out I didn’t have any classes in the afternoon, yay! So I signed myself up for the event and almost forgot about it afterwards until I got a reminder on Facebook on the day of the event. I don’t really know why because I was seriously excited about it. Only when I arrived at the meeting point I saw no one. At least, no one that I knew. Then this guy comes to me and asks if I’m there for the lasergame. Turned out he was a member of ESN who I hadn’t met before. So we waited and waited and eventually 2 more people came. But that was it. There would be 2 more at another bus station and 1 was going by bike so we were only with 7 people. We needed 8. But they thought the lasergame instructor would probably be prepared to join us so we went there anyways. 

Our instructor was really nice and did indeed team up with us, so we played at first a couple of rounds in teams of 2 and later in teams of 4. I never played a decent lasergame (one time about 2 minutes for a teambuilding doesn’t really seem to count). In addition to that, I was the only girl there so I expected to be the worst player there. As far as that goes, I amazed myself. I never finished last and didn’t even one time finish second to last. In the last game we played, we played a ‘dead match’ (no teams anymore just all for themselves) and I finished 4 out of 7 with one time scaring the hell out of one of the guys. Imagine the fun I had haha! 

Looks good doesn’t it? 

The location was really helping to make it a great game. The lasergame field was located outside with a couple of houses and huts to take shelter. In one house you could also go in the basement or go upstairs and from there even on the roof. Also you could jump out of the windows if you needed to escape really quick. On top of that, there was even an underground tunnel that led you from one side of the field to one of the huts in the middle of it. 

It was such a shame when our time was over. I don’t think any future lasergame I’m gonna play is going to beat this one. 

[mystudyabroad]

Did someone say beer?

- 03 June 2017 - 

I came across an event saying there would be a beer festival with local breweries in a town next to Innsbruck. So I looked up which bus I should take and went there. I wasn’t quite sure where exactly it would be held so I stepped out at the ‘Stadtplatz’ figuring it would be the center of the town. After going in the wrong direction first, I eventually found the festival at the upper ‘Stadtplatz’ (apparently they have two). It was really nice with cute market booths and live Austrian music. 

After enjoying a few beers in the shadow (it was really hot) I went for a walk. It was so relaxing to be away of the city and listening to the silence of a small town. (Okay maybe not so small because they have like 13.500 people so that beats my home town by far. But compared to Innsbruck it just felt cute.) 

I was surprised by how many local breweries there were. I couldn’t really try something from them all so at the and of the afternoon I bought some bottles to take home and try another day. 

[mystudyabroad]

Lake people assemble!

 28 May 2017 -

I was preparing myself for a day of loneliness while my parents and brother would be on their way home. But luckily, my dear ESN friends posted a message on Facebook inviting everybody to go to a lake nearby because of the hot weather. So without a moment of hesitation I accepted the offer.

We took a bus out of town and then had to walk a bit further from the busstation where we got out of the bus. The lake was nowhere to be found but in 5 minutes we had reached it already. So it felt a bit hidden and therefore even more special.  

We found a spot at the other side of the lake where we could sit with the whole group. At first there was a big sunscreen session and I should have let them do my back too. At the end of the day my back was red like a tomato. At ‘our’ side of the lake was a diving platform but I didn’t dare to jump so I went just went in the water via the stairs. 

In the middle of the lake was a platform so we swam over there and enjoyed the sun. We had a lot of fun and even played a game of “Mensch ärgere dich nicht” (or ‘do not get angry, man’). Surprise surprise, some of us did get angry. 

At the end of the afternoon we still didn’t really want to go home so we spontaneously decided to go grilling at the river. We went to the supermarket to get beers and meat and then took the bus/bike to the river. 

It took us a long time to get there and we started eating pretty late. Anyway, it was still a lovely day spent with amazing people.

[mystudyabroad]

Precious moments

- 27 May 2017 -

I read somewhere that there would be a ‘Platzkonzert’ in the city center. It seemed like a good plan to go check it out while having some coffee (and Apfelstrudel of course). So we took a seat at a nice cafe where we could see and hear them. Although hearing them was not so difficult. They were pretty good. They didn’t only play Austrian songs but also famous songs like fly me to the moon from Frank Sinatra.  

After we finished our drinks, I took my parents and my brother to another hiking path I did before. One I hiked with my boyfriend in april. This path wasn’t too long so I figured that would be nice because it was even hotter than yesterday. There was a little detour on this path we took where my brother found a tree to climb in. Old habits die hard I guess. Most likely he had the best view though.

After the walk we had lunch at a lovely place we came across. This time with a proper ‘Bretljause’ (without radishes :P). It was a typical Austrian place and at one point came a woman with a young daughter dressed up in matching Dirndls! So adorable. Why don’t we have Lederhosen and Dirndls as traditional costumes at home too? I would love that. 

My parent still hadn’t had enough of walking around the Austrian landscapes (and they probably never will) so we went to their hotel to pick out a route in that area.

We hoped to be able to reach the river so we could dip our feet in and cool down a bit. Sadly, we weren’t able to come close enough but we came across something else on our way:

A super duper cute Bernese Mountain dog puppy! Resuming our walk wasn’t possible until we all had a big hugging session with her. It’s so weird our youngest dog once was this small and fluffy too. It feels so long ago. 

We had dinner at a place in the city center that was a bit fancier than we would have planned but therefore the food was delicious. I tried to cherish the evening as much as I could. The thought of having to say goodbye again tomorrow couldn’t leave my mind. Only two months left and I’ll be home again. 

[mystudyabroad]

Family = Love

- 26 May 2017 - 

On Thursday my parents came to Innsbruck for the weekend. It’s a pretty long drive so they were here in the late afternoon. It was so nice because all of a sudden there was a knocking on the door and when I went to welcome them, my brother was also standing in the hallway! I had no clue he was coming too. Such a wonderful surprise! We first went to their hotel because instead of checking in they had decided to come straight to me. After that we went for a drink alongside the river and just talked and talked. They asked me to pick out a nice restaurant as being the local one. I didn’t really go to too many restaurants already but heard from a couple nice ones so I picked one of them out. It was really nice. It was a bit hidden I guess but therefore also away from all the fuss of the city.

On friday I suggested we could hike the same round I did in March. There are 2 ‘Almhütten’ on that route and I knew my parents would enjoy that. The route would also be in the shadows for a fair part of it and that was a welcome idea with the hot weather. About halfway up the view looked like this:

At the second ‘Almhütte’ we had lunch. And that was hilarious! Many of these places have a lunch dish which is called ‘Brettljause’. Basically, it’s a wooden plank with specialties of the house. Often (different kinds of) cheese, sausages, bread and vegetables. So my dad thought he ordered one at this place but it turned out to be just bread with some sort of creamy cheese and a lot of radishes! We all expected meat in some way, so we had great fun with this.

My parents walking in Austrian scenery, so much beauty in one picture:

In the evening we had dinner at the Stiftskeller. We liked it a lot when we went there in March so that was a safe choice. The thing that was different though was that we could sit outside this time. Also really nice. 

There was an event planned from ESN, a pubquiz, and I wanted to go there. But I didn’t want to leave my parents and my brother because they were in Innsbruck for me (Okay that’s maybe not totally true because they may love Austria even more than I do). So I asked my brother if he wanted to join me and he did. I can’t really remember the last time my brother and I did something like this with just the two of us. I really enjoyed it! And we weren’t so bad at all. We teamed up with two other people who were really nice (but I don’t really remember their names). We ended up being fourth out of eleven!

 I had a terrific time and there was even more to come!

[mystudyabroad]

Canoing over the Inn 21 May 2017

[mystudyabroad]

Picnic with a view  17 May 2017

[mystudyabroad]

A typical sunny evening at MCI Innsbruck. 16 May 2017

[mystudyabroad]

Flagmob

- 10 May 2017 -

Time for a party! Erasmus has its 30th anniversary so all Erasmus students were invited to a flagmob. Everyone was asked to bring a flag of their home country or a country they visited with Erasmus. The Erasmus Student Network of Innsbruck also had a box of European flags for those who couldn’t bring one of their own. When I arrived at the meeting point I was hoping to claim the Dutch flag. Sadly, it turned out they didn’t have one. So I ended up parading through the city with the flag of Luxembourgh because it resembles the Dutch one the most. 

But with my outfit (red shirt, white belt, blue pants) and with the Dutch flag painted on my cheek it was good enough for me. 

Though the event was not really what I expected, it was so great to see each person being very proud of their home country and at the same time feeling connected as ‘Austrians’. And it was a great opportunity to catch up with some international students I hadn’t seen for a while. 

[mystudyabroad]

Alpine zoo

- 07 May 2017 - 

Today I decided to go to the zoo. I didn’t want to be inside all day even though the weather was drizzly. Innsbruck has a zoo, but it is not an ordinary one. It only has animals which are living or have lived in the alps. It’s located on the mountain so the difference between the highest and the lowest point of the zoo is roughly 100 meters. This gave a nice view of the animals. For example with the lynxes, you could either take the path along the lynxes quarters at the downside or upside. So when I didn’t get a good shot with my camera on the one side, I would simply walk to the other side and see if I was better able to see them from there. I was really pleased with the pictures I took today.

I just loved this crazy wolf: 

I was lucky because I saw both the otters and the wolves getting fed in the late afternoon. 

The mountain goats were so cute:

The place for the capricorns was brilliant. You could go in there and just be separated from them by a rope. The oldest male had very big horns and was just standing in one place all the time. So still that when people entered they were startled because he was real. 

I would say the capricorns were my favourite animals of the day. I certainly spent the most of my time there. 

[mystudyabroad]

Celebrate

 - 03 May 2017 - 

Today was my boyfriends birthday. I joked I could grab some cake to celebrate since I couldn’t get home to him. It turned out I was free of school this day, so I thought: why leave it a joke? So I went to a cafe across the golden roof and ordered sachertorte (typical austrian chocolate cake) with some coffee. 

I’m still not used to this whipped cream without suger thing. But I guess there was enough sugar in the cake to compensate. I brought an ebook in case I got bored, but the place was crowded with tourists as always. No chance to get bored. There was a couple who were sitting outside as well and at one point an Asian (I guess Japanese) man started taking pictures of them. I was glad I was more in the back. He even sat next to them to take a selfie with them. It was so funny because it didn’t seem like they know each other. Why would somebody do something like that xD ? 

[mystudyabroad]

The giant tooth pick

- 01 May 2017 -

Today I had the first possibility to wear my dirndl! First of May is a national holiday in Austria. On this day they traditionally put up a “Maibaum” (Maypole) in their town, come together and celebrate with traditional music, food and drinks. There was also such an event in Innsbruck of course. We arranged to meet with a couple of international students and some members of Erasmus Student Network Innsbruck to see ‘das Maibaum setzen’ or as they also called it ‘putting up a giant decorated tooth pick’. We got together at 11.30 am but when we arrived at the scene, the Maypole was already set up.

I think it was really a shame to have missed it, but we wouldn’t let that spoil the fun. So we got our tickets for some drinks and food and got ourselves a table in the sun. (Yes, you had to pay first for your food or drinks at the ticket booth and then find the right booth for your orders. Sometimes you ended up going to 2 or 3 different booths for 1 order. Bit of a weird system to me.) 

It was really nice to chat with everyone whilst enjoying the Austrian music. Of course with some beer and there was even some delicious Schwarzwalderkirschtorte :D 

One thing was certain, we weren’t the only ones who enjoyed it:

[mystudyabroad]

Chillin’ and grillin’

- 30 Apil 2017 -

A couple of friends asked me if I wanted to go grilling with them. I immediately said yes, I thought it would be a great thing to do on such a sunny day. Though I did imagine it to be a bit different. When we barbecue at home, we get the barbecue out of shed, put in the coals, wait for it to be warm enough and then start to cook. Today was not like that at all.

First the boys shopped for the meat, bread and drinks (I was a bit late). Then we went biking for about half an hour. We got to a place at the river out of the city and found a nice spot on the shore. Then they started gathering stones and building a campfire. The only thing I could think was: “Awesome!! We are going to prepare our food with a self-build fire and self-made skewers.” So I went of to help gathering some wood while the others build a hell of a campfire. In the end, we even got an improvised bench.

I was not really helpful with building and preparing I guess, too busy taking in the beautiful surroundings and being pre-occupied with my thoughts. I really enjoyed it, but in my own way I have here, quietly. It’s easier to exclude myself of the conversations than trying to understand it and failing. But seriously, it was really a lot of fun, each time having to get more wood or the fire would go out. Just talking, relaxing and enjoying the sun.

I would really love to go here more often but that would probably mean that I would have to buy my own bike. Though being half way through my semester here, I’m not sure if I really want to buy it considering that this is the first time I actually needed a bike. 

Although it was supposed to be (some sort of) lunch we ended up being there ‘till the sun had already set. Today felt as being on vacation, no worries, just enjoying. It was a shame having to head back home.