Hello study abroad students, this is a guide specifically for
students headed to Graz, Austria. While preparing for my trip abroad in
Graz it was hard for me to find information so I decided to create this
page and list out some of the things that I wish I knew before I went
abroad!
Before you Depart
The most important thing I can touch on is just make sure that your
Austrian Buddy will meet you at either the Airport or the Train Station.
The last thing you want to be doing on your first day is to be fumbling
around a foreign city completely lost hauling around all your luggage.
Other than that, the University of Arkansas will give you plenty of
information on how to prepare for your time abroad.
First Days Abroad
The first day in Austria for me was pretty rough. I was sick, jet
lagged, I did not know anyone, my phone wouldn’t work so I couldn’t call
my parents, and I did not have access to internet or tv. I sat in my
room the first night and played music on my phone and stared at the wall
because thats all I could do. I was asking myself “what the heck did I
just do?” However, this feeling did not last long. I made friends and
got involved with the university and started having a lot of fun. A lot
of us study abroad kids went through something similar to this, so if
you start questioning every life decision you have ever made on your
first night abroad, I promise it gets better.
*Graz Hauptbahnhof. One of the first things you will see coming into Graz (Aka weird Pelvis room)
- Do you need an Austrian Cell Phone?
My answer to this would be no. My group of friends always
communicated with each other through Facebook. I bought a 30 euro
Austrian Cell Phone and used it probably about 10 times in the first
couple weeks and then never again after that. However if it would make
you feel more comfortable to have an Austrian Cell, then the ESN office
gives out free Sim Cards and all you have to do is buy a cheap phone and
put the Sim in. Another possibility is to talk to your Austrian buddy
and see if they can find a sim card for you that is not through ESN.
Sometimes those offer unlimited data if you put it in a smart phone.
Getting a student ÖBB Card is
essential
and you will need to order it during your first two weeks abroad. This
card will literally get the price train tickets within Austria cut in
half for you. This card can also get you reduced prices outside of
Austria as well.
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| example of ÖBB card |
Dorm Life
When I was abroad I stayed in the ÖJAB dorm that lies right next to
the KFU campus. However, much of what I have to say applies to all dorms
in Graz. The most important thing you must know about dorm life in Graz
is that there is
LIMITED
internet. The first month I found this out the hard way since no one
told me. The dorms in Graz give you 50 gigs of internet per month, for
reference I would say that you probably use about 100-150 gigs in the
USA per month. Also there is no WIFI in the dorms so your smart phones
will not work in the dorms. Knowing this I would recommend three things.
- Kiss Netflix goodbye for your time abroad. Streaming anything uses
huge amounts of data. I recommend to limit internet usage to simply
surfing the web.
- Download lots of movies before
you leave for your trip. To save on internet our group of friends would
meet up and watch movies that were pre downloaded on our laptops.
- Figure out how to broadcast wifi from your laptop. Most laptops have
some form of this. I would connect my laptop to ethernet and then
broadcast a wifi signal to my phone so I could use my phone in my room
without having to go to the university or a coffee shop. This feature is
a life saver, otherwise I would of had to buy an international phone
plan just to talk to friends and family back home.
Some other quick facts about the Dorms in Graz.
-Landry costs money to do and specifically requires 50 cent euro coins so save those up!
-Every dorm I visited in Graz had community kitchens. You will be
given a small fridge space to share with your roommate so don’t rely on a
lot of items that need to be refrigerated.
-One last important feature about the ÖJAB Dorm, and I would think
others as well, is that about 2 weeks before you leave to come back home
the dorm is going to return your safety deposit back to you
in cash. Meaning they will just hand you about 500 euros.
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| ÖJAB dorm Graz |
University Differences
University in Austria has a completely different way of doing things
compared to the US. I will try to list out some of the most important
differences.
Classes at KFU only meet once per week. Meaning you will have way
more free time during the day than you have here in the US. This also
means that it is very easy to forget what was talked about last class
since it has been an entire week since you have met!
I find that if you take classes taught in English at KFU you will be
in classes with a lot of fellow Americans and exchange students which is
a huge plus because you probably will know them from ESN events and can
help each other navigate the class.
About 2 or 3 weeks into school you will notice that all the Austrians
start to vanish from classes. They find it easier to stay at home and
read the book (which they actually do). They most likely won’t show up
again until the final. This just seems to be the student culture norm.
However, I wouldn’t recommend doing this. These Austrian students also
have all the previous tests to study through their networks which you
don’t have the luxury of having.
This is probably the
most important
thing I learned about the study abroad process. Coming from The
University of Arkansas it was driven into our heads that we must take 6
hour classes because 6ETCS = 3 hours back at Arkansas. Be extremely
careful with this because most 6 hour courses at KFU are
GRADUATE LEVEL COURSES.
I had a friend take three 6 hour courses and she dropped 2 and failed
the other. When I got to Graz I had to throw my pre approved class sheet
from Arkansas into the trash and start from scratch. I ended up taking
seven 4 hour courses at KFU in addition to the intensive German class at
the beginning which is a non graduate level 6 ETCS hour course. Which
translates to 17 hours back at Arkansas. Also do not be afraid to take
seven classes in a semester, since the classes only meet once a week it
really is not as much as it seems. It is normal for Austrian students to
take more classes than we do per semester because the way the
university is set up over there.
The way classes work at KFU is that you will have no homework or
tests until the final. You just attend lectures and whatever you get on
the final is the grade you get in the class ( with the exception of
Treffpunktsprache German classes). This means that for the first 4
months of the semester you have tons of free time and little
responsibility other than just showing up to class. However, the last
month hits hard. I would recommend getting all the traveling you want to
do finished up before the last month of school. I spent about the last
three weeks of school preparing for my final exams. I don’t want to
scare you too much because looking back on it, it really didn’t seem
that bad. It just seemed more like school here in the US. Also do not be
afraid to fail a class, because they do not transfer back to Arkansas. I
failed my fist college class ever in Graz and I am still alive today!
This is more of just a observation rather than constructive advice,
but Austrian schools have no sense of community like schools have here
in the US. Every student at Arkansas is united under the banner of
Razorback, which is something we can all cheer on and get behind.
However in Austria there are no school mascots or school pride or sports
teams or university events that aren’t lectures. Everyone just goes to
class then goes home. Obviously not the worst thing in the world but
just a cultural observation.
- How classes transfer back to Arkansas
I was extremely impressed with how my classes transferred back to
Arkansas. I took some classes abroad that I thought would have no chance
in transferring back to Arkansas and were not on the pre approved list
but the offices here at Arkansas did a great job of making sure I
received credit for every class I took. In fact they transferred some
classes back as Political Science credits that were in no way, shape, or
form political science classes. Therefore, do not be too afraid to
take a class that is not on the pre approved form because it seems the
office will try there hardest to make everything count.
Most classes at KFU do not meet on Fridays. However, just as a
warning make sure you look at all your classes’ meeting times when you
are signing up because some sneaky Friday classes are in there. If you
have a Friday class on your schedule, take it off. Trust me you will
need this day for travel during your time abroad. There will be plenty
of other classes you can choose from that only meet on either Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.
If you are taking a Treffpunktsprache class have no fear. These
courses cater to your level of German knowledge and are structured a lot
like American classes. A Treffpunktsprache will not be over your head,
however if you take a normal German class with Austrian students then
beware. These classes are not held in Hoch Deutsch like you have been
taught in school. Sometimes it doesn’t even sound like they are speaking
German. The professors are also speaking in an extremely elevated
register of German because you know… they are professors. The
combination of Steiermark German (Steirisch) with the elevated register
is a deadly combination. I took a class titled “Art in the Middle
Ages” in a this format and did not understand a single word. Admittedly I
was probably over my head anyway because I only completed up to
Advanced 1 back at Arkansas. My recommendation is that if you are going
to take classes in German other than the Treffpunktsprache that you are
very comfortable with understanding advanced german and writing at a
college level in the language.
This little tip took us far too long to figure out, but with the help
of my Austrian buddy we finally re-entered the 21st century. To connect
to the KFU wifi select
Network: eduroam
Username: username@
stud.ad.uni-graz.at
Password:password
You will learn your specific username and set a password during orientation, but that simple “
stud.ad.uni-graz.at”
part prevented us from connecting to wifi for several weeks. Eduroam is
also a pretty cool thing because every university in Europe uses it.
One day you will be walking through a random European city and look down
and see that your phone has automatically connected to an Eduroam
source nearby.
Graz City Life
Graz is a very pleasant city, but also a very small city. You will
learn the layout and see all the sights within 2 weeks. My focus is not
to explain all the main sights to see because you can easily research
that on the internet. However, to give you advice on the best way to get
around, eat, and experience Graz.
- Transportation within Graz
Graz offers bus passes in order to navigate the city for either a 1
day, 3 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, or 1 year time period.
Personally I never needed a bus pass because the dorm I lived in was
right next to the University. However, I had friends who lived in dorms
far away from the University that needed a bus pass to get to school. My
recommendation would be that if Arkansas puts you in the same dorm that
I was in (ÖJAB). Then there is no need to spend all the money for a bus
pass, everything you need (or want) to visit in the city is within a
15-20 minute walk. However if you are placed in one of the dorms that is
far from campus you will probably need to buy a bus pass for the
duration of your stay. Bus passes can be bought in Jakominiplatz.
Also if you work out a lot then you need to buy a Bus Pass. The only
gym in the city that will take people without a yearly contract (McFit)
is located near the Hauptbahnhof and is far from Campus.
I found it cheaper to just buy the daily passes if I was going to
Schloss Eggenberg or one of the Graz Malls or a soccer game because I
didn’t do those things that often. Otherwise I channeled my inner
European and walked everywhere.
Lastly, there is a very useful app called “Qando Graz” where you can
type in any address in Graz and it will tell you the fastest way to get
there and what number bus/tram to take.
The best places for a college student to eat in Graz are a system of
restaurants called, “die bausatz lokale.” Since Graz is home to about
6 colleges, the owner of these restaurants wanted to give students a
place where they could have a good meal and a beer for cheap. These
restaurants have cards on the table and you can choose between a
burger, pizza, salad, and pfandl ( which is like a fancy Austrian Mac
and Cheese). You fill out what you want as toppings on the cards and
then hand them to the server. There are a total of 7 bausatz restaurants
scattered throughout the city. My personal favorite is called the “Bier
Baron” and is located right by KFU university.
This website lists all of restaurants in the bausatz system, so you can recognize them throughout the city
http://diebausatzlokale.at
If you are like I was before my trip abroad and relied heavily on
Fast Food, then you are in for a rude awaking. There is almost no fast
food to speak of in Graz. If you are on the go, one of the few things
you can grab is a Döner Kebab. Döner Kebabs are extremely delicious,
just don’t think about how they are nearly 1000 calories each while you
are eating one! If you do not know how to cook I would recommend
learning to make about 5 simple dishes before you leave for your trip.
But in case you were wondering the best Döner Kebab in Graz is not far
from the University at a place called “Rosamundes”
As for drinking you will get very familiar with a bar call “The
Office Pub” which hosts ESN or International Exchange Student Network
nights every Wednesday. It seems as if every exchange student is at this
bar on Wednesday nights to make friends and mingle.
Another one of our favorites was called “Brot und Spiele” which has
every beer you can think of and also many games to play while you hang
out with your buddies.
- What is the Best Austrian Beer?
After much research within our group of friends we have concluded
that the best Austrian beer to be Wieselburger Stammbräu. You’re
welcome.
Traveling away from Graz
Like I said earlier Graz is nice but small. After 2 weeks you will
know Graz like the back of your hand and it is time to start traveling
elsewhere. The best thing about Graz is its location smack dab in the
middle Europe. It is a great spring board for where ever you want to go.
Traveling will also comprise some of the best memories of your trip.
- Easter Break (Spring Semester)
During the Spring Semester there is a three week long break from
classes at KFU. This is your main oppurtunity to travel. I would
recommend making the Easter break your “Big Trip.” When I was abroad my
friends and I used this trip to travel up through Germany, over to the
Netherlands and Belgium, and finally down to Croatia. Obviously you can
plan a big trip wherever you want to go in Europe but this is the
opportunity to get far away from Graz.
ESN is a program you automatically join if you study abroad within
Europe. Through ESN you can go on many trips such as ski trips and
excursions to various cities. However if you want to do one of the trips
you must sign up
quickly because they fill up extremely fast. I would recommend signing up the first day the sign up list becomes available.
If you study in the Fall don’t worry! Austria has 38 holidays, which
is among the most in the entire world. You will have plenty of
opportunities to get out of Graz. You will get a number of Mondays off
throughout the semester and since there is no class on Friday, you have 5
days to travel. During my semester we took three 5 day trips to
Budapest, Prague, and Liechtenstein/Switzerland.
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| photo of my Liechtenstein/Switzerland trip (Go Hogs!) |
Final Random thoughts and observations that didn’t fit elsewhere
- Everyone smokes cigarettes so get used to it.
- It is probably a good idea to learn a little bit about the
Yugoslavian civil war before you live in Graz. Due to its proximity to
former Yugoslavia it comes up in conversation with Croatians, Bosnians,
Serbians, and Slovenians all the time. There are still a lot of strong
feelings about what happened.
- Dogs are allowed everywhere.
- Graffiti culture is huge. There is graffiti on everything, which make beautiful building and statues look unkept. It’s a shame.
- When you want water request “Leitungswasser” not “Wasser”
- Do NOT eat an entire spoonful of Kren. You will regret it.
- Croatia is an excellent place to visit!
- Nothing is open on Sundays! Make sure you finish your grocery shopping on Saturday or starve for a day… Trust me on this.
- You will find that the people who choose to study abroad are
interesting, intelligent, and have a spark normal people just don’t
have.
I hope this helped you guys learn a little more about Graz and KFU
before you get there. There is so much more I could write about Graz and
my study abroad experience but I don’t want to end up writing an entire
book. This is just all the stuff I wished I knew before I had to learn
the hard way.
Have a great trip!
-Zachary Crawford
Lastly, If you have any other questions about study abroad/ Graz just email me at zgcrawfo@
uark.edu and I’ll be happy to help!
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To find out more about the Exchange program with Karl Franzens Universitaet in Graz, Austria, visit
http://studyabroad.uark.edu/exchange/graz
