I am sitting here writing this blog with the excitement of a little kid, I am so excited to be heading home Tuesday morning. Today is my last full day in Linz, and as I don’t know the internet situation for my night tomorrow in Munich, today is my last blog in Austria.
I am doing this blog, partly because I will appreciate having documented my time here later, and partly because I was rewarded a very lovely scholarship from the C of C Study Abroad Office and another one from the C of C German Department. I am extremely grateful for both of those as they have allowed me to travel. My travel funds came completely from scholarships. However, with those awards I have to talk about certain things in my blog.
1)The most rewarding aspects of my program
Overall I have to say the reward has been being able to travel, and making some wonderful friends from all around the world. I have amazing friends in the two girls that were my roommates this past semester, and many others.
2) The challenges you encounter and how you resolve them
I think one of the biggest challenges I encountered was general frustration about my study abroad experience. I was extremely frustrated after the first 2 months here with how little my german was improving, then I went on my spring break, and just being lucky enough to travel to the places I did, it helped readjust my perspective. I approached the second half trying to appreciate the fact I was abroad, the fact I had money to travel, the fact I had very little academic pressure before the exam period (most my classes were one test and you either passed or failed that test and that was your grade), and the fact that I had great friends that I needed to enjoy the little time I had left with. I was expecting the cultural shock, and things being different, I was even expecting to miss home a lot, but I really was not prepared for my “goals” not being fulfilled. It was a challenge to let go of my original goals and to be ok with whatever I did accomplish while here.
3)How has the experience affected your academic life or career goals
Before taking this semester abroad, I was considering doing a master’s program over seas, but now I see I would miss my family too much. I have found this experience really rewarding for my physics, this university has a technical physics program, and therefore offers many classes I would never have the opportunity to attempt in Charleston. I have loved the change of pace, all the exams were oral, and there was very little focus on the math, just a focus on ideas and phenomena. I found I didn’t learn as much as I feel I do in a C of C physics course, but I felt like I had really really interesting lectures. Due to the courses I have had here, I think I have a better sense of subjects I would truly be interested in for graduate study. I also think it has given me stronger clarity that I want to stay in the physics field for my graduate studies. So this experience was really useful in helping me eliminate options, and solidify a couple options in thinking about graduate programs and schools.
4)What advice you would give future participants of this program
I regret not having listened to my advisors before hand a little more. I had wonderful advice from my German teacher about where I should go to really improve my German skills (which was a goal of this study abroad), and then I chose to go to Linz, Austria. I have to say that my skills have not improved like I had wanted them to. I live with two girls I speak English with every day, I correct their English way more than I ever had my German corrected this semester. So when talking with advisors really take their advice to heart, and make sure they know what you want to achieve from the semester. I am happy I went to Austria for travel, but I think if I studied abroad again, I would definitely take my German teacher’s advice and go elsewhere.
5)Anything else you’d like to share – travel tips, discussion of food, culture/cultural adjustment/culture shock, current affairs
I feel like most my blogs shared, many of my first impressions and thoughts, so I am going to close this blog with just another experience, my Birthday. I celebrated my birthday last week with a close group of friends, and it was in an Austrian Beer Garden. It is something I will never find in my area of the U.S. (or maybe in any area of the U.S.). It is a place only the locals know about, as you have no idea it is nestled behind the main street of shop faces and big names, and I just love its atmosphere. I ordered a big local austrian beer, and I had a schweinbratel und semmelknödel, with warm sauerkraut. I have really enjoyed this part of austrian culture, how well they can cook pork, and how meals are slow.
My friends surprised me with lots of chocolates to help me cope with the 5 exams I still had to complete and a paper. I also got the best birthday song ever! Everyone sung it in their own language, so I got Spanish/Hungarian/Korean/Russian Happy Birthday song. It made me laugh pretty hard, I was so thankful for their friendships this semester. I will miss them all, however, I cannot lie I am a bit of a home-body and am really ready to have a big ole southern sweet tea that has ice and lemon and is always getting refilled. I am ready to see my family, friends, and dogs. I am also ready to get back to driving.
Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers during this past week! I have one exam tomorrow at 9 a.m. that I need to finish preparing for, but after that I will have lunch with friends then leave for Munich. I’ll be back on U.S. soil around 2:30 p.m. in Atlanta on Tuesday, and then back home around 5:30 p.m.
Abroad in Austria 