Some Vienna Delights!
So many of you guys have asked how my time was when I spent 5 months studying in Vienna, Austria in Central Europe this past spring semester. As my schedule was so packed with classes, activities, traveling, etc., I was unable to post pics on facebook or post stories, much lesss keep up with my own pace!
I just completed my study abroad evaluation and I wanted to share a bit of my experience. So much of my time there was shaped by my interactions and friendships with people from across the world, primarily across Europe. The ones that aided in a more holistic understanding of Europe as a whole were with people I met through AIESEC Vienna and AIESEC in Austria overall. They have such a strong LC there and the LC itself is much like ours - very international! Vienna has tons of students studying there from across Europe either for a semester, a year, or their whole college career. Thus, the LC itself was only about 1/2 Austrian!
Here is my response to the quesiton to "What was the most valuable thing you learned on the trip?":
Before I left for Vienna, I thought I had a bit of the European way of life figured out. But I had mistakenly grouped so much of the countries in the continent into a general group in my mind, each with a varying degree of its own identy. However, revisiting countries and traveling to new parts of Europe from the northwest in Belgium and Netherlands, to northern region across all the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland), and even going to the eastern countries like Romania, I finally gained a sense of the differences among all the regions. I saved a ton of money (especially with the expensive living standards across Scandinavian countries), by staying with friends in each country. This allowed me to live the local way of life during my short stay there and have the opportunity to see and question why things are the way they are from a local perspective. Having transversed 14 countries during my stay in Vienna allowed me to see for myself just how much each country's history shapes who they are, their ambitions for themselves and their country, how they work in a group setting, and how they perceive different things in life. It was an eye-opening experience for myself too as I saw more of how my interactions with others and attitude is molded by the circumstances of my family and country. The US is in general an optimistic country, as we are created by people who at some point in history, came to the US with certain dreams and hope, like my parents. This optimism is maintained and has generated a highly optimistic and much more innocent environment for our generation to grow up in relative to most of the world. Getting to be close friends with many across Eastern Europe, visiting their countries in addition to Berlin, I saw just how real and recent the communist era was. The fall of the Berlin wall was just 20 years ago and began the end of the communist era, but the impact still carries on. I see now how that attributes to such a diligent work ethic and importance placed on values like appearance and approval. Working with people from the Scandinavian countries and visiting there allowed me to see how and why their work habits and style are very much group-oriented, as most people in their countries tend to have the privilege and capability to think of not only themselves, but the welfare of the whole community. Going to the relatively much more liberal northwest Europe and working with Belgian and Dutch classmates gave me an insight into the ways they interact with other students and the difference in their approach to problems and our course work. Immersing myself in these groups of people eager to be abroad and interact with others across Europe and the world was a great experience to see and live. And of all places, in a city of classic European beauty, where the Austrian and Viennese people have such a respect for people and rules than I have seen in virtually all other places I have visited. Moreover, the most valuable thing I took from my prior travels and applied to my semester abroad was not only to observe and immerse myself in the international environment, but also to delve deeper to question and seek answers about how history and family/childhood circumstances attribute to cultural values in general and individuals' attitudes and beliefs.
I just completed my study abroad evaluation and I wanted to share a bit of my experience. So much of my time there was shaped by my interactions and friendships with people from across the world, primarily across Europe. The ones that aided in a more holistic understanding of Europe as a whole were with people I met through AIESEC Vienna and AIESEC in Austria overall. They have such a strong LC there and the LC itself is much like ours - very international! Vienna has tons of students studying there from across Europe either for a semester, a year, or their whole college career. Thus, the LC itself was only about 1/2 Austrian!
Here is my response to the quesiton to "What was the most valuable thing you learned on the trip?":
Before I left for Vienna, I thought I had a bit of the European way of life figured out. But I had mistakenly grouped so much of the countries in the continent into a general group in my mind, each with a varying degree of its own identy. However, revisiting countries and traveling to new parts of Europe from the northwest in Belgium and Netherlands, to northern region across all the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland), and even going to the eastern countries like Romania, I finally gained a sense of the differences among all the regions. I saved a ton of money (especially with the expensive living standards across Scandinavian countries), by staying with friends in each country. This allowed me to live the local way of life during my short stay there and have the opportunity to see and question why things are the way they are from a local perspective. Having transversed 14 countries during my stay in Vienna allowed me to see for myself just how much each country's history shapes who they are, their ambitions for themselves and their country, how they work in a group setting, and how they perceive different things in life. It was an eye-opening experience for myself too as I saw more of how my interactions with others and attitude is molded by the circumstances of my family and country. The US is in general an optimistic country, as we are created by people who at some point in history, came to the US with certain dreams and hope, like my parents. This optimism is maintained and has generated a highly optimistic and much more innocent environment for our generation to grow up in relative to most of the world. Getting to be close friends with many across Eastern Europe, visiting their countries in addition to Berlin, I saw just how real and recent the communist era was. The fall of the Berlin wall was just 20 years ago and began the end of the communist era, but the impact still carries on. I see now how that attributes to such a diligent work ethic and importance placed on values like appearance and approval. Working with people from the Scandinavian countries and visiting there allowed me to see how and why their work habits and style are very much group-oriented, as most people in their countries tend to have the privilege and capability to think of not only themselves, but the welfare of the whole community. Going to the relatively much more liberal northwest Europe and working with Belgian and Dutch classmates gave me an insight into the ways they interact with other students and the difference in their approach to problems and our course work. Immersing myself in these groups of people eager to be abroad and interact with others across Europe and the world was a great experience to see and live. And of all places, in a city of classic European beauty, where the Austrian and Viennese people have such a respect for people and rules than I have seen in virtually all other places I have visited. Moreover, the most valuable thing I took from my prior travels and applied to my semester abroad was not only to observe and immerse myself in the international environment, but also to delve deeper to question and seek answers about how history and family/childhood circumstances attribute to cultural values in general and individuals' attitudes and beliefs.
posted by Cynthia at
2:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home