John B. - Salzburg, Austria - Fall 2011
Servus und Grüß Gott from Salzburg!
I have been in Germany/ Austria for one week now. My initial reactions are very positive. I definitely made the right choice and the BGSU Salzburg program that is affiliated with Elmhurst College is a great program and I highly recommend it to any future german students.
When I arrived in Salzburg, I soon was taken to Freilassing, DE, right over the boarder. I was luckily enough to stay with family of another EC student here and it was a great way to get used to a new area. I bought lederhosen and the next day, made my way to Munich's Oktoberfest. It was a fun time, but smaller and less eventful than I expected.
I met up with my Bavarian friend at Oktoberfest and she invited me and fellow EC student, Kim, to her home after the fest. We ended up in a very small village an hour north of Munich, Alfershausen. It was gorgeous. We went to castle ruins, fed horses, and looked at more stars in the sky than I have ever seen.
Upon arriving in my dorm in Salzburg, I explored the city for 8 hours by foot and soon realized I should have taken it easy because I ended up having to walk and walk everyday. Oh well, lesson learned. I just started classes yesterday, October 3, and they seem very good so far. My classes are all in German and count towards gen eds and towards my German minor, which worked out perfectly. My German professor back at EC really prepared me for this environment by only speaking to us in German, so I felt like I was in class back home. The only problem here in Salzburg is understanding the natives. The southern dialect can be quite frustrating because I will only understand a third of what they are saying as opposed to more if they were speaking standard 'high' german.
All in all, I made the right choice here. The program is great and I have made a few new buddies as well as making the acquaintance of a few local like-minded musicians. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Tschüss,
John B
posted by Alice N at 10/04/2011 10:58:00 AM
8 Comments:
John B. Thank You for sharing with your experiance. I am also planning to go to Austria, Vienna in Spring, 2012; therefore, any information is very interesting and helpful to me. I did know that Austrian German is a little bit different than German, but after reading your post it seems that it is much more different than I thought it was. Also, how different actually Germans and Austrians are? Do they have a lot in common?
Hi John I will be studying abroad next semester in Argentina. It is great to hear how you are handling studying in a completely different language. Is it overwhelming to take classes in a different language or is it easier than you expected?
-Lindsay Ryan
Hey John!! I'm glad everything is going well! I will be studying abroad in the spring in Italy. How did you pick your classes? Did you do it based on your major or more based on the location of the school you are studying at?
Best of luck!
Megan Cline
Servus Andiry,
There is quite a dialect issue. Don't be intimidated because everyone at the universities speaks Hochdeutsch and the only real issues come when hearing older people on the street. Sure there are differences but Austria is similar to the US. I was just in Wien this weekend and it was great if you like the city atmosphere. It's a cleaner, smaller version of Chicago. You'll like it a lot!
Hi Lindsey
It's not that bad. My German teacher at EC only spoke in German so I was used to the immersion method. I love hearing German so as long as you really want to get better at Spanish you will be fine =)
John
Hi Megan!
Glad you are studying abroad, it has been one amazing month so far. I picked my classes from the program. There were only a certain few classes we could pick from and they all count as German and gen Ed credit for me. That is the main reason I code the BGSU Salzburg program.
Just keep searching the sites of the program/s that you are looking into, I'm sure with some help from Dr. Lagerwey you'll get a good set of classes figured out!
John
Thank You for your response John!
I have one more question. What would you suggest to do, or try while in Austria,or know before you go there? Is there something crucial I should know?
Don't forget to sign up for the Austrian insurance.
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