Austria a surreal land, Can Surreal be Realistic.

Hi there Alec

Everything has its ups and its downsides, me on my hand can only compare to Sweden, where I come from (and maybe France where I lived for a while) but what I like about Vienna is that you can really be yourself here, wear what you want and so on. In Stockholm it is very important to have a style and/or be very hip - it is much more relaxed in Vienna.
Another good thing is that it is a big city meaning that you get almost everything you need, there are international supermarkets, cinema with movies in original language (even the "normal" cinemas show movies in original language and there is the Haydn english cinema). The subway is very good and not expensive.

The viennese people can be grumpy and the word "serviceminded" does not exist sometimes. You often get the answer "we can't help you with that, that just doesnt work" instead of a "I will see what I can do to help you" when you have a problem (at the bank or so) There is a lot of bureaucracy, especially if you are a foreigner.

I am very sorry to say that there is a great deal of racism  (hidden and not very hidden) and the rightwinged parties get many votes.

Don't know if I answered any of your questions, feel free to ask more specific ones and I will do my best to answer. In any case Vienna is a great place to live, I have been here for 8 years now and still love it - so welcome here

@mimie
this is rajpatel from india is planning to come to veinna in 2011 aprilfor my higher studies i have a heard a lot good abt veinna but u mentioned tht there is a lot of racisim wat is meant by tht is there any way to get partime jobs for fundings as astudent hope ur reply will help me a lot

Hi Rajpatel,
great that you want to come to Vienna, it is a good place to study, even if the university can be complicated at times (bureaucracy). The problem with racism is more a problem of lack of education. It is a very safe city and one doesn't have be afraid walking down the street, foreigner or no foreigner. Especially if you come as a student you are often very welcome, as sadly enough a difference is made between "foreigners" and "foreigners". A turk is not the same as an american and a working class immigrant is not the same as a higher educated one, come to study. Do you get where I am going??

Part time jobs can be possible but you have to have a working permit, not sure if you have that as a student here. Of course there are "black" jobs too. Depends what you are looking for and it is important (most of the times) to know german.

Hope it was some help..