My first week in Linz

Hello everyone!

So I have almost been in Linz a week now - the time has flown by! I am still settling in, but my house mate Charlotte has made me feel so welcome, and so far I feel really comfortable living here.

Travel
On Sunday 20th September, Mum dropped me to Gatwick airport to embark on my first solo flight to Vienna, and then find my way by bus and train to Linz. The flight itself was fine, apart from the annoying man sat next to me who kept jabbing me with his elbows and snoring in my ear...!
The plane was delayed an hour, and so I was a little anxious that I might not make my connection, but luckily I'd given myself plenty of time, and the luggage pick-up in Vienna was very quick. Plus it was a great excuse to treat myself to pancakes at Frankie and Benny's at Gatwick airport! When I landed I had to get a bus from Vienna airport to Vienna's main train station, which took just over half an hour and gave me plenty of time to familiarise myself with the sights of Vienna.
I also managed to navigate the trains pretty well - it's very similar to in England, just in German (obviously!) - but whilst at the train station, I had my first time face to face with a group of Syrian refugees. It was quite a shock - I think in England we're very sheltered from what's going on in the rest of Europe, and seeing it for myself really brought home that fact that these are people just like everyone else, wearing clothes like ours and carrying bags like ours, who are having to run away from their own country. A group of refugees were actually giving up their seats on the train for other passengers, and whilst at first I felt quite intimidated being surrounded by people speaking a language I didn't understand, I gradually became more comfortable, and enjoyed watching them play with the new mobile phones they had been given.

Arriving
Charlotte and her boyfriend Markus were there to meet me at Linz train station, and Charlotte was just as excited and nervous to meet me as I was to meet her, which made me feel much better! She gave me a massive hug, and chatted to me in slow, understandable German to make me feel more comfortable. Once at her apartment, she gave me a tour around (it's a lovely apartment!) and we sat and drank tea and chatted in English all evening. Both her and Markus speak fantastic English and are enjoying practising it! Charlotte also has a cat called Niki, who luckily seems to like me, which means I get lots of cuddles!

My bedroom

My bedroom

My bedroom

The kitchen

Niki

The dining area

Food
Charlotte works for a company called Sonnetor who sell organic teas, herbs and spices, so she's very interested in our English tea! She also loves to cook, and so this week she's introduced me to many Austrian delicacies. The majority were high points, like the vegetable soup, the pastries, the bread, and a creamy mushroom sauce she did with rice, with only one real low point which was a soup made from her homemade stock, which was far too rich for me and reminded me a lot of gravy...We've also made pancakes together, and the food highlight of the week was an amazing 'brunch' Charlotte did where she went to a local bakery and brought back so many Austrian cakes for us to sample! And yes, I did try a bit of each!

Austrian cakes

I've also tried to introduce Charlotte to some English foods, for example apple crumble and bread and butter pudding, and I have also promised to make scones (although you can't get clotted cream over here), custard and maybe even a pasty, if Nanny will send me her recipe?!

Exploring
So food-wise, I've had a great week. But I have done things other than eating, I promise! I've managed to navigate the city fairly well so far. I've been to DM which is their equivalent of Superdrug, and I've also been food shopping in Hofer, which is pretty much the same as Lidl or Aldi. I've found my way to one of the schools I will be teaching at, and I went on a walk to the train station. I have also visited the New Cathedral and the Old Cathedral, both are beautiful but completely different styles and it was really interesting to research them, and the main square as well. I have yet to try out the trams and buses, but that will come with time! I would also like to do a test run to the other school I will be working at, which is a little outside Linz centre, and find a swimming pool and the main library to have a little look around.

New Cathedral

New Cathedral - stained glass

Hauptplatz - main square

Charlotte also took me yesterday to register as a citizen of Linz, which made everything feel very real! She did a lot of the talking, and I don't know how I would have done it without her, because the lady behind the desk obviously spoke English (to work where she works she would have had to have gone to a higher level school where English is compulsory) but she wasn't going to speak English to me! I understood the majority, but it was really good to have Charlotte there as back up, especially as the forms were all so important. I have some more forms to fill in to apply for an Activpass, which gets me discount on travel and entry to tourist attractions, and I've also been given a book full of vouchers for tourist attractions that is valid for a year, so I'm looking forward to using all of them!

I think that's everything I've been up to so far...This week coming I am on a training week in Hinterglemm, so I aim to write another post next weekend about how that went!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Three weeks to go!

Hi everyone!

The count down begins!

My flights are all booked - on Sunday 20th September I'll be flying from London Gatwick to Vienna, and travelling on to Linz by train. Three weeks and counting! Now that I've booked my travel it all suddenly feels real and very soon, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time! Especially when a lot of my course mates have already left or are leaving in the next few days to start their new adventures!

I'm hoping my accommodation is also pretty much sorted. I am going to view an apartment the day after I arrive in Linz. It's in the Hauptplatz, owned by a 28 year old lady called Charlotte who seems lovely from the emails we've exchanged over the past week. She's renting out a room in her flat, and it seems to be perfect for me, so I am hoping to pay a small deposit in the next few days to secure it, but want to view it before I move in to ensure everything is as I expected. I will most likely be staying in a hostel for the Sunday and Monday evening, and, all being well, will move in on the Tuesday! Once I get out there and have moved into accommodation, I will post pictures on here, but from what I've seen so far, it's a lovely flat and I can imagine myself being happy there. Plus, she has a cat - what more could I want?

There are a few things left to do, for example changing my English phone contract onto pay-as-you-go for the year, but mostly the remaining things to do will have to wait until I get there. I may have to set up a bank account in Linz, as my bank doesn't have a branch over there, but I will have to research this more. And I will also need to look at getting an Austrian SIM card for my phone so that I can use it out there as well.

All the big things are pretty much there now, it's just the little things remaining. But the main thing is reading through all the information I've been given about my placement, talking more with the school about my role and the logistics of it all, and most importantly swatting up on my German!

I am starting to get excited now, especially with my accommodation coming together - I think that was something that was stressing me out quite a bit, so it's good to have a bit more of a plan to go on.

I plan to post another blog post once I have arrived in Linz and have settled in a bit, which will hopefully include pictures and descriptions of where I will be living. But for now, this post is just to let you know my plans and how all the preparation is going for my year abroad! Now I need to start thinking about packing.........!

Liebe Grüße

Laura

Oberösterreich - Upper Austria

Hi everyone!

My year abroad is fast approaching and things are starting to fall into place. In mid-late September I will be headed to Linz in Upper Austria for nine months to work as an English Teaching Assistant. This scheme is run by the British Council and they have placed me in two schools. One is a private Catholic school, and the other is a standard secondary school. From the communication I have had with teachers at the schools so far, it seems that I will do alternate weeks in each school, leading smaller groups and sometimes larger classes, helping them with their English and teaching them about the English culture.

I am in the process of sorting out accommodation, and am hoping to live with a group of students in the Linz-Urfahr area, however this is still to be confirmed. Although the cost of living in Austria is quite high, I have been able to find some reasonable rooms in shared flats/houses through the website www.easywg.at, which I found through one of the blogs on www.thirdyearabroad.com. I just had to create a profile and I could search for relevant adverts, and people advertising rooms that fit my criteria could email me and so the process was put into motion. I am hopeful that one of the flats I'm in contact with currently will work out, as they all seem very nice so far!

I am also hoping to do lots of travelling while I'm away, both in and around Austria. I'd love to visit Vienna and Salzburg, as well as possibly Budapest and Prague, and maybe go down into Italy. That's the great thing about Austria - it's bordered by so many countries that travel around Europe is so easy and not too expensive.

I am also hoping to learn to ski - it's a must if I'm living in Austria! Hopefully my awful balance and fear of falling won't get in the way too much!

For now, this is all the information I have, but I hope to post on here every few weeks to let everyone know what I've been up to and how my year is going.

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)