Here's to the New Year and New Beginnings!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Holiday Season and a good New Year. I to be honest have been thinking for over a year about starting up blogging again, and after reviewing recent comments and knowing that people are still coming on to my blog it made me want to start again. For a quick update about how I am doing and where in the world I am.
I am still in Vienna. I am older, 22 to be exact. Yikes! I don't feel 22! In one of my last posts I think I mentioned something about my German exam. Well, I have not only finished all my pre study lectures the Uni enforced me to complete before I could start my actual BA. Thank goodness that is all over and I have already finished my first semester at the Uni! Which feels like such an accomplishment and also a relief to finally say that I am a regular College student. I look at the people I know back in Florida and see a lot of them finishing there degrees, or close to being finished. HECK! A lot of people I know are MARRIED! Then there is me who feels like an 18 year old finishing off her first semester at college.
Like any little girl I always liked the thought of the princesses finding their princes and getting married and living happy ever after. Which made me like to day dream about my wedding day, if you have or know about pintrest you know about the wedding overload that is on there and many people who are not getting married have a pinboard that is dedicated to a wedding that they are not planning. *Guilty!* We all have our guilty pleasures, but when I go onto my Facebook and look at people who used to be my really good friends and more than half of the people that I knew are already married.
I am not saying getting married in your late teens and early twenties are a bad thing, but I know how this group of people (whom I used to be friends with) tick somewhat and I just see it as a pressure from their parents or from their church and even a pressure they put on themselves by saying not only are they saving themsalves for marriage, but they are saving their first kiss for their wedding day. Which leads to after dating someone for a year they can't handle all the pressure and jump into marriage. THAT OR they think it makes them mature and adults. I am not saying that people who marry at a very young age are doomed to fail or trying to bash anybody here but I just see it differently. With that off of my chest I am going to move on. 
I also found a job here in Vienna, which is going to be my first job here. Which I am very excited about. Finding a job here in Austria as a student, not from the EU (European Union), and having to deal with obtaining working papers make job hunting a very long ordeal. I might blog about how to get a job and what to do for someone in a similar position.
The saying '' It's not what you know, it's who you know'' is an understatement here in Vienna. (I can imagine it is the same in many other cities but I can only speak from experience) During the 3 and a half years I have been here I have come across a few American students here, and the ones I have spoken with the ones that had jobs always seemed to have gotten the job through the grapevine. (You know the typical mother's cousin's friend's sister also living in Vienna and worked at xyz and was looking to hire someone.) I had attended an info night and it was for students moving onto the Universities that were forgieners and it was there how I learned the way to go about working legally in Vienna. But I will go into details another day.
As far as new beginnings does anybody have any goals for the new year?
Hello!
ReplyDeleteJust want to say I really enjoy reading your blog and I am happy your still in vienna. I am planning on going to university of vienna in September but I am a little lost on how to even apply as an American and the steps I need to take. Do I just email them and go from there? I really want to go over there but it is just such a headache to figure out visas and how I can get there.
Also I am curious on how you got a job out there. I have a girlfriend over there and I would love to attend school there. Any points in the right direction would be awesome. I am kind of stressing out how I can afford everything and how long I can even stay in Austria. It is nice to know you have been there three years. That's a good sign!
Thanks again!
Hey Remington,
DeleteThank you so much for reading and for your question. I first have a few questions for you, do you speak German? Can you read and write in German? If yes then do you have a certificate that is internationally accepted as proof that you are proficient in German. There are two types one EPD which is only accepted in Austria and oesd which is internationally accepted, and it must be a B2 or higher level. If you don't have German skills and or do not have any of these two certificates then before you can start any of your actual university classes you will have to obtain the language skills and one of the two certificates.
I am linking here the site from the uni in english to give you the low down on what to do to apply for admission.
http://studentpoint.univie.ac.at/en/application/admission/with-non-eueea-school-leaving-certificate/
Make sure everything you have is noterised. But have the copies noterised or you might suprised when you see your highscool diploma with a sloppy looking stamp on it from the university.
Good documents to have noterised (and make sure they are not the originals) you birth certificate, high school diploma, and letter of acceptance to an american college that offers the same degree program you are wishing to go with. The application period can take a few weeks. Some certain degree programs for a BA reqire an entry exam before you will be accepted into the study but the link I had sent you should give you good info on that.
Also have either SAT or ACT results, and an acceptence letter from an American college. If you are coming straight out of high school and have no college backing be prepared for the university not only making you take german classes but also pre-study lectures. Which according to what you want to study will determine what lectures you will have to pass to make the university see you as also having the same coalifications as a high school student here in Austria.
These classes can either be Math, English (yes even if you are american you might have to take an english exam. trust me I know), History, Physics, Bio, and Geographie.
Once you get accepted and once you are in Vienna, you have 3 months of a tourist visa to work out the kinks for starting to prepare for the visa process. In an earlier post I do believe I have written about what you need and what to do for one, but if you will need a residence first and then get a Medelzettel which states your residency, which you will need for your student visa. If you are living in someone else's place and they agree for a time you to live there that can be your residence and you will need a copy of their medelzettel and a signed letter from them stating it is their apartment that they are allowing you to live in, or just a copy of your lease. You might also want to go to your local police department and have them print out your rap sheet even if you have none have a print out statment saying you have none. Everything else you should have from applying to the University and along side your acceptence letter. Make sure you also have a bank account, with money in it to also prove you have enough money to support yourself. Also once you get your acceptence letter and before applying for your visa apply for your student insurance. WGKK is where most people here go for insurance.
DeleteAbout work, I will post about that another time.
Hopefully all of this info has not scared you off. Your girlfriend here should atleast know what I am talking about if she is from here, and can also help you with translations when dealing with all the visa stuff.
As long as you are showing that you are actually studying in Vienna and doing the accreditted work alongside I do not know if there really is a limit for how long you can stay. Just your student permit (studentaufenthalt) will last 1 year.
My personal advice is to ask twice. I have over the years learned no matter where you go even if you think the people should know what they are talking about, well they normally know only half of it and or get it totally wrong. My advice should help you though, even though don't be suprised if something I said is either out dated or just will not apply to you.
Hopefully this gave you some guidence.
Thank you for the response! I lived in vienna years ago for nine months. I had 3 months on my passport then 6 months on a tourist visa. So I know the pain to get some of this stuff done. I do know some German but I am not at b2 levels yet. I am curious as to why I need to apply to an American university to study in vienna. I have my associates right now but that is it. I haven't applied to any universities out here. So I need to apply, get the acceptance letter then not go to that university? So you didn't apply for a student visa before you got out there? Also, I thought to apply for a residency visa you had to do that in your own country at the consulate. Maybe I am making this much more difficult then it really is, but I know dealing with the Austrian bureaucracy everyone has something different to tell you. Haha thanks for the help again!
ReplyDeleteOkay, so atleast you don't have to start from the beginning when it comes to German, but you will have to continue German classes when you are here until you are at the B2 level and with a certificate to back it up. The whole thing about the acceptance letter might not apply for you since you have done some studying at a college. I came here within a month of graduating high school so for me I had to have an acceptance letter so it basically shows that you COULD also study that certain program in your home country. I was not told this until a few weeks of me leaving for Vienna and so I went to a local college (not a comunittee college) and told a few people in the admin. office what I am planning on doing and that I was asked for an acceptance letter but time was of the essence. Which they then aggreed to writing a letter stating that IF I applied that with my transscripts and my ACT scores that I would be elegible to be acceptted into the college with the offical stamp, and header and that worked as well. But most colleges are not really willing to give such a letter without really applying. Well you most likely could very well do it at the consulate but normally the consulate is in D.C. and to make a trip out there and for who know how long it would take seemed unneeded. I did everything here and made sure I got all the paperwork I needed and it worked out for me. If you said you have people you know here then ask someone to call the MA35 and ask them if you can apply for your permit when you are here. I don't see why not but of course you don't want to have to fly back if you don't need to.
DeleteFrom my experience this worked for me, but things might have changed so please don't go only on what I tell you.
Hope this helped!