Erasmus Experience in Graz, Austria by Marta

Why did you choose to go to Graz, Austria?

I chose Graz because I've never been in Austria and in this country, my home university only had agreements with TU Graz and not with universities in Wien, which is something that turned out to be much better. Graz is a very small city, almost without the confusion of tourists and cars and new modern developments, making it a unique, picturesque, almost country city that no matter were you go, you will always fell like you are home. You immediately get to know every corner of the city without needing a map: it's the safest city of Austria, and I dare to say, of Europe. You can never feel fear or danger. Everything is so peaceful, and advent is amazing. There is all this sort of Christmas markets, with Glühwein (if you don't know what it is you really must try) and a bunch of other local stuff. Here you can feel the real magic of Christmas.

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How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

My scholarship is 6 month long an the amount of money you get depends on the country you come from. for me, I come from Portugal, and as the cost of living are cheaper when compared to some other countries, our scholarship is quit good (because you need more money to be able to afford buying stuff in other countries). I'm staying six months so I get 1500€. This is the amount you receive per semester and if you can manage you're money well, you will not need much more help besides the scholarship.

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What is the student lifestyle like in Graz?

In my case, I'm an architecture student, so yes: a lot of works and projects to handle at the same time. Good thing is that we don't have to study for exams because there is no exams, just work to handover. But of course there are exams in other courses and of course you have to study, but the good thing is that you have a lot of time to travel and to party if you are organised with you're stuff. The good thing about being a student in Graz is that you have a lot of culture surrounding you, so you can go to jazz pubs or an opera, a ballet or a museum, there is always some new contemporary exhibition. Beer is quite ok to afford, but if you come from a country where you are used to drink good coffee? is quite expensive and you may try to find a good espresso... good luck with that. :)

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Would you recommend the city and the University of Graz to other students?

I totally recommend this city. As I said, it's very peaceful, it's a student city, so there is always a party somewhere and the international community is very kind and always arranging cool stuff for us to do. Besides, it's a step away from Salzburg, Innsbruck and Ljubljana and every other place that you probably would never visit if you wouldn't come to study here.

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What is the food like?

Asian food, Indian food... I come from Portugal, we have a very long tradition of cooking, so it's hard to find it amazing here. The knodel, and sausages are typical. but if you don't want to eat that or chinese or indian, you better be ready to know how to cook. The cool thing here is that there is this market where you can buy all sorts of ingredients from the local farmers, which come everyday to the square to sell them. There you have local vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, fruits...

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Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Graz?

It wasn't hard to find accommodation in Graz, because they have a lot of dorms around the city, and also if you find some private place to be is ok too. The good thing here is that the dorms are not like in my country like you have 20 rooms and 1 kitchen. In most of the dorms you have apartments of 4 or 5 charing the common areas. If you want to go even cheaper, you can share you're room with other people, and that is not a problem here.

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How much does it cost to live in Graz?

It is not as expensive as I thought. Food is affordable and there are some cheaper rooms. In my case, as I am an architecture student, is a bit more expensive, because you always have to print and buy materials, but the rest is not so different. Unless you are talking about beer (which can be 50 cent in Portugal... ), and expresso as well.

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Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

The language is terrible (i'm sorry german speakers). I just can't speak it. It's really difficult to learn it if you don't speak in a daily basis. And in my case, I spend all day speaking English and thinking portuguese, so it's kind of hard to switch to a third language, but of course there are language courses. i'm doing one and it was not very expensive (60€) and you learn a lot, the thing is that you only have class once a week so if you don't try for yourself the rest of the time, it's quit difficult to start talking in german.

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What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Graz from your city?

There is no economical nor easy way to travel here from Portugal. If you want that you're plain stops in Graz and if you come with big luggage, there is no direct connections, so you always stop weather in Munich or Frankfurt. And if you don't pay attention to it, you will end up waiting 5 hours in the airport for the next plain (yeah, it happened to me). The other option is to go to Wien (directly with no stops), and then catch the train to Graz.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Graz?

McDonalds is amazing when you are starving!

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What good cultural sites are there to visit?

All sorts of sites. You are surrounded by the mountains wherever you go. You must visit Salzburg and Innsbruck, but also do the wine route and go to visit Wien (in my case, I think I fell in love with Graz, so Wien was not as magic as I was expecting). GO TO SKI! There are sky resorts everywhere near Graz and enjoy that you are in the centre of Europe to travel wherever you want to.