Erasmus Experience in Salzburg, Austria by Marta

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Why did you choose to go to Salzburg, Austria?

Salzburg is very beautiful, old, historical city with a lot of charming nooks. It is birthplace of Mozart and during summer there is many open-air concerts of classical music and also fairs and Italian festivals. Salzburg and surrounding villages (towns? ) also offering a lot of attractions. Moreover Salzburg is placed near to the breathtaking Alpes.

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

During my 3-month of training i received 1200 euro in total - 400 euro per month.

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What is the student lifestyle like in Salzburg?

My practical training was during summer so there was no a lot of students. Since I was with my friend most of our free time we were spending on sightseeing of Salzburg with surroundings and also Vienna, Innsbruck, Hallstatt and many others.

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

I assume that during semester there were probably lively students at the university, I found Austrian people very nice and helpful.

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What is the food like?

Salzburg is quite a big tourist city, so there is no problem with finding something you like to eat. A lot of restaurants, bars offer traditional cuisine of Austria as well as Asian, Italian and others.

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Salzburg?

I gave about 300 euro per month for hiring a room (one-bedded room with toilet and kitchen) in dormitory. But there was a lot of different options.

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How much does it cost to live in Salzburg?

I didn't have too much free time to spend money but usually - including rent for the room, trips, festivals etc. (mostly on weekends), food and... others, I usually paid about 400 - 500 euro per month.

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

Even if you don't speak German, almost everyone is capable to speak with you in English, so the language barrier is not a big problem. But I would recommend having a basic knowledge of German at least. It makes you live there even easier and also you can improve your language skills. I don't know anything about the courses available at the University.

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

I went by car. There are also train and bus connections between my city and Salzburg, but they might be not direct.

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Salzburg?

Salzburg is very big and a lot of places are opened at night so everyone can find something interesting.

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

Since i am fond of Asian food I would recommend the Asia Palace in Salzburg - but there is A LOT OF different places you can eat tasty. There is also a well-known place in Hallain - Gelotok, they serve ice-cream etc. If it comes to traditional Austrian cuisine I enjoyed Apfelstrudel with vanilla in the castle's restaurant in Werfen and also soup with dumpling in a restaurant with lanterns in Hallstatt - I don't remember the name but there is only one place like that.

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What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Salzburg offers a lot of different kinds of cultural sites. Many concerts (not only classical music) is taking place in Salzburg. Amongst the places that you can visit (everything is published on the websites on Salzburg, so there is no need to mention them here) I believe that worth to see: Hellbrunn - Schloss und Wasserspiele, Kapuzinerberg (beautiful view of the city), Hohensalzburg Fortress and old city.

I wouldn't recommend to visit Mozart's birthplace - the ticket costed about 10 euro if I remember correctly and there is almost nothing but some things which are somehow connected with pianist (maybe one piano, I'm not sure if it wasn't a copy of the real one) and the rest of the exhibition is exposition of some items barely connected to Mozart himself. There is no furniture etc. It doesn't look like a birthplace at all. Maybe it is worth to see just to know where he was born but I was quite disappointed.

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I strongly recommend to travel across Austria because there are many beautiful places to see - Hallstatt (charming place - if you go there by train you have to take a ferryboat to get to the village), Innsbruck (old city, golden roof), Vienna (old city, Kahlenberg) and also sites which are nearer to Salzburg - for example: waterfalls in St. Johann im Pongau and Golling, Werfen (castle and ice cave) and many others. If you are travelling by car it is a few of mountains road (the most beautiful are paid) that allows you to see all the mountain around you from above.

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Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Salzburg in the future?

If you're going to travel by train (very convenient way of travelling) I would recommend obtaining a Vorteilscard - that makes your travel cheaper, it is profitable in the long run. And also during summer vacation is possible to obtain Sommertickett (with Vorteilscard it cost about 80 euros) which allows you to travel whole Austria (OBB trains) during vacation (3 months) without additional charges.

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