An average day as an intern in Vienna

What my average day looked like? Find out info from an average intern coming from Croatia.

My daily schedule could be divided into two parts.

1. Working days

Spending 10 hours at the studio

I was working in the studio from Monday until Friday every week. I was supposed to spend 9 hours daily there, from 9 a. m. till 6 p. m. but that almost never happened. Being there you always had to stay a little bit longer if the situation needed you and you could not simply let the others suffer alone. Thus we stayed sometimes until 6. 30 p. m. but also until 7 p. m. (or unfortunately longer) was not rare too! Speaking in general after calculating everything, I spent around 10 hours daily at the studio, from 9. 15 a. m. till 7 p. m.

There were days when the situation was "not under control" and we had to do something quickly so we had to stay there until it was done (especially when it had to be send by the next morning) which meant being there 11 hours in one day. Although in my contract it was said I would be working 45 hours per week I could say that an average week had around 50 hours per week. This is "normal" for this kind of a work where the time does not mean that much if we have tons of things to finish. And this was all talking about an average day or week, without mentioning exceptions. Luckily for me (and hopefully) my former boss told me she would pay for the hours I spent more than I really should, such as one working Sunday (which makes it 6 days in row) and after I was done with my internship but had to help there.

The lunch break was up to us, anyone could decide individually when he or she wanted to have lunch or any other food break. Since I mostly ate what I had prepared earlier at home I started my lunch usually between 12 p. m. and 2 p. m. Otherwise everyone would have lunch together around 1-2 p. m.

The good thing is that because of the projects we had to stay there to work for them as it was good for the business or was supposed to be so. But the bad thing was when I realised that I was happy that I was able to go home around 7 p. m. which became "early" for me. Although I was said to be free from 6 p. m. to run home. Sometimes of course we would finish half an hour or an hour earlier (and just a few times an hour and half earlier). But that was all also a bit exhausting for me since I was a volunteer and could not compare my financial background with the Austrian one. My colleagues had understood me pretty good as they were recently students as well and on an exchange.

Waking up and preparing both breakfast and lunch

But hey, that's about working in the studio only. My day actually started between 7 and 7. 30 a. m., or even earlier if I could not sleep or the sunshine would wake me up at 6 or 6. 30 a. m. already. After repeating "Just 5 minutes more... " for half an hour I would force myself to quickly jump out of the bed and start preparing fast for the day. Generally, the best moment of the day was to go to your bed and finally sleep in peace. But it was also making you cry when you knew once you open your eyes in the morning everything starts again and I had no idea what new (troubles) would expect me on the following day at the workplace.

I started with my lunch & breakfast around 7. 50 a. m. If I decided to eat breakfast at home and cook lunch it would always take me around 40-50 minutes to prepare everything. I was trying to, at the same time, cook my lunch (mostly rice, pasta, sometimes potatoes, green salad or sandwich) which took half an hour at least... and making my breakfast which was mostly fried eggs, bread with honey or some creme, yogurt or more often milk with cacao. I used the winter sausage and cheese quiet often too and I tried to eat an apple and banana as well.

Sometimes, once per week maybe, I used to bring the food from my fridge to the studio and prepare my breakfast or improvised lunch there. I did this in order to save more time. This way I would come about 9 a. m. there and I could also sleep longer, staying in my bed until unrealistic 8. 15 a. m.!

Catching the bus

By the time I finished all of it it was already around 8. 45 a. m. and then had to run for the bus 13A Hauptbahnhof whose stop was in the Lederergasse. And in 90% of the cases I just watched my bus passing by from Florianigasse. The worse was when I was walking towards the station and it took me maybe 100-150 meters more... but then I just saw the reflection of the bus in the poster in front of me that was going to surpass me and leave. A few times I was lucky that I continued to walk and entered the bus after a minute as it was the red traffic light and then we all went towards the studio. But more or less I always missed the bus and had to wait for the new one 2-6 minutes. That annoyed me since then I arrived about 9. 15 a. m. or even 9. 20... and apparently I could not avoid this despite starting to cook my lunch and breakfast at 7. 30, 7. 45, 8 a. m. or later... always the same thing happened.

Once I was in the bus it took about 15 minutes in general to enter the doors of the studio. So that was not that bad. The fastest time ever was when I got so lucky to leave my apartment, took 3-4 minutes to the bus station and entered the bus just before it left. Also there was no much problems with the traffic so I got in total in 15 minutes to the studio since the moment I locked my doors of the apartment!

Going back home by bus, metro or by city bike

After surviving the day in the studio and finally leaving it I had again the same problem as in the morning. I had to watch my bus 13A Alser Strasse-Skodagasse leaving the bus stop when I was closing the doors of my studio. It did not matter when I left the studio - was it one minute later, five minutes later... the bus always left when I was there. A few times had to run before the green turned on in order to catch it. More or less I had to wait 2-7 minutes again for the next one.

I hated the bus on my way back home. Why? Because it took much longer than when I had to go from home to work. On its way back to Alser Strasse it went to Mariahilfer Strasse and made sort of half circle there. It took me long to get used to it as I got disorientated but it was the part when everything was going so slow. And the bus on my return home was always full of people. The way back was in general 5-7 minutes longer but seemed like eternity.

The other alternatives were to use the metro U4 to Karlsplatz (2 stops) and then there change to U2 Seestadt until reaching Rathaus (3 stops) and then walk about 7-8 minutes (and cross the road before... and wait for the green light) until reaching home. This would also take me about 20 minutes.

The same amount of time would also be had I taken the Citybike. It is about 15 minutes until parking at the CityBike station behind the Rathaus but it was always a risk whether there was a free bike box or not. Luckily, I used the application and hoped for the best. Almost always (around 6-7. 30 p. m. ) it was empty so I had no troubles. But then it would take me again ca 7-8 minutes until I reached home. So in the end maybe the best solution was the worst - to take the crowded bus and it leaves me 3 minutes away from my apartment.

Why were the bus rides one of my favourite parts of the day?

Despite the problems I really enjoyed when I was in the bus. Whether it be on my way to the studio or way back home. The reason is quiet simple. Those 15 minutes sitting inside was the only time of the day when I actually did not worry nor cared about everything. I ate or was going to eat soon. I already prepared lunch and had breakfast or was going to have dinner. I just did not want to worry about anything within those 15 minutes. I knew something new or complex awaited for me at the studio and on my way back home I had to cook or go shopping so I just did not want to think about it.

After the studio - shopping and leisure time

I used to go to the shops once or twice per week right after the studio. I would come first home to leave my stuff, relax a bit and then rush within the last 20-30 minutes to Hofer until it closed at 8 p. m. If I was really in the hurry I would jump out of the bus at the Piaristengasse bus station and run towards Hofer. The best was of course when my fridge and kitchen were full of food so I had nothing to worry about.

On Tuesdays I used to use the opportunity to go to Museum of Applied Arts & Contemporary Arts as it had its doors opened and free for everyone from 6-10 p. m. I went mostly direct from my studio and a few times leaving my backpack and relaxing a bit at home. I would spend there an hour or less in general to check the new exhibition or review those I had already seen before.

On Wednesdays I usually went first home to leave my stuff and eat then rush to Brau Bar around 7-7. 15 p. m. to German Language Cafe. I used to spend there 3 hours meeting with old and new friends and enjoying my time there. It was also kind of a break of the monotonous days in the studio and was perfectly in the middle of the week. Thus making my time go faster during the week. After Wednesday everything was much closer to weekend.

Before sleep and going to sleep

Let's say I was back at home without obligations (except for Wednesday evening) from 8 p. m. and had now several hours to do what I wanted. For the most of the time I used to read and learn a bit German, write on the blog here, chat and talk with my family and friends, tried to write into my private diary and read the news on the Internet. It took all a lot of time actually and I used to go to sleep around 1 a. m. I tried in the last month and a half to go around midnight or even sooner in order to have much more sleep.

And that was pretty much all about the working days in general.

2. Weekends

On weekends I had the opportunity to recover myself a little bit. I used to have Skype lessons on Saturday and Sunday but it was not always regular.

I used to go almost every Saturday to Brunnenmarkt to buy some ingredients. Brunnenmarkt was about 15 minutes walking from my apartment so I enjoy, especially when it was warm and sunny, to go there by foot! I would spend there about 10 minutes and go back home. If I did not go in the morning I would be there when it was already evening and darker, around 4-5 p. m. as it was closing by 6 p. m.

Later in the 2016 I tried more to go after having breakfast for a walk or on the citybike. Especially in the last weeks when it was warm I would go out on the bike for 2-3 hours or walk around with the camera. Sometimes there were some events but generally not many that I attended. My journeys on the Citybike were mostly along the Danube Canal and sometimes on the other side I would walk then through the center back home.

And I used to go sometimes on Saturday as well for the lunch in the Pakistani restaurant (Der Wiener Deewan) so I could have something to eat for 4 Euros and not waste time in the kitchen at home.

In 2016 I spent much more in the kitchen actually in order to experiment with the food and also had more guests I invited for dinner. In general when there was still sun outside I tried to go around and during the evening I was at home reading, illustrating, writing or doing something for the studio if needed.

That's actually it. I do not know at the moment what else should be important. As an intern it was only the weekends when I could go somewhere when it was still sun and recover from the exhausting week. During the working days I would spend 10 hours of my day at the studio (and a bit more if you count the time spent to get there and come back home).

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