This week’s milder weather finally allowed me the opportunity to explore the enormous ‘Prater’ park, which is mere steps from my apartment building. In total, the park is 6 million square metres, and home to an amusement park, as well as unending café’s, beer gardens, and expansive meadows and forests. The park is most famous for the Giant Ferris Wheel (Riesenrad). Riders on the Riesenrad sit in large carriages and are offered what are said to be absolutely beautiful views of Vienna.
http://www.prater.wien.info/index-e.html
You may have already seen my Facebook status, reveling in the lovely jog I had throughout the park. Through the centre of the park is a wide, tree-lined 4.5 km trail, which branches off into many smaller trails and parks..an absolute runner’s paradise! I’m sure I must have looked pretty goofy to any passer’s by, but I couldn’t seem to wipe the giant grin from my face..the park and the atmosphere from those enjoying an afternoon outside was really just so lovely.


And finally, the long awaited moment - The BOKU Exchange Student Orientation.

Before I begin, here are some quick facts about my school, ‘BOKU’:
-‘BOKU’ is short for ‘Bodenkultur’ in German, and translates to English as “University for Natural Resources and Applied Sciences”. More generally it is known as the Agricultural School. I have read there are no less than 13 Universities throughout Vienna.
-The school was founded in 1872.
-There are 7500 students at the University; small by Vienna standards, and in comparison to schools throughout North America.
-The school accepts a fair number of international students each year, and therefore offers a large list of courses (about 300 per semester) in English. These are the courses I will be taking, as I don’t have near the confidence to study at the University level in German. Exchange Students are able to take any of the courses offered at the University (in English or in German), including those outside of their subject areas, and those which otherwise have prerequisites. This a neat opportunity for us to explore other interests.
-A typical semester-load in Europe is very different from in North America. Students are required to take 30 credits per semester, and each course is worth from about 1 to 6 credits; this averages about 10 courses per semester.
-A particular course does not necessarily run in a regular cycle, ie.) every week throughout the semester at the same time every week. Sometimes a course might consist only of a few lectures spaced throughout the semester. Another course might involve a field trip, and afterwards you write a paper. This has been a bit of a hassle when it comes to making my timetable, but I think I’ve finally figured it out!
-Some examples of some courses I will be taking at BOKU:
Economic Paradigms in a Global Environment
Resource and Environmental Economics
Biocultural Diversity in Rural Landscapes
Psychology of Landscape & Natural Resources Management

Classes will begin this week!

The orientation was held in a large hall in the old and beautiful main building of the University. There were from 80-100 exchange students at the orientation, and so we were jammed into the hall pretty well. The morning consisted mainly of slideshow presentations and the required administrative tasks, after which the co-ordinators split us up into groups for a campus tour. The campus is somewhat spread out, as in Guelph, but overall it is much smaller. The campus tour ended early, leaving us with a three hour lunch break until our next activity. Our tour group (which consisted of North Americans, Aussies, Greeks and a Croatian), settled down in the student-run coffee house and hang-out ‘Tuwi’. It had a bit of a bohemian, artsy feel, and actually reminded me a lot of the ‘Bull Ring’ back at U of G. They only offer vegetarian meal options, and everything is organic. (There is also a small organic food store in the front of the building.) To be honest, we didn’t find the food to look too appetizing, and most of us ended up running to a ‘Kebab’ stand across the street for Pizza or Döner Kebabs. (For those of you who have never experienced Döner, the stands can usually be found on any street corner throughout Europe. I believe they stem from Turkey, and they consist of shaved meat (beef, pork or chicken) together in a pita with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and topped with a delicious white sauce.) The group had a good time sharing stories about our home countries and Universities, and the differences between them. Throughout the afternoon, we met up with more and more groups of exchange students, and although it’s impossible to remember all the names, I’m hoping to get to speak to each of them at some point in the semester. It seems to be a natural tendency for North American’s to stick together, but it was funny to see that even our school’s and lifestyle’s had their unique differences. The international students have a good time listening and comparing the different American accents, and apparently I have the most ‘American’ accent of them all, go figure!. (I am proud to be the only Canadian in the group, although everyone seems to think I act and look like a Californian.) The day finished off with a tour of the Library and the IT services offered by the University, after which we were let loose to the streets of Vienna, and a group of us met up at the Irish pub ‘Charlie P’s’.

Day number two of the orientation was a ‘Welcome Heuriger’ for the exchange students and their “buddy’s”. (Mine was unfortunately unable to attend.) A ‘Heuriger’ is an Austrian wine-drinking locale, and our school had rented out the entire cozy tavern for us to eat, drink and socialize. I was delighted to finally have the opportunity to taste real ‘Wiener Schnitzel’ IN Vienna! The Heuriger is set up with many long tables, with benches on each side, and basically we all made our rounds getting to know eachother, grabbing a seat wherever there was one free. After we had all had our fill of the local fare, we crowded on the bus and on to the banks of the Donau River, where an exchange student party (for students from throughout the entire city) had been planned on the ‘Badeschiff’, a ship docked on the Donau that has been converted into a bar.