Studying for 5 Months in Vienna, Austria

If you go to www.whichbudget.com you will find lots and lots of budget airlines that fly into and out of Vienna. Point to point rail tickets will probably be more economical than a railpass if you want to go by train. If you are limited to four-day trips, though, flying would be faster. If I were you (and I was, actually, a student living in Salzburg at one time) I'd wait till you get there and see what the options are. Your school - and other students - will most likely know lots of ways to go about getting here and there.

Thanks for the tips Nancy!

Welcome to Vienna. Me and my family have been living here for seven years. It is a wonderful place. Safe, great public transit, cosmopolitan yet also having a "small city" feel to it. There are so many layers of history and culture in Vienna that 5 months will fly by before you know it. Of course, Vienna is also centrally located. About 7 hours by train and you are in Venice! Munich is less than 4 hours. Prague and Budapest are also nearby. But do take some time to explore the Austrian Alps as well. Language will not be a problem in Vienna as English is frequently spoken. Rather than give you any specific advice, I'm going to direct you to the web site of the American Women's Association in Vienna. The site is a wealth of information. Also notice that they publish a regularly up-dated book titled "Living in Vienna" that covers absolutely everything. http://www.awavienna.com/ One word of caution... It's easy to get sucked into "the American ghetto" in Vienna (meaning the large, friendly, comfortable extended-family that is the American expat community in Vienna). But that's not for you. You'll be going to school with Austrians and young people from all over central Europe. Your experience will be maximized if you make the effort to connect and learn a bit about their world view and their culture. Try to improve your German, although that might be difficult because everyone will be practising their English on you. ( Sorry if I sound like a father... can't be helped... I am one!) Anyway, enjoy your time in Vienna. You are very, very lucky to be having such an experience. Make the most of it!

A third party rail pass (ie, Eurail) will be by far the most expensive option. Instead of a pass, you may want to look into buying one of the discount cards offered by Austrian rail, ÖBB. Your best options would probably be the VORTEILScard, or the ÖSTERREICHcard, depending on how much money you wanted to spend up-front. Here's the link for more information: http://www.oebb.at/en/Reduction_cards/index.jsp If you think you will travel frequently in Germany, Deutsche Bahn also offers a similar program.

What, no homework?!!?

If you're under 26, look for a youth rail pass with ÖBB - it's about €20 and gets you 50% off all train trips in Austria, plus 40% off ones between AT and other countries for a year. Train would work for close by countries, especially if you preorder tickets.
Otherwise, flying would probably work best, but I don't know much about that.

There will be homework indeed!! :) Thanks for the help with discount cards and all the other advice, I really appreciate it. I will be responsible for cooking as the university does not provide meal plans or a cafeteria. Any recommendations on where I could find good, affordable (I am a college student of course!) groceries? Any good food markets as well? Affordability, unfortunately, is key as well, but I do love fresh, quality produce if I can manage it.

I am sooooo envious of you. Last summer I had a flat in the 5th district for a week. There were two mid-sized groceries in the neighbourhood - BILLA and SPAR. I shopped at both, they were more than adequate, both had lots of produce and lots of options - grocery stores also sell wine and liquor. I brought their disposable shopping bags home as souvenirs - they make my weekly shopping at WalMart much more fun. There is also Julius Meinl on the Graben. It's your ultimate high-end food shopping, but well worth the visit to browse. One hint if you've never shopped in Europe before. You have to pay a one euro deposit to "unhook" a shopping buggy from the rail. It's kind of like the luggage cart set up at most US airports. I'm sure I looked like quite the dumb tourist as I tried to get a cart the first time.

"Any recommendations on where I could find good, affordable (I am a college student of course!) groceries?" Although I'm not 100% positive they have branches in Austria, Aldi and Lidl are usually the cheapest options. The ion and ambiance aren't particularly memorable, but the food is of better quality than you might expect. And does it really matter where you buy your laundry detergent?

Many, many years ago I spent six months studying in Europe with a similar set up. What we used to do was take night trains on Wednesday night to some city, and then return on the Sunday night train. Yes, we did have homework too and I dragged a rather large Problems in Geology reader all over Europe. ; ) However, our professors truly believed that a good part of the goal of our time in Europe was to travel, see new cultures and meet new people. I hope your professors have the same view. In addition to the countries you've listed, think about Hungry and Italy. Budapest is not far and Venice should be within reach. Don't neglect your local area though. As I look back on my time in Eningen u.A. I wish I had seem more of the immediate countryside and towns. Pam