Hey, everyone! My name is Kimora Branch and I am a rising Junior at UA! I had never traveled outside of North America before my study abroad to Vienna, Austria, and I am currently 3 days away from returning to the USA from my program! As someone who is not very well traveled outside of the United States, I wanted to come on here and share my tips! These are not specific to just Vienna, Austria but do keep in mind that every place is different, so anything with specific detail might vary on where you are going!
My first tip is to just relax when it comes to things that are not “essential”. For example, prior to leaving my entire family and I were in panic scrambling to get every little thing. Outside of exchanging your currency ahead of time, converters (which I am not proud to admit I even forgot this and then purchased one in the airport), medication, and required documents, everything else may not be considered a “necessity” in the place you are visiting. For example, I am a big Dyson girl and bring my Dyson with me everywhere! I brought my Dyson abroad, and thank goodness I did not even attempt to plug it in for the first few days because I then found out most people fry there’s bringing it abroad and to not even attempt to do this! Also another tip for any girls is to check the voltage on your curling irons or flat irons, luckily mine were okay but I know a few girls whose products burned/melted. I also brought only business casual clothing (besides from 2 casual dresses), and I honestly wish I still would have brought a few fun outfits because after we leave the UN, I am always overdressed. So, regardless of how “formal” your work is or the weather, bring a few fun outfits! I also only brought 2 jackets as I brought very warm clothes and was informed it would stay in the 60s/70s, but some days it got up to the 80s and I was way too hot! Also, if you have a TJ Maxx near you they have very budget friendly travel outfits!
My second tip is to be prepared to be uncomfortable. As much as that is unfortunate news to deliver, it is true. I do not just mean with your roommate situation or if your bed is comfortable, because I have not even struggled with that, but I mean just with little things that we do not even think about in our normal day-to-day life in the USA. For example, majority of my group struggled with the fact there was no AC in the hotel. In some cultures, families are used to being a little louder or even a little quieter with noise, so throughout my time in our hotel I have had to make some adjustments and be a little more compassionate of those staying around me. Room service is not a thing where I am at, which was honestly not an adjustment to me personally but I know a few friends at home that say room service is their favorite part of vacations. The level of cleanliness expected is also different, my group received a few complaints from housekeeping about the state of the rooms when it was just clothes laying around or maybe the trash had not been taken out. I could go on and on about all of the small things, but ultimately my advice is to always be prepared to be uncomfortable and always ask questions now matter how small or insignificant they may seem. You have to remember you are embracing an entirely new culture and it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to respect.
My third tip is to accept the fact that not everyone is going to like you. I know it sounds harsh, and I am a huge people pleaser, but some people are very impatient with tourists and in this scenario – you are the tourist. One thing I can promise you if you are going to Austria specifically is that after your trip you will learn to have a lot more compassion for tourists back in America. Though almost everyone knows English in Vienna, from what I have first hand experienced, it has not been their first language. Therefore, they do not understand American slang, English is not their first choice of language they wish to speak, and you also have to keep in mind that even though their accent is hard for YOU to understand, it is even harder for THEM to understand you. I have had many people start off speaking German to me, and when I ask them to speak English, they scoff, get annoyed, and I still hardly understand them when they do speak English so I just nod and act like I understood it. Some locals are more than happy to help, but other locals are trying to get to work or are in no mood to be asked any question.
My fourth tip when it comes to adjusting to the jet lag is when you arrive, give yourself a day to sleep. Do not think about the jet lag or try to just “push through” and be up 24 hours straight or anything crazy. This will just cause you to “crash” at 2pm and then wake up at 11pm. I tried to do this for 2-3 days before I just gave up. Let yourself sleep, and then take melatonin around 8-9pm and it will help you adjust. This ties in with my fifth tip, which is talking to people from home. Both my parents and my partner are in EST at home, which means we experience a 6 hour time difference being apart. If you are in a pretty big time difference like this, my only advice is to prepare to feel lonely or distant from those at home during this trip. I had one day the entire trip where I spoke to my mom for about an hour, every other interaction has been about a 5 minute phone call or communicating via text every few hours. With my partner, I have struggled a lot with this as by the time he is done with work and school it is 2am for me, and with having to wake up anywhere from 7am – 9am every single day it just is not possible for me to stay up. However, whenever we have any other opportunity we do call. There are some days where we talk for an hour, and other days where we only exchange 3-5 texts. It is hard, but it is manageable. I caught myself week 2 so caught up on going home because of how homesick I was, that I did not take in what I did have around me. When you love someone and when they love you, whether it is a parent, partner, friendship, etc. you will find a way to make it work, and you will realize all of the things you take for granted when you do have them.
My last tip is that not everything has to be planned. Do not stress about planning out every single day, weekend, etc. because not only will you make friends who have other things planned themselves that you may want to go to, but once you talk to locals they will have their own suggestions on where to go whether it is just to eat for the night or a weekend getaway. I did not have any weekend trips planned, except Switzerland really did catch my eye, but then I ended up being way too tired the first weekend to go anywhere so I saved money, and then week 2 I went to Ireland! I went to Dublin and Galway, and I thought it was such a cute coincidence because I just found out right before I went on this trip that I am 15% Irish, and my ancestors are from Galway! It is also nice whenever I get out of class early to just go get lost in the city and explore. For example, I am writing this from some random Italian restaurant that I found just wandering!
Overall, I know some things in here are a bit scary and you might feel very unprepared to face. I have loved studying abroad and honestly, even if I had hated this experience, I still would be grateful for the person it has made me become. But do not be fooled, my first stop whenever I get home is Chipotle! You can take the girl out of America but you cannot take America out of the girl!!
