13 reasons Why Austria

Austria is my beloved home country and therefore, the place where I study. More specific, I live on the countryside of Salzburg (A city which you might know because it’s were Mozart was born) and I study in a small city called Kufstein, in Tyrol. You might know Tyrol as well, as it’s known for the best skiing regions, awesome cities like Kitzbühel (Hahnenkamm) or Innsbruck and a spectacular landscape.

• The alps: When you choose to do your exchange semester in the wintertime to may escape from the dark winter days of Finland, be sure your adventure in Tyrol will be all about skiing (at least it should be!). There are hundreds of nice slopes for advanced skiers and beginners and Austria offers a variety of snow cards to save up on money when skiing.
• Austrian Christmas markets: Be prepared, that in the middle of November all these lovely Christmas markets appear all over the country. People do love our Christmas markets, and some even visit my region just because of them. The Viennese Christmas market is even rated as the most beautiful in Europe.In these lovely markets you’ll get all kind of sweets, food, handcrafted stuff and of course – Glühwein & Punsch, which is the main reason why Austrians love Christmas markets. It consists of wine and herbs like cloves and cinnamon and tastes just like heaven!
  

• Talking about drinking culture.. Austria has the 3^rd highest beer consumption in the world, so yes, we love a good night out! We have a lot of traditional events, e.g. Bierzelt (just like Oktoberfest, but smaller, cheaper and more often), Fasching (alias carnival; be prepared to celebrate for a whole month as there are so many events! In some regions even companies stay closed to celebrate on weekdays)
  A (delicious) beer in Austria costs approximately 3,50€ in a bar, at student events even less! In the shop you can get a solid canned beer for even 0,50€.
• We are generally open-minded people, so you will most likely get to know a lot of nice people there, which are not only funny, but loyal too!
• Our education system is actually really good and appreciated all over the world.
• Austrian culture: Our country is full of culture; Salzburg festivals, music festivals, the city of Vienna, Salzburg or Graz ect..
• Austrian desserts: My country’s desserts are officially an UNESCO world heritage (Yes, they’re that good!). Experience the Austrian coffee house culture with either a piece of Sachertorte, a lovely Kaiserschmarrn, Apfelstrudel or whatever looks good to you!
• My university: The university of applied sciences in Kufstein offers a huge variety of different courses just like International Business, Real Estate Management or Sports- and Event management.
  

• Hiking: The Austrian alps are not only good for skiing, but for hiking as well. As Austrians we love to go hiking in the mountains (mostly in spring and autumn as it’s not too hot and not too cold!). Experience our beautiful country from above and enjoy lovely dishes at the small restaurants up there. But keep in mind, that Austrians greet each other when they meet in the mountains, even if they don’t know each other, as friendliness has such a high value for Austrian people.
• Lakes: Of course, my country has not that much lakes to offers as Finland does, but most of our lakes have an excellent water quality and are a real blessing when you need to cool down, as temperatures such as 35 degrees are pretty normal for an Austrian summer.
• Public transport: Unlike Finland, we have an excellent public transport system. In fact, you can go from Salzburg to Vienna in only 2,5 hours by train. Furthermore, the bus system in Kufstein is really good, there’s a city bus every 20 minutes but you might not even need it when you live (as most of the exchange students) in the student residence, as it’s really close to university.
• Prices: As a Finnish citizen you will definitely save up on money as we have way cheaper prices not only for beer, but for rent and food as well.
• Location: Austria is the perfect location for your exchange semester because its the heart of Europe. Which means you can go to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Check Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Slovakia in no matter of time. If you’d like to travel all over Europe during your exchange, Austria is the place to be!
  

Well these are just a few reasons why you should go to Austria for your exchange semester, there’s a lot more I promise!
If you’re now planning to go to Austria, especially Kufstein, do not hesitate to ask me for more information!