Study Abroad: To Vienna, With Love

For me, in Vienna it is always twilight. I lived here before I came to college, and although I’m a sucker for its ancient aesthetic, what actually made me fall in love with Wien was how easy it was to navigate. The rambling trams (affectionately known as the “Bim”), majestic tree-lined ancient avenues and underground clubs are very simple to find, as long as you know where to look. My tips? As well as doing tourist things like wandering around the Ringstrasse, mastering this dance, and climbing to the top of Stephansdom, exploring the vineyards on the surrounding hills, and saying “Bussi, Baba” (kisses, goodbye) instead of Auf Wiedersehen, here are five places to visit:

Museumsquartier

A cultural center in the heart of the old Imperial Stalls (they were converted in the 1990s), the MQ is packed with museums. It has the Museum of Modern Art (known as the MUMOK), the Leopold Museum (full of work by by Egon Schiele), the AzW (museum of architecture), and the Tanzquartier. Go to every museum. Visit the MQ shop. Talk to people. Drink a white wine “gespritzt” while you lay back on the big benches, use the antique photobooth, and dip your feet in the pool under the trees. Make sure to head there at night when they have DJs too – dusk in the MQ is like a big party.

Material Girl + Indie Mag

Not places, but magazines (and sometimes they throw parties with cotton candy – keep your eyes peeled for their sponsored events in Vienna). Material Girl and Indie are PRETTY AND COOL and filled with beautiful fashion editorials, makeup and articles for practicing your German, of course.

Burggarten

Vienna is speckled with parks and gardens, but this is my favorite. It’s a palace garden at the Hofburg, close to the Palmenhaus (Palm House – with great cocktails), the Oper (Opera House) and the Albertina Museum, it’s always calm and green. There’s a Mozart statue there, too, called the Mozart Denkmal. But don’t stay too late – they lock the gates.

Flex + Tel Aviv Beach

Want to go out at night? Tel Aviv Beach should be how you pre-game Flex, the electro club of all electro clubs in this city. TAB is a pretend island getaway bar on the banks of the Donau Canal (Danube) where you can take off your shoes and put your feet in the sand, and Flex – a nightclub with an underground feel, good sound-system, and a few too many unconscious people – is right across the river. But don’t cross it until late.

Naschmarkt

This is the biggest food market in the city, with over 100 stalls (and a flea market on Saturdays). Great Vietnamese/ Turkish/ Austrian/ Indian/ Japanese / Italian food, loud friendly market-men yelling for you to try their wares, and lots of places for sitting out under the sky while you eat dinner. Go to Neni, drink a Hugo, and sit downstairs, but make sure to make a reservation.