Living in Austria: ideas and tips for moving beyond the alps

When we girls with their suitcases tell us about our travels, we always talk about how much we've tasted, daring and desired, but sometimes it just happens that a country, a city, or an entire nation, can surprise us even when we leave without expectations. That is what happened to me a few years ago.

If I have to be honest, I had never thought of Austria with too much interest. I had been with my parents a couple of times, as a child, with fleeting day-trips during the white weeks, but I had never been particularly impressed. Then, one day, while I was looking for the ideal destination for my next summer job abroad, I was contacted by this Austrian family from Klagenfurt, to be precise.

Let's say that the job of au pair in itself, in this case, was not one of the best of my life, but I think that everything has made me the traveller I am now, both positive and negative experiences.

Today, however, I am not here to tell you about my misadventures, but how to live in Austria and move to this beautiful country across the Alps.

Living in Austria: accommodation and work

The family for whom I was working lived in a beautiful villa directly on the Wörthersee lake, the largest in Carinthia. For a "sea girl" like me, the lake is not really the best way to spend the summer, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised, also because being one of the most popular meeting places in the whole region, there were always many parties and events. It was enough to walk along the shores of the lake to come across sailing competitions, excursions and groups of young people intent on having fun.

Obviously, as an au pair girl, I had a job and a house that was insured before I left, but in my numerous zonzo tours for Klagenfurt I met a lot of boys, most of whom were older than me, who shared their stories with me, telling me how it was actually living in Austria.

Klagenfurt is a small but very active town and, especially in summer, finding work is not so difficult. It was enough to stop at some bar or restaurant to realize that many of the waiters were Italian, so get a nice smile, CV, and don't be afraid to present yourself in person in the locals, they won't slap your door in the face!

Accommodation, as usual, is a somewhat more complicated speech, but if you can't find anything that interests you on AirBnB, I'm sure the Willhaben website will have the apartment or room that suits you. Take a look, you can find accommodation all over Austria!

Transportation

One of the many beautiful things about Austria, at least in my opinion, is that it is easily accessible by land. There are night trains that connect Vienna and Rome almost every day (I have travelled almost always like this), and with all the various low cost bus services there are now, getting there by coach will certainly not be a problem.

I do not know if it is my fault, but as far as the internal transport service is concerned, I have to admit that it has not been so easy to understand.

A bit because German is not my language, a bit because it was the first movement I made completely alone, but I also risked taking fines for not having made the right ticket!

The Austrian railway company is OBB (Osterreichische Bundesbahnen), which was the one I used to use to reach the centre of Klagenfurt from Lake Wörthersee. In addition to ticket offices (automatic and non-automatic), on some trains it is possible to make the tickets directly on board, paying an extra 3 euro, but my advice is to do it always beforehand.

Vienna, the city of my heart

After this 3-month experience, I have come back to Austria again and again, especially to Vienna, and I have to say that I literally fell in love with this city! Being a student city, it is full of life and young people, cultural events to take part in and activities to do, both in winter and summer.

The last time I went on a trip with the school, so I didn't turn it as I would normally have done alone, but I have to say that I appreciated it a lot, and I can't wait to come back and enjoy it great.

I skated on the ice in front of the town hall, sipped authentic Viennese Punsch, eaten huge wiener shnitzel in typical places hidden in the eyes of tourists, tasted slices of sachertorte sent down with coffee liquor....

I don't know in which of these moments, but I decided that living in Austria, or even just going back to visit the capital, is always a good idea.