Study Abroad in Vienna | Orientation Week Vlog at IES Vienna (Fall '22)

sharing some details of what orientation week looked liked at IES Vienna! I was a part of the music program last year, and overall, while I am glad I studied abroad and met some really cool people, my favorite memories honestly had nothing to do with the program and involved the people I sought out myself (and those I met through family there). But that's a story for a different time! This is about orientation week!

I personally have a lot of thoughts about orientations in general...I don't like them. Never did. For highschool, college, internships, etc. It has less to do with being thrown in a new environment and more to do with the fact that I don't like the superficiality that occurs in orientations. And this orientation was no different. While it's perfectly normal and understandable for a person to be overtly extraverted in order to make friends, but I just don't thrive in those kinds of environments where there is a large crowd of people and no one knows each other and we're supposed to find our "group" that'd we'd hang out with for the rest of the year. I ended up finding my own friends OUTSIDE of the program so I was fine (and I ultimately wanted to spend my time with non-Americans anyway since a big part of study abroad is cultural exchange) but this is just to acknowledge that study abroad is not all fun and fantasy-like as you might expect it to be. It's not for everyone and I think it's important to keep that in mind when deciding if you should study abroad or not! Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my time abroad and would do it again, but I just wanted to acknowledge that even though you see videos like this that seemingly portray things in a positive light, know that it's not always like that. I only ended up making one friend who was actually IN the program. Everyone else I met had nothing to do with the program LOL.
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lofi bgm: lukrembo - rose:    • lukrembo - rose (no copyright music)