My Erasmus Experience in Vienna – Daniel K

Arrival in Vienna

We got off the plane and walked through the airport until we found the company's transfer with a sign showing our names, ready to take us to the hotel. A hotel for the first day, ideal. We went out that night to grab something to eat and take some photos. The next day we had to check out of the hotel and go pick up the keys to our apartments in the city center. We left our suitcases at the hotel and started the adventure. The man in charge was very kind, and it's worth mentioning that he also behaved very well when we had problems later on. We arrived at Kabelwerk (the "residential complex") and it felt like a maze: everything was made up of pretty, brightly colored blocks. The buildings looked fairly new. After about an hour and a half, we found our block and went into the apartments, which turned out to be a disaster: they gave us the keys but hadn't had time to come clean. As compensation, Pol and I were given an apartment with better views and a bigger table, all thanks to the guy from the accommodation company. They came to clean the next day.

The company

The company, Frequentis, is a huge company with more than 1,600 employees, working in the field of security and communications. Its headquarters are in Vienna. I arrived feeling a bit lost, but little by little I got to know people and left my fears and insecurities behind. My supervisor was traveling, and Werner, a very kind man, took charge of assigning me some tasks. At first I thought what I was doing would be temporary, but it seemed like they wanted me to carry out market research on the product they offer, and I didn't like the idea. When I mentioned it, they understood and moved me to another department within a couple of days. In this new department I met new people and started working in an environment where we worked with both virtual and real machines, in service configuration.

Third week

In the third week I was relocated to another department and went to the server rooms to help set up a rack. We went with Liza to Stadtpark to take photos, and she also took us to the Butterfly House. We managed to take lots of great photos there. On the weekend we went out two nights in a row, off on another adventure (of course, it couldn't have been any other way).

Last weeks

The last week before heading back we went to Mariazell, a small town near the northern side of the Alps, a very picturesque village where the Basilica of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary is located. There we got to try some gingerbread that was very dry but really good, a great experience thanks to Mike, the teacher from the Ybbs school, who we got along with really well from the first day, when he invited us to lunch right after we arrived. We spent this week finishing the company's calls project. We were on schedule and everything went smoothly. When we gave the presentation, 9 coworkers came to see what we had done. Afterwards we went out for a drink with them and went home to pack our suitcases.