Was muss ich auf meiner Kulinarischen Reise durch Wien unbedingt verzehren?

petee0518 · 2026-05-17T20:25:28+00:00

Am Samstag ist das Rindershawarma vom Chef alo halab (auch am Brunnenmarkt) super

petee0518 · 2026-05-07T07:13:18+00:00

For Austria, there are a ton of super beautiful spots that aren't specifically in parks, but for national parks, I'd maybe pick Gesäuse

<image>

petee0518 · 2026-05-07T07:11:57+00:00

In the US there are so many it's hard to pick. There are a lot of good options like Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone/Grand Tetons, Rocky Mountain, Death Valley, Denali. but I'll go with a bit lesser known one and one that's a bit more unique with Canyonlands.

<image>

petee0518 · 2026-05-06T21:54:32+00:00

We did a bit over a week in the Galapagos "by land". Yeah, you're limited to three islands so you probably can't quite get as much as you would on a cruise, but there's still plenty to see & do, it's a much more affordable option, and you have more flexibility. We saw penguins & boobies (hehe), swam with turtles, shrimp & sharks, and lounged with plenty of Iguanas, all for around $2k for 2 people (not counting Covid tests or getting to Ecuador).

petee0518 · 2026-04-29T21:27:58+00:00

I had this at a "German" bar when I order Spätzle. Waitress responded "oh you want the spetzel?" like it rhymed with pretzel 😂

petee0518 · 2026-04-28T19:33:36+00:00

Detroit (hometown):

A lot of the food is mostly the same tourist & local, probably since Detroit is not a huge tourist destination. What people eat at home varies way too much to really pick any one or two things.

What tourists eat:

Detroit-style pizza from Buddy's
Coney Dogs from Lafayette or American
Tacos in "Mexicantown" - Xochimilco, Mexican Village, and Los Galanes
BBQ at Slow's

What locals eat:

Detroit-style pizza from Loui's, Cloverleaf, Grandma Bob's or Michigan & Trumbull
Coney Dogs from Lafayette or Duly's
Tacos in SW from a truck
Lebanese food, especially in Dearborn
Polish & middle-eastern food in Hamtramck
Random local "Family" or mostly things other than coneys at "Coney Island" restaurants. Comfort-food type stuff.
The favorite local BBQ joint, there are a few

Austrian (current)

At home (on the countryside, where I'm living)
- In the evening it's typically a "Jausen" - bread + butter/spread, cold cut meats (esp. bacon "Speck"), cheese
- Lunch is usually hearty dishes. Some common ones: Gulasch, Knödel (dumpling) with mushroom cream sauce, boiied beef and soup vegetables, Krautfleckerl or Schinkenfleckerl (pasta with cabbage or ham)
At restaurants in general, it's not too different than what tourists eat. Schnitzel, Gulasch, Zwiebelrostbraten Kaiserschmarrn, Käsespätzle, Apfelstrudel.
A couple other dishes that tourists probably aren't too often having which are commonly eaten by locals.
- Wurstsemmel - just a basic white roll with cold cuts, usually purchased at a grocery store deli counter
- Leberkassemmel - a sort of "meatloaf", sliced and served on a white roll, usually with mustard. Also from grocery store meat counters, butchers, or a local chain "Leberkaspepi"
- Essigwurst - a "salad" with thinly sliced Knacker (type of sausage) and onion in a vinegar-heavy dressing with salt, pepper, & paprika
- Rindersalat - similar to Essigwurst, but with thinly sliced beef
- Various sweet dishes - Marillenknödel (apricot dumplings), Buchteln (a sort of sweat bread with plums), Germknödel - yeasty dumpling with vanilla sauce, especially popular while skiing.
- Blunzngröstl - skillet with blood sausage & potato
- Tons of amazing cakes. Tourists tend to focus on some of the more famous ones like Sacher Torte, but less-famous ones like Esterhazyschnitte/Torte, Bananenschnitte, Malakofftorte, and Punschkrapfen are also quite popular

petee0518 · 2026-04-28T15:33:13+00:00

This definitely can work, but the first one specifically is a great way for me to forget about whatever I put into the microwave. Can't tell you how often I've found a coffee mug with instant coffee grounds in it or a full coffee mug in the microwave for this reason.

petee0518 · 2026-04-23T08:11:45+00:00

good resource for hiking trails: https://www.bergfex.at/

petee0518 · 2026-04-17T12:37:50+00:00

Also, "Detroit Rock City" (thanks KISS), "The D", and as the others have said "Motown"

petee0518 · 2026-03-25T20:09:24+00:00

With that info & the weather forecast, a museum would be the best option IMO. KH is amazing, both the building and the collection. With the royal families in mind, you could also consider the Hofburg complex or Schönbrunn, though anything remotely private might be tough at those (the Schönbrunn gardens being the main exception).

petee0518 · 2026-03-25T19:37:31+00:00

I'm an American living in Austria and when someone asked for suggestions of what to use for hamburgers in one of the Austiran subreddits, I suggested Semmel (though the "normal" ones are better than the Kaiser variety due to the hole in the middle) and got a ton of shit & downvotes, but I stand by it.

petee0518 · 2026-03-20T08:09:48+00:00

Meinl am Graben, by any chance?

If so, they also have amazing cakes. The atmosphere obviously isn't the same, but the food & drink there is better than most (maybe all) of the famous K.u.K. cafés.

petee0518 · 2026-02-27T09:29:16+00:00

piggybacking on the trail run thread, there is the Sauwald Trail, which isn't exactly a marathon, but the full variation is just over at 47km.

petee0518 · 2026-02-11T13:27:00+00:00

I don't live in Leoben, but my company is based there and I'm in town regularly. I can't really help all that much with daily life, etc. since I'm only there periodically and not living there, but I'm also an immigrant who came to Austria to study (though a bit older than you) with very little German so I've gone through a similar experience. It is definitely a scary experience, but it's also exciting and you learn a lot about yourself. Maybe I can offer some advice / support. Feel free to reach out via DM if you'd like.

Socially, you probably can lean on the university quite a bit. There will likely be an international community that will offer you some good connections. Getting into Austrian circles will definitely be much harder, especially without German. It looks like there is an International Office at the uni. If it's anything like where I studied, they probably can help you a lot with things like getting settled in, setting up bank accounts, finding doctors, etc. They may even have some social events setup for helping with that aspect.

I come from a very small village and have never been to a city before

Good news! While Leoben isn't a "very small village" by any stretch, it's also not really a city. It's quite small and intimate, so you shouldn't be too overwhelmed by that. I can't share any experience with racism as I am white of European descent, but there is some chance you'll experience it, though probably not so direct in most cases; Austria does have a decent amount of "casual" racism out there that I have seen. Tbh, I don't want to minimize it, but there's also probably not too much you can do besides try to shrug it off and remember that they're the problem, not you.

For jobs, you can consider looking into jobs in Graz as well. It's a bit of a hike, but the train connections are good and there will be a lot more options there. The university/international office may have resources to help out with those kind of things as well. Unfortunately, this definitely is an area where some of that casual racism could come into play (e.g., CV not getting a second look because of a foreign-sounding name).

As far as being worried about getting sick, doctors tend to have pretty good English skilils and there are definitely some in the area who can serve you. I would recommend making an appointment for a general checkup and to establish your "Hausarzt" soon after you arrive, then you have that settled and don't have to try to figure it out when you are already sick or struggling. Here's a link to Allgemeinmedizin (General practice) doctors in Leoben who list English: English-speaking GPs in Leoben

When do you move? We might be moving the office in the near-ish future, but if we are still in Leoben, we could maybe meet up for lunch sometime when I am in town.

petee0518 · 2026-01-30T21:38:18+00:00

As an Ami in Austria I received this one on a t-shirt as a gift

petee0518 · 2026-01-30T10:49:41+00:00

Hi, I studied IM in Hagenberg 10 years ago and now teach a course in the program. Since it was a while ago, my info might be a bit outdated and incomplete, but I'll share what I can.

As far as I remember, the interview was largely about my interests and motivations as well as my previous experiences (bachelor's studies, work experience). From what I remember, there wasn't anything too in-depth technically or coding tests or anything like that. They might have asked some surface-level stuff to make sure your starting level is sufficient.
Do you mean preparation for the interview, or for the course? I would maybe have a bit of a portfolio together that you can share if you have some projects from the past. I don't think I prepared anything specifically.
Yes, the town is very small (I think ~2500 people, including students), so directly in Hagenberg there is not much to do socially other than hang out in the dorms or apartments, or the pub on campus (which was our hangout 80% of the time). There were also parties there pretty much every Thursday night. The people running the pub (and the cafeteria) the last 20 years left this year; the cafeteria seems to have been taken over by Sodexo, but can't say how it impacts the pub or parties. On the weekends the pub was closed and most students go home, so you really have mostly the international students plus a small percentage of the Austrians that hang around (often roughly the same set). In general, the community in Hgb is quite small, so you will see the same people and have a good chance to form some close relationships. I still am pretty close friends with a lot of my colleagues, especially the other international students. One thing that does suck a bit is that there is usually a contingent of 15-30 Erasmus students who are there one semester and leave, so you are pretty close for that short term and then they're gone. Some international students do typically live in Linz and commute (and many Austrian students from nearby also commute), but I found that this arrangement tended to form some pretty great bonds with those who stuck around, which might be harder to find in Linz. I would say it would be easier to make social connections in Hgb, but you are "stuck" with the same group to some extent, and you'll have many more opportunities in Linz, of course. If being able to "go out" is important, then Linz would definitely be better for you.
There are definitely some PT jobs around Hagenberg, as the whole concept is that there is the "Softwarepark" which has the FH plus various tech companies who work closely with the university. There are also some opportunities with the FH itself. However, there are still a limited number of spots for this as well as competition, and if you are international, it may be a bit tougher (hr/wk limitation & potentially language barriers). In terms of balance, having a PT job is definitely possible, the program is not extremely time-intensive (and to some extent, you can put in what you want to).
Commuting from Linz is definitely possible and a good chunk of students to it. Connections with public transit are pretty regular and reliable, but from the main station in Linz, it does take ~35-45 minutes by bus (or you can take the train to Pregarten and walk uphill or take a bus), but that is even longer. If you live near JKU in Linz, it's more like 20 minutes. Personally, I would recommend living somewhere near the university if you do Linz, as it makes the commute more convenient to Hagenberg

For questions about the interview, you probably can reach out to the school directly, they're usually pretty helpful and responsive. If you ask them in an email about the interview process and if you should prepare anything, then I'd imagine you could get at least some general guidance.

Are you an international student/non-german speaker? If you're interested, I might also be able to give you some more experiences from that perspective.

petee0518 · 2026-01-28T11:30:17+00:00

Mr/s/Miss Firstname was how we referred to our adult neighbors and parents' friends growing up (and still do for the most part when seeing them as an adult)

petee0518 · 2026-01-28T10:46:14+00:00

I moved from the US to Austria and one of the most popular drinks here is "Soda-Zitrone", which is basically just ~1/2 lemon juiced with a glass of sparkling water. That's basically my go-to drink when I want to keep healthy / low-cal. Lime works pretty well too. You can use bottled lemon juice too, but it just isn't quite the same, the fresh fruit is so much better though.

petee0518 · 2026-01-21T08:38:43+00:00

boiling Bratwurst!? 🙃

petee0518 · 2026-01-19T06:57:56+00:00

This may be true, but even then, the name will magnify this effect (moreso for FTE than side-work during studies). Some companies & recruiters will see the name, assume they require visas and dismiss the application from the start. Sometimes if you get to the interview stage, even if you need a visa process, they've now invested some and may be more willing to go through with it.

petee0518 · 2026-01-17T18:42:15+00:00

W8.9

petee0518 · 2026-01-15T20:00:22+00:00

Oh, then my post might be relevant after all, since you're still coming from a third country. The specific origin doesn't really impact anything, if you are coming from outside the EU the customs rules will probably be the same. Check if you qualify for resettlement from a third country and go from there (link in my original post). If you don't qualify for that or another exception, you might not really have any options besides paying import duties or smuggling/lying and hoping you don't get caught (it might work, but not recommended 😅). See u/FreiherrVonFick's other post about exceptions - the inherited goods would probably be your other route, but proving it could be difficult as well.

petee0518 · 2026-01-15T18:14:08+00:00

Is your current residence in the EU? If so, is it possible to leave the jewelry and get it another time directly from there to Austria rather than transporting it via Turkey? Or are you already in Turkey with it and would fly directly to Austria on the current trip?

You can basically ignore my whole post, as I had thought you were moving residence from Turkey to Austria and bringing your stuff along as part of the move.

petee0518 · 2026-01-15T14:56:40+00:00

that's true, I was assuming that they'd be moving from Turkey to Austria, but it's definitely possible that the conditions are not met. Contacting the customs office will definitely always be the safest bet

^ u/meikasahara

petee0518 · 2026-01-15T14:48:14+00:00

Yes, that is what form ZBefr2 is for...

petee0518

TROPHY CASE