Ema Darbutaitė (FMF): "I managed to juggle part-time work and studies"

 

ERASMUS+ STUDIES IN AUSTRIA

 

In the Spring semester of 2022, I decided to go to St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences (FHSTP) for my study exchange.

 

About the Studies

 

At Vilnius Tech I study Master of Information and IT Security and at FHSTP I chose all my subjects from the Master of Cybersecurity and Resilience program. All courses were taught in English.

 

The University

 

The university itself was quite modern and had a great atmosphere to study in. Since I chose all my courses from the Cybersecurity and Resilience program, all my classes were with the same students. The class consisted of almost 30 students, of which most were international students, except for a few local Austrians and of course, a group of around 3-7 Erasmus+ exchange students (depending on the course). Everyone, including students and teachers, were very friendly and extremely helpful. The way subjects were taught was a bit different than at Vilnius Tech.

As FHSTP is a Fachhochschule (University for Applied Science), it was more hands-on and practical. Also, the attendance in these types of schools is a bit stricter, which means there were limited number of classes you could skip, but this also depended on the professor. Also, most classes were held on campus.

 

Study Set-up

 

Instead of having all courses at once and taking all exams at the end of the semester (as it is at Vilnius Tech), at FHSTP we were studying one (sometimes two) course at a time. One course would last 3-5 weeks, and then the next course would start. It was quite interesting to have the studies set-up in this way and in my opinion, it had more benefits than downsides. It was nice to only study one subject at a time and at the end of the semester it wasn’t as stressful, as the exams and assignments were over with throughout the semester. However, since the courses were quite intense, it was better not to miss any of them.

 

The Courses

 

Not all subjects had exams and the complexity of the subjects depended on the professor. Some subjects were harder to pass (e.g. Secure Networks), while some were not as difficult. However, overall, the quality of the education impressed me, and I learned a lot throughout the semester. There was also an option to select extra courses free of charge (I took an extra course for the AWS Cloud Practitioner examination). German courses in three different levels were also available.

 

Practical Recommendations

Location and Life Outside Uni

 

The university is located in the city of St. Pölten, which is about 30 min away from Vienna by train and about 1-2 hours away from the mountains. St. Pölten itself is not particularly special, however it does have beautiful lakes, which are reachable in 20 min by foot from the dormitories. It has a small, but cozy city center and even a few clubs (reachable by taxi).

Overall, life in St. Pölten was not boring, and in case you do get bored, you can always hop on a train and go for a city stroll in Vienna or take a hike in Durnstein or even the Alps. The Erasmus group, which I was part of, was very active. We organized many parties, trips, and other activities. Apart from that, the buddies also had a lot of activities planned, that we were able to take part in, and we even had parties that took place in the university.

 

Accommodation

 

The university provides two main options for accommodation – Wihast and Domus dormitories. I lived in Wihast, which is where most exchange students were living. It is slightly cheaper and has more common areas to hang out in, a gym, and a sauna. Domus, on the other hand, is right next to Wihast and in my opinion, a homier place to live in as it is more like apartments than dormitories. Both dorms are located about 5 min away from the university by foot. In my opinion, both choices are great, and even though I hesitated about living in a dorm at first, it turned out to be the best option.

 

Transportation

 

It is quite easy to travel anywhere inside and outside of Austria using the main form of transportation, which is by train. Since the borders to many countries are close, you can visit a lot of places. For example, apart from seeing the biggest cities in Austria, I also visited Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary. But you can also easily travel to other countries, such as Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, etc. Not to mention that there are many cheap flights from Vienna to many destinations. Inside St. Pölten the city has a bike rental system, where you can rent bikes for free for the first 30 minutes, which was very convenient.

 

Prices

 

The transportation prices in Austria are quite high, so if you want to travel inside the country by train, it isn’t cheap. For example, the 30 min train ride from St. Pölten to Vienna costs about 6 euros one-way (with a Jugend Vorteilscard). Traveling to countries outside Austria is usually cheaper if you use a non-Austrian train system.

The food prices are a bit higher than in Lithuania if you go to big supermarkets such as Spar, but Lidl is quite cheap even in Austria. And going out to eat or drink costs almost the same as in Lithuania.

 

My Impressions

 

There were not many universities to choose from for Erasmus+, which had my study program. For this reason, I chose Austria, and fortunately I do not regret it at all. I met people from many different countries, made many friends. This was not my first study exchange, but it was a new experience, in which I learned a lot, not just in my field of studies, but also about myself. And even though studies were not easy, I managed to juggle part-time work and studies with parties, traveling and even prepared and presented the second part of my thesis.

I really cannot think of a reason to not go on Erasmus+ (which is why I am now actively planning my next one). So, if you ever have a chance to go, wherever it is, I highly recommend going on this amazing journey!