21.02.11

Today my parents arrived in Vienna! I was extremely happy to see them and to show them where I was living and the quality of life out here. They were pleased to see that I had settled in and had been keeping busy. We had a long talk and I filled them in on everything that I had been up to and we had a lovely afternoon. Later they went to explore the city and I prepared myself for an evening out with a group of Erasmus students.

Mama and I in the Molkereistrasse Entrance Hall

Ellen, Leanne and I made our way to the Kandlgasse halls of residence. Kandlgasse is the newest and by far the most impressive of the halls. I was stunned as I thought where I was living was luxury! The passive house offers 105 single rooms in a variety of living arrangements from 1 to 4 bed flats. They have an average size of 14m² and large rectangular windows letting natural light flood in. The building is also equipped with photovoltaic panels on the roof. The building has a communal area just as you enter into the residence from the street, the clean white walls and exposed services (very minimal – due to it being a passive house) create a clean cut and friendly atmosphere. I was surprised at how well the students had managed to maintain the building, with no scuff marks on the walls and no visible defects. I believe that the design and clean cut finishes demands respect from its residents and has done so very successfully!

We went up to meet Taryn and she introduced us to her group of friends. There was a great buzz amongst everybody in the orange kitchen/ living area. There were students from a range of countries such as the USA, Netherlands, France, Spain and the list went on. Most of the individuals were on different courses but I realised how comfortable I felt in a room with strangers; we had all made the same decision to come to Vienna to study and therefore all had a common ground to build on. After we got to know each other and had had a few drinks, we made our way to ‘Ride’ a club next to ‘Loco’ which was also under the arches. The arch heights in Ride were much higher than in Loco, the double height space reached the full length of the club except for a V.I.P balcony area at the back; and in some areas you could even see the exposed supporting rib-vaults. The atmosphere was friendly with many different languages being spoken and an excited crowd of young students enjoying the music and dancing until the early hours of the morning.

The wonderful group of Erasmus students I had met - Ride Club