A SHORT GLANCE ON AUSTRIAN EVERYDAY CULTURE
Austria - a country at the heart of the EU
After its entry into the European Union in 1995 and the follwoing EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007, where the EU grew from 15 to 27 member states, Austria's historical position as neutral mediator between the East and the West shifted towards the role of an active member state in the centre of the EU. Due to Austria's mediating role in the era of the Cold War, many international organisations are based in its capital Vienna, such as the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), or the United Nations Offife which is one of the worldwide four major UN Office sites.
© Herbert Ortner
Youth Cultures
In Austria we have many diverse and vibrant youth scenes which strongly differ from each other in clothing, music, hair style, locations and things like that. Many of these trends appear and then cease again after a few years or even a couple of months. They are mostly based on a certain style of music and thus transported over media like MTV, MySpace, YouTube and so on. Therefore those scenes evolve in parallel to the scenes in other countries like Germany, France or the US. It even may happen that a specifically Austrian version of the international trend comes into being, like recently the subculture of the "Krocha", which originates from the French Tecktonik. Youth subcultures such as Emo, HipHop, Alternative, Gothic, Metal and Punk are currently quite common among Austria's youth.
School in Austria
Most YFU students attend a grammar school, in German „Gymnasium“. This is not to be confused with the English meaning of „gymnasium“ :o). Austrian grammar schools are quite demanding and they offer a very broad education. Austrian students don't choose their subjects like for example students in the US do. The compulsory subjects range from German, foreign languages like English, French or Spanish, to mathematics, biology, physics, chemistry, history, geography, arts, music, physical education and more. This approach allows a quite broad general knowledge among the students. Some schools even teach Latin, but exchange students don't necessarily need to take it. In some cases it might be more beneficial for exchange students to take an additional German class instead.
In addition to the grammar schools, we also have other school forms in secondary education: There are commercial academies (called HAK – Handelsakademie), concentrating on economics, and polytechnics (called HTL – Höhere Technische Lehranstalt), concentrating on technics.
The school year usually starts early September end ends in late June/beginning of July. There are Christmas holidays (two weeks), a semester break (one week) and Easter holidays (one week). School normally beginns at 8:00 and ends around 13:30, though on some days you will also have classes in the afternoon. Many Austrian schools also offer some extracurricular activities, like choir, ochestra, volleyball, soccer or other sports. Most schools offer a class trip every year, so you might have the possibility to join your classmates on a skiing trip, spend a week in Vienna or even travel to another European country. Here you can get some more information on the Austrian education system.
Music and Festivals
When you think about music and Austria, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably Mozart. This doesn't have much to do with the actual life of most people here. Young people mostly go in for internationally known bands, mainly from the US, UK or Scandinavia, but in the recent years new young bands from Austria who sing in German language have come up with increasing popularity. The summer weekends are often characterized by large rock festivals with international line-up, such as "Frequency" in Salzburg, "Nuke" in Lower Austria, "Nova Rock" in Burgenland or the legendary "Wiesen" festivals.
Movies
The Austrian film branche experienced a substancial boost in the past few years when a number of internationally recognized and awarded sociocritical documentaries and movies were produced. Among them are for example "Darwin's Nightmare", "Workingman's Death", "We feed the world" or the recently OSCAR-awarded "Die Fälscher".
| HARD FACTS
Population
8.3 million. Around a quarter of the countries population lives in Vienna and its suburbs.
Language
The official language of Austria is German. It differs from the spoken language in Germany in many ways and usually appears to non-German speakers less "harsh". Austria's mountainous terrain led to the development of various dialects and accents, and although many Austrians might not admit it - the dialect is something most Austrians are very proud of because it does them make feel special (from all the others who speak German or different Austrian dialects) but also provides a feeling of belonging to a regional group. We can mostly tell by the accent where somebody is from, might it be Vienna, Upper Austria or Tyrol. By the time you will get used to the dialect of your region and will eventually also take on the regional accent!
Even though German language classes for foreigners are offered in many places, we really recommend studying some German and picking up some words before you come to Austria. Take a look at your local library or the Internet: Dictionaries and books for studying German can be found all around the globe!
Area
Austria has a total area of 84 000 km² or 32 000 sq. miles. Only a quarter of this area is low lying, and only 32% of the country has an altitude below 500 meters (1,6240 ft.) The rest of the country is covered by the Alps. The high mountainious Alps are located in the west of the country and flatten a little bit coming into the east of the country.
Climate
There are four different seasons in Austria: Summer is quite warm with daytime temperatures ranging between 20 – 30 C (65-85 F), inviting people to go for a swim in one of the many lakes of Austria. Spring and fall temperatures are moderate, people love these times of the year for going hiking, biking or just going for a walk. Winters can get quite cold and we normally see snow throughout the whole country. Many Austrians love to go skiing or snowboarding and also enjoy many other winter sports.
Money
The currency unit of Austria is the Euro (€). One Euro is divided into 100 cents. In Austria most international credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club etc. ) are accepted. However, cash is still the main means of payment. Bank machines/ATMs are widely accessible throughout the country.
The amount of spending money you will need will vary depending on your lifestyle. We recommend you to have approximately 100-150 Euro per month. Below are examples of costs of some typical activities and items:
Movies 8 €
Hamburger ca. €2
Shampoo ca. €2.50
Stamp ca. €1.50
T-shirt €10 - 25
Paper Back Book €10 - 30
Religion
Most Austrians are Christians, with 74% registered as Roman Catholics and 5% considering themeselves as Protestants. Other religions include Eastern Orthodox, Islam and Judaism. About 12% of the population say they don't have a religion.
Government
Austria is a Federal Parliamentry republic consisting of 9 states: Vienna (yes, the city is a state, too), Voralberg, Tyrol, Styria, Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Carinthia, Burgenland.
© Simon Drabosenig
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Welcome to Austria 
