Austria: Sabrina Ortiz

Program: IES Vienna, Summer

Majors: Rehabilitation Psychology; Information Science

What did you learn about yourself or the world because of your experience? 

Learned a lot about how I live independently, who I like to surround myself with, and what priorities mean the most to me when exploring a new country with limited time. I got to connect with people from different places and learned to be sensitive and understanding when talking about our different backgrounds.

What is your most memorable experience from your program?

Living near the city center and traveling around Austria, outside of Vienna, with IES Abroad was so special and meaningful to understand the culture of the country. Particularly, one visit to the Mauthausen Memorial of the concentration camp during World War II was especially striking as it was a permanent record of that time in history and I got to feel what it meant to be in that space.

How did your identities impact your experience? What advice would you give to students with similar identities who are considering a similar experience?

Definitely hugely impacted my experience being a Filipino living in Europe. I got to meet a lot of students with varying ethnic backgrounds and hearing about their stories made me understand that we are all different and come from cultural climates unlike each other. It helped me grow close to a lot of people in my program and think that being in tune with your culture and connecting with people beyond it will help out a lot.

What is your advice for someone considering your program?

Definitely take a look at the classes offered and the culture of Vienna before deciding to come here. For me, it was a really big thing to study in a diverse city, and it meant a lot to me that Vienna would have easy public transportation, clean streets, and a very safe space as I’ll be living abroad in it for a while.