The results of our survey

So... about 5 weeks ago we started a survey regarding Schwedenplatz.
And even though we consider all of the statements to be equally correct, there was one statement that our readers clearly considered to be the most correct. More than 60% of our readers think that "It´s just a stinky, crowded spot ", while one quarter of our readers believe that "In fact, there are some interesting shops/restaurants".
Only about 10% answered that it was "just a place to change trains or trams".

Here´s a nice diagram:

Thanks to everyone who took part!





How well do you know your city? Vienna vs. Bratislava, Part 4



Vienna, Bratislava

As you know our blog is based on comparing living in Austria, Slovakia and Czech. The other day we went to Bratislava to look for places that could be easily mistaken for Viennese – and trust me, though the two cities have a completely different vibe and atmosphere, we did find some that even a local could hardly tell apart from the Viennese ones.  

To test how much you know your city we made a little quiz about it. Every week we will give you two pictures to compare.

The winner gets a return ticket to BA!

Click HERE for the quiz!

Get lost in the viennese bermuda triangle

Schwedenplatz is a place in the centre of Vienna, where you find a lot of clubs and bars. The other name of the place is “Bermuda Triangle”. It’s right next to U4 Schwedenplatz – you can’t miss it! Every weekend it’s full of young people, so if you’re in doubt and don’t know where to go, you can always try the Bermuda Triangle. There’s loads of small and even smaller clubs, so here are some tips where we recommend to go and what you can find there!

5 tips for clubbing under 18 in Vienna!

So this time we decided to write more about nightlife in Vienna. Vienna is not the metropolis for parties, but there are certain positive aspects of partying in Austria that you might enjoy.
For example, it´s likely that you are not going to be asked for your ID card!
If you follow these easy steps, you are going to be able to enter a Viennese clubbing for sure, even if you´re underage! 

Go with a big crowd

This is probably the most important point of all!
When you go with a big crowd, the security guys will most likely only check the first three or four people!
After that they´ll realize that a crowd of 15 people means they´ll earn lots of money :P.
Also, ask some people where they go to school/university  and try to keep in mind the easiest name for if a security guy asks you (It doesn´t happen often, but it does occur every now and then).

Don´t be nervous

I think I don´t need to explain this one much. Just don´t look afraid or shy. There are cases where it´s not  enough to “go with the crowd”. This point shouldn´t be a problem if you follow the two next points, though!

Make up a new identity

This you will obviously need for if someone asks you how old you are.
You might think this question is easily answered, but in a stress situation you will freak out, really!
Therefore you need to think about it before you go to the club and really believe you are over eighteen.
It´s going to be too late when a security guy asks you.  You won´t have enough time to spontaneously say what year you were born.
Remember that you might come across more convincingly if you say you are 19.

Dress  up sexy and intimidatingly

If you are a girl and afraid that you look too infantine, you´ll probably want to find someone who´s skilled at applying make-up to make you look more adult. There are also some cool web sites with tutorials about this.
Next, find your favourite push-up  bra  and  get some sexy clothes.
But please be careful not to look like a slut ;).
If you are male, just  try to look like a swag  dude and give your best!

Only in case you´ll need it…

This is something I would only do in special cases and only if you really want to go to that one clubbing so badly that you are willing to take a risk.
It´s not like I´ve ever done that, but it did work for many people I know ;p
Scan your pass port and edit your birth date with Photoshop.
When you enter the club and they ask you to prove you are 18, pretend you are a tourist from Germany and say that therefore you´ve only got a copy of your pass port.
But as I said, don´t do this on a regular basis. Because if you do, you will likely be down on your luck some day!

Homeless in Austria - Part I.

Today we’d like to introduce you our new project:  homeless foreigners in Vienna.

In Vienna there are 5000 homeless people – and those are just the registered ones. Recently, they moved 25 homeless people from Stadtpark. There is a problem with an emergency shelter for homeless people from other EU countries because there is place only for 40 people, and there are around 46 people. A recent survey of homeless people in Hamburg shows that the proportion of foreigners has risen since 2002 from 17 to 27 (of Vienna there are no exact figures).

We made a little interview with a guy named Maglen. Maglen came here all the way from Norway just to find disappointment here. Now he’s looking for a way back home.

Maglen , 25, from Norway

How long have you been on the street?

Just a couple of days.

Could you tell us, what happened?

It´s a long story.

Could you tell us?

I really want to keep it myself, just one thing: I trusted the wrong people.

The results of Mahü

We have an update on the discussion about the Mahü issue!
There was a poll about whether the Mariahilferstraße should remain a pedestrian zone or not. The result is that 53 percent voted yes to the remodeling in a poll among residents. This means that the pedestrian zone will be built and finished by 2015. By 2015 the mahü shall be transformed into a pedestrian zone which will be 1.6 kilometers long. Nearly 50,000 residents of Mariahilf and Neubau were asked, more than 50 percent of the residents actually took part.

Puber arrested

We recently reported about Puber a well-known graffiti artist. (You can find the post here)

He was „famous“ for spraying his name everywhere possible.
Now he was arrested. On the website of „Vice“ magazine is now an interview with his flat mates. It was possible to read from it what kind of man he was.
His roomies told them that there wasn’t a deeper meaning when he was writing his name everywhere. He just wanted to be known. When he was in the news he reveled, didn’t matter if it was bad or good news. He referred to himself as “public enemy number one”. Furthermore they claimed that he has a “God complex”, which he demonstrated by putting a diaper on his head, on which was written: “I am God, you fagots”.
So as you can see, Puber was either mentally handicapped or just a genial idiot.

Sources (Vice magazine):

The interview
Other articles with the tag puber 

Working hard in the service industry in Vienna - Part I.

Maybe you noticed our blogpost about ‘Working hard in the service industry in Vienna’ in which we asked you to tell us about your experience with working in Austria as a foreigner. Today, we bring you the first interview!

On 24^th February 2014, we interviewed Petra Nyíriová,  a 21 year old, former student at Komensky from Slovakia. She currently studies English at the university in Vienna and used to work in Sport Experts but quit the job.

Which reasons did you have for moving to Austria?

-          I always wanted to move out from Slovakia because I just don´t like the economics and the whole package there. My mum has been working here for 5 years. She told me she found a school for me in Vienna, the Komensky school. So I thought „Yeah, why not?“ and that was it.

Was it hard to learn the new language?

-          It was, because, no offence to anyone, I didn´t really learn anything in school because  I had the opportunity to speak in my native language, which was Slovak.  So I wasn´t really forced to speak German. I didn´t have to, I just learned something about grammar, maybe. But then in these last 7 months in work I think I really found myself in this language (Does that sentence make sense?).
I learned the basic stuff about communication. In school it was hard because  you really have to speak properly, grammatically correctly and you have to be careful because you get marks.
In work you just talk, talk, talk to everyone to get along with them. 

Redesigning Mariahilfer Straße

In the last two years, Vienna  has had a much discussed topic. It  is the redesign of one of the most famous streets in Vienna - Mariahilferstraße. It´s a street that connects the 1st and the 14th district. Mariahilferstraße is above all known for its many shops. It means that every day thousands of people go along this street. This is actually one of the reasons, why this street has changed so much over the years.

The main issue is in fact the traffic there. Because in such a long street, which is used by so many people, cars should not drive. It causes many problems, from pollution to accidents. That´s unfortunately the problem which is discussed. The people have separated themselves into two camps. One side is against the traffic there that is why they want to remodel the street into a pedestrian zone. The other side is against any changes at all. One of the main reasons why they are against it is that they are using the bus line, which runs along the Mariahilferstraße.

The opinions about our “Mahü” are varied, one old men who works as a tobacconist, is very skeptical. Since 16th August 2013 he has had 30 percent less revenue. Because the drivers, who bought their cigarettes and their newspaper in his tobacco shop can no longer be his customers. But that’s just because the street isn’t rebuilt yet. However, fact is that it won’t work until they rebuilt the street, so that people can relax there and feel comfortable. Like it is on Broadway, New York. There the revenue increased by about 70 percent.

Starting February 17th, people will be asked for their opinions. It´s going to be a referendum that will be similar to an election: the side with more votes wins.

Akademikerball Riots

The most recent shocking event that happened in Vienna were the protest marches against the so called “Akademikerball”. The FPÖ, the Austrian right wing party (or "the Austrian Freedom Party") organising the event, which is an event comparable with the UK independence party, just to give you an idea of what it is.
It took place in the famous Hofburg on January 24th.
This year, one of the protest marches was unusually violent and destructive. There were approximately 4 or 5 marches in the inner districts of Vienna with 6000 demonstrators in total. Naturally, most of them were on the far left. Most of the marches proceeded peacefully, except the one protest on Stephansplatz, which caused that big turmoil. Among the demonstrators of this march there was a group called “Der schwarze Block” consisting of 200 people. The police knew beforehand that they were going to wear masks and therefor imposed a prohibition of wearing masks (including scarfs!), which made the inhabitants of the first district quite angry. We later found out that the police had warned us with good reason! - There were apparently busses which brought the masked hooligans from Germany and the result was this:
                                

Look what we found on Youtube #trashflash #questionabletalents

It's time for some funny videos - this time from Slovak and Czech “talents” – enjoy!

- Dominika Myslivcova is a girl from Czech Republic. The opinions about her are rather varied. She is a self-proclaimed Czech “Barbie Girl”. She became “famous” because she started writing a blog about herself. You can check it out here.

This is one of my favourite videos of hers: she explains how can you paint your boobs so they appear to be bigger
I just had a laughing fit… I really recommend this video if you are  looking for something funny … czech it aut !!

One more Prague girl: Nicky - Rich BoyI hope you will understand what she is singing
I’ve heard that she’s just an actor but anyway, it’s just so funny!Here another video by her is 'help for Petr Necas'

Mark Christensen is an American who lives in Slovakia. He is an English teacher at a Gymnasium (grammar school) in Myjava and he wrote a Song (with unusual lyrics) for his students. It´s very funny and nearly all Slovak youths know him. You can listen to it here.

This is a Valentin´s day song by Mark Christensen in both languages

One of the greatest Czech funny video makers are two men, they are called Viral brothers, and you can find them on YouTube. They make videos about stupid things people say, but also they make parodies of other famous videos. They are really witty.

They also have English subtitles in their videos, so even if you don’t speak Czech, you will understand.

I definitely recommend you to watch some of their videos. You will laugh your butt off!

Some of our favs are 'Sh*t mothers say' and 'Shit moms don't say'.

Write us what you think about them!  J

Working hard in the service industry in Vienna? Share your stories!

This is a call to all you shop assistants, clerks, asparagus pickers, cleaning ladies and gents, taxi drivers, sales promoters, food deliverers and call center agents!

What´s it like working in Vienna/Austria?
How does it compare to CZ/SK?
Are you getting along with the locals?

We want to know your stories!

Send your work stories to: czech.aut@gmail.com or send your contacts so we can meet up and interview you!

Have a great workday from all of us at CzechAut!

Crazy weather!

What´s wrong with the weather lately?

I think that everyone in Vienna was hoping for white Christmas, which actually turn out to be brown Christmas most of the time.
After all, it´s not uncommon that it snows in Vienna over New Year or at least in January.
But there is no snow in sight!
The weather reporters keep telling us that winter won´t come this year and I´m starting to believe it because everyone runs around like if it was autumn.
No surprise. It has 10°C outside…
Oh well, at least we don´t have to deal with the muddy snow this time.
It´s a pain in the neck!
I have to admit that these temperatures bother me, though.

Here some facts:
This winter was the warmest winter in history since 1997/98. The warmth record was raised almost by one degree. It´s special because when the record increases, it usually increases by only one or two tenth of a degree. The reason is global warming.

If this will go on like this, what will winter in Vienna look like in fifty years, I wonder.

What do you think of it?
Are you rather glad that winter has become that soft or does it bother you?

Feel free to comment!

Crazy weather!
source: ninja-bunny ;)

Street art in Vienna – Part II.

Second part of our little urban adventure.

→ First part  ← 

“Puber came into the city „

Who is Puber? No one knows! What Vienna knows is, that he wrote his name everywhere within two weeks, and that he has made many enemies. He not only wrote his name on empty walls, but also on the wall of a Kindergarten where kids had made a mural (this caused a little war between him and Thomas Blimlinger, see here) and on a beautiful piece of street artist ROA. His aim is, and now I’m quoting him, to ‘see mine name everywhere’.  (He gave an interview to a Swiss magazine, which you can read here)
He could be compared to Taki 182 or Darryl McCray aka Cornbread – both were known for spraying their nicknames all around the streets and were mimicked by hundreds. Though nobody is really impressed by Puber’s work and we’re all happy, that he left the city.

Street art in Vienna – Part I.

Vienna is believed to be a very ‘classy’ city. Vienna means Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, the Opera ball, Wiener Symphonikern, Klimt’s ‘ The Kiss’ and Princess Sissi. But the city also has a ‘wild side’. 

This week we decided to find out more about the Viennese street art.

First, we went out to the streets and looked for some famous works and took pictures, which you can find below, and then researched about them a bit more. Though I’m a laic and I don’t know a lot about this kind of art, I find it interesting – and hope that so will you.

The BLK river festival

The BLK river festival is in a different place every year. 2011/12 it took place in Vienna. The BLK festival invites artists from all continents and then the artists make different street art and projects.

They create street art across the city on the highest international level. The result: beautiful art, such as in Vienna.

You can still see some of the pieces for instance

Blogging workshop

We had a visit from students from a bilingual secondary school that maybe will attend our school next year as freshmen. We decided to tell them about our blog and explain how we work. Then they had to write a short (4 sentences) blog article to experience blogging.
The topic was 'Czech and Slovak TV series we miss (or don't miss) in Austria'. "Particka" (meaning team), a talkshow similar to the American "Whose Line Is It Anyway"?, seems to have the biggest fanbase and is followed by "Panelak", another funny Slovak show. Few of our visitors also decided to write about some foreing shows they watched back in SK/CZ.

Talkshows

‘When I’m in the Czech Republic I only watch Particka, because the others are all boring or the same as in Austria. I like Particka, because it’s funny and not as boring as the other shows.  I only watch it when I’m in Czech Republic. I don’t know how you can watch it; Probably via Satellite.’
Bára

‘When I lived in Slovakia, I usually only watched Particka because all the other TV shows were boring for me. It was actually one of my most favourite shows. I like it because it´s funny, and quite interesting. You can probably watch it over the internet website or via satellite.’ '
Jakub

‘I've been living in Austria for less than four months and I need to say that I really miss this TV show. It is based on the improvisation of four actors. It´s so much fun to watch it! They got to act like some film star and others guess his name or they just play a scene, for example interviewing some biologist while one of them shows everything for the deaf-mute people in sign language.’
Sandro

Some sites that really capture that Vienna vibe

I love animated gifs, specially when they are spot on like the ones on:

When you really live in Wien on tumblr

It´s kinda like "How to act if you don´t wanna be spotted as a tourist".


The opposite of the previous link is a franchise of the ever so popular 1000 things Not to do in.. pages.
SO true! You are invited to add to the list and the makers of the group will turn your thoughts into animated GIFs -n.i.c.e.!

1000things NOT to do in vienna

Time travel works! Check out:
Vintage Vienna

It´s amazing to see how this city has changed. (and how grey it used to be back in the days). I love finding
those spots in the present time. Back then you have to imagine them with cars all over and the air smelling of coal and exhaust fumes. I also love the little details like that you obviously could smoke everywhere or how they always dressed up kids like little grown-ups.


Excellent street photographers in Vienna are all in..

The Vienna Pool on flickr




We'll soon have more on cycling in the city but for now: here is one group of gentlemen and ladies that rides in style, très chic!

TweedRideVienna

The pre- Xmas hysteria

source:
theenglishcornersevilla.blogspot.co.at/

We didn’t even have time to pack away our swimwear, summer dresses and flip-flops, and winter has already arrived. Or at least the Media and shopkeepers think so. 
The Christmas craziness starts in November every year. It always starts very slowly. - A chocolate Santa here and a cinnamon scented candle there - and then suddenly Christmas is all over the place. 

Consumerism

In Vienna, Christmas is very commercialized.
Right now, media and industry are starting to annoy us with commercials which say that the Christmas season has started and even food shops have started selling lametta and baubles!

Is it me or is it really a little bit too much? Sometimes I get the feeling that the famous ‘Christmas spirit’ is more about us buying and spending money than about love, family and friends.

All the shopping malls have already rolled out the Christmas decoration.
They want people to be stressed, want them to start shopping already and look for presents.
It makes people spend more money, and spending money makes the mall earn more money. This is manipulation of people!

For example, in July I was in the „Interspar“ (a big grocery store in Austria). I just wanted to buy some food when I came to the candy section. I was shocked to see that they already sold gingerbread with Christmas motives. I just tried to ignore it but I had summer holidays and really couldn’t understand why it is necessary to sell them in July!
Whatever, two or three months later I was in a furniture store named „XXXLutz“, we just wanted to look around. As we entered, I suddenly saw a huge Christmas tree and Christmas decoration all around it… I just thought “What the F…??“
I could not believe my eyes! Do oversized Christmas trees need to be part of the decoration in mid-October?
I can’t imagine someone who already buys porcelain snowmen on silver plates in early October…  Are you being serious?? It is October! Who needs this?

Now Christmas is not the same as it once was. It´s not only about spending time with family and friends. It’s more about stress. And starting the Christmas stress at the begging of November? Seriously? Do they want to screw the holidays?

Where is all the magic of Christmas? It’s gone. Why? Because all people want is to earn as much money as possible. That’s sick!

As you can see, we all agreed on Christmas being annoying. But hey, don’t let us ruin your good mood. :)
After all, Christmas is about love, even if it sometimes gets cheesy and corny.

What do you think about this hectic Christmas madness?

Vienna´s cemeteries in autumn

Autumn feeling            
(Adele Kellner, 2013) When the sky is clear, the crows croak like they would be glad that it’s finally autumn,
it is as if they express exactly what you think. It’s warm and you smell the aroma of the dewy leaves which slide down from the tree. You close your eyes, the wind roughs up your hair and you have the feeling like you have no worries anymore, you are free and your mind is clear. It is a feeling for a few seconds, but you will always remember.

It is autumn and we were thinking about things to write, so we went out to take pictures of the nature and the most beautiful cemeteries of Vienna. 

This reminds me of a poem I read ages ago of about autumn being nature´s great painter. The warm colours nicely frame the cold blue of the city.

This view over the citie´s vineyards is simply fascinating!:

Autumn in Vienna- The fashion, Sturm and Maroni!

Today we want to show you some things which are typical for the viennese autumn!

In autumn the Viennese take to the hills (where the wine grows) to taste the freshly fermented grape juice called Sturm “storm” - we know it as Burčák. And the effects are quite stormy – it gives you wind on top of a killer headache the next day.

"Sturm white+ red have arrived!"

Another phenomenon you will see very often are the Maroni.- As soon as the ice cream parlors close and their owners go back to Italy, the Maroni booths appear!

The Maroni stands are on the sidewalks, where not only Maroni (eatable chestnuts) are sold, but also roast potatoes and wedges. The “Maronis” are very tasty and almost everybody likes, eats and buys them.

We also went out to the streets of Vienna to find out what the city wears this year. 

I think it looks quite simple and not overdone...

Scarfs, sweaters, cardigans, jumpers, hats, tights, gloves, and boots – the fall fashion is so colourful! 

Mission Kofola

Kofola for dummies

Coca cola and Pepsi are well known throughout the world. We drink them with our French fries at McDonalds, at the cinema while eating popcorn, at our way to school in the morning when we are in need of some energy or just for the taste. And I’m not even mentioning the rivalry between team Pepsi and team Coca Cola. But what about team Kofola?

Kofola looks and tastes a lot like Coca Cola and Pepsi, so, what’s so special about it?

I would describe the taste as a bit more sweet and honey-like, maybe even spicy and less sparkling. Surprisingly – at least for me – it contains less sugar and a little more caffeine than coca cola. I personally see it (please don’t kill me for saying this) as a cheaper version of the other two and I don’t think it’s as refreshing as they are. On the other hand there are lots of serious Kofola addicts as you will later see in the post.   

Words from the young

I did an interview with two diverse people. The first one was a girl, who was born here and can vote and the second one was a boy, who is from Slovakia but lives in Vienna for 2 years. Both of them have their own political opinion, which is, surprisingly, very similar.

Both of the interviewed are unambiguously for "die Grünen" (the green party), who are for equal opportunities for women, more nature in the cities and for human rights. Interestingly both are unequivocally against the FPÖ (Freedom party). The FPÖ is a party, which (in a nutshell) prefers Austrians; it means this party wants to get rid of all foreigners, especially people, who are not from EU member states.

Post Election Introspection

Recently we had elections in Austria, weeks before the elections, every party tried to convince as many people as possible of their political ideas. As a result there where many billboards, posters and the followers which had to hand out advertising lighters, condoms, magazines, pens, USB-sticks and much more.
So we are once again supplied and just hope that they will be so generous again next year.
However, there are four main parties, the candidates were Eva Glawischnig, who’s my favorite, she belongs to “The green party”, then there is Mr. H.C Strach who’s really the disputed one, he is a rightist, it’s like either you “love” him or you “hate” him. I´d rather not say what’s my opinion to that politician, I don’t really like him. I just don’t understand why the FPÖ- voters just adore him as much as they do, they wear sweatshirts with his name on it… is that normal? Do people in your country do that too?

“Foringers take away our education
               Thaths suckle “

More of that you can find on: http://www.raketa.at/?fp_type=news

Why young people didn’t vote/ Why they are not interested in politics

Mostly young people don’t care about politics. They don’t care about elections or which political party is in charge. Why is it like that?

I also fit into this group, young and not interested. I think it is because while we grow up, we can’t vote, so we aren’t interested in it. It doesn’t affect our life, or not in a way we realize, so why should we be interested?

When we grow older, when we can vote, we have no idea what is going on in politics, and we are probably too lazy to study it. Mostly we are still studying in school or we find a workplace where the boss pays enough for us, but we don’t use the money for saving or so. We usually don’t own a house, we are not married and we don’t have kids, so it still doesn’t affect our lives. Our lives are forming; we have ourselves to deal with. We have to focus on our own lives and understand ourselves. It is too much for us to also think about politics. I think the interest in politics comes with age: the older we are, the more we care.

Elections in Austria:

People who can vote: 6,384.331
People who voted: 4,782.563                                   Percentage: 74,9%
People who didn’t vote: 1,601.768                Percentage: 25,1% 

Pass Egal Wahl

The ‘‘Pass Egal Wahl“ is an opportunity to elect for people living in Austria without a citizenship.

·         Organized by the NGO SOS-Mitmensch

·         Over 600 voters participated

·         In front of the 
Department of the Interior

·         64 % for “die Grünen” (Green Party)

0% for the party „FPÖ“ (Freedom Party)

Source:

http://neuwal.com/index.php/2013/09/24/pass-egal-wahl-passegal/