In Lower Austria, in the middle of winery plantations and right by the Danube river, there is this charming city called Krems. Krems is an old and historic town with only 25 000 inhabitants and it is 80 km away from Vienna. It’s a city of many churches and universities!
My experience here has been quite nice, even though the school standards surprised me. Studying abroad has taught me to appreciate TAMK even more than before. Here in IMC Krems, you must work a lot to earn your credits. At least in my case, I’ve had to learn lots of things by heart to success in the exams. The grading here is very strict, and you must remember everything in detail. I have to say, that I’m not happy with the level of education here. It is partly because having this much theory is not a suitable way of learning for me – I’m more of a “learning by doing” type of person. On the other hand, I feel like in every course there has been poor instructions to projects or assignments in general. Compared to the level of teaching, the exams had been difficult and all in all, the professors could have been more supportive. Also, one big fault is the lack of school lunch. If you want to come to Krems, I recommend you take fewer courses than I did (26,5 ECTS), so you’ll have more time to travel and enjoy your exchange semester that way!
Seeing other cultures has opened my eyes and broadened my world view. During the exchange semester I have traveled to Germany, Slovakia and Hungary. I have also traveled inside Austria, to Vienna, Wachau Valley, Linz, St. Pölten and Bad Gastein (the Alps). Before I’m heading home, I’m still going to visit Graz and Hallstatt. One of the most enriching things here have been all the new people I have got to know from all over the world. Krems is a small town, so exchange students have become a close group. Throughout the time, everyone has behaved nicely towards each other and invited everyone to the parties. I’ve also got new friends from the locals, since I have studied mostly with them.
Especially during the first weeks we got to know some history about Krems and its buildings. One of the churches I mentioned is 1000 years old and IMCs’ Piaristengasse campus is a part of the same building! The campus is an old monastery and you can see the history on the ceilings and walls of the campus. The nature in Krems is beautiful as well. Danube river runs right outside of the city center and exotic vineyards locate on the other side.
As a summary, I would say that Krems is an extremely beautiful city with warm atmosphere and lots of students. You can easily go and travel around Austria and Europe and if you are interested in wines, this is a perfect place for you! If you enjoy studying theory instead of doing projects or group works, you might also enjoy the school. Even though it has been very hard for me sometimes, this experience has been amazing, and I am truly grateful that I had the chance to come here!
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