Vienna.

Vienna is genuinely a beautiful city; architecturally, socially and artistically. The scale and detail of the buildings is exaggerated beyond anything that can be experienced in the UK and it is great just to wander around the centre of the city at different times of the day sketching and taking photographs.

Culturally and socially there is always something happening including concerts, exhibition openings, presentations, lectures, parties, street entertainment et cetera. So far, as University is due to start next week, we've managed to experience some of each.

I have also managed to join the Choral Society of St Augustine, many of whom are students at the University of Music. The choir sings mass every Sunday at the Baroque Jesuitenkirche in central Vienna as well as special concerts. Whilst being great musically it has also been been socially beneficial allowing me to meet people from a range of different backgrounds who know Vienna incredibly well; having lived here all their lives.

The Viennese are also far more relaxed and the pace of life both socially and professionally is generally slower. People spend time talking to each other over drinks in smokey coffee houses, there's no ban on smoking here, and over lunch in bars and restaurants.

However this can present a problem coming from a society that wants everything done instantly; as we have particularly experienced this week trying to organise lectures and timetables.

The Austrian University system is in complete opposition to what is practiced in the UK. The school of architecture for example has just under 2000 students at masters level, compared to just under 50 at Portsmouth. There is no central office to co-ordinate the actions of five institutes that organise their own timetables and then ask students to sign up to the courses themselves over an internet system, that has a frustrating tendency of not working, on a first come, first served basis.

This can be seen as beneficial on one hand because it gives the student freedom of choice and flexibility, however on the other hand it means architecture students have no set period of study and can end up reading architecture for up to ten years; which would be expensive in England.

The system would perhaps be more efficient if there was a central co-ordinator who knew what was happening in each institute, however as this does not exist we have had to go to each studio in an attempt to organise our own timetable; with some institutes being more accommodating than others!

Despite all the 'hassle' it is a normal aspect of studying in Vienna, according to Austrian students and as such is an important experience to have.