Vienna Travel Forum

Hey all,

Two things if anyone has a second.

1. My son arrived in Vienna today and his cell phone is working as planned (sort of). We bought a Mucke Sim card and 3 tele.ring recharge cards with the code number. He used the "add time" function to add each of the three cards to his phone, but after a couple of quick calls, he was "out of time," which didn't add up. Is it possible that what he should have done was put in only one recharge card, use it up, and then put in the next? Is it possible that the system didn't accept the second and third cards he used?


2. He's up in the 18th district in an apartment building and says that so far nobody he's met there speaks any english. He's looking for some college age folks who speak english to hang out with, watch a game, grab dinner etc.. Any volunteers out there? If so, email me privately. steve@stevelevine.com and I'll hook you guys up.

- what about learning a few german words ??
People speak german for sure!!
Thanks for asking again!

1. He should go and see either the shop he bought the sim card in or another telering shop. There are always people who speak English in such shops especially in downtown areas but he should please remember to ask first, ie. "Excuse me, do you speak English" and speak slowly and use simple words. I find that many English native speakers are too arrogant in this sense, no wonder the locals can't be bothered or don't dare.

Another thing is that the prepaid cards are expensive, especially if those quick calls were overseas. I doubt the system rejected the cards. If so he should have had an error message. He can always ask the people in the shop to help him doing it correctly.

2. He should take the time to visit an evening German class or so, a great opportunity to meet people his age from all over the world, also people who would be very happy to talk to him. I don't know what he is doing at the moment and for how long he is staying but he could try
www.univie.ac.at/WIHOK/
www.deutschakademie.com
www.alpha.at/
www.culturawien.at/
www.ikivienna.at

A great place for him to go is Pickwicks in Marc-Aurel Straße in 1st district, lots of English-speaking youngsters there. He can also check out the Irish Pubs of course.

Just adding to my previous answer: Your son could take a look at www.virtualvienna.net if he wants to get in touch with the English-speaking community. He can find information about basically everything on that website plus there is a discussion forum too.

In addition there will soon be many summer school students from all over the world doing German courses at the so-called Campus which is also called Altes AKH (the old general hospital) in 9th district. It is a great place to hang out at night in summer and he can watch all the EURO2008 games there.