The Harvard Office of International Programs wanted me to write a final grant report detailing what I learned during my summer abroad. (They seem less interested in more concrete things, such as receipts to prove I actually went to Austria.) I've posted it in all its thanks-for-the-money glory after the jump.
It was with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that I approached my summer in Vienna. Although I was familiar with the city, having spent four months there during a term-time study abroad program this past fall, and had nothing but good memories of the place (which was why I wanted to return in the first place), I was unsure what another stay in Austria would bring. Would my wonderful remembrances of the country turn out to be nothing but rosy slivers of nostalgia that would reveal their true character upon a second inspection? Or would I again find happiness in Vienna, living this time as an intern at a research institute with a 9-to-5 job rather than as a student? Although I wanted to know this from a personal standpoint, it was also much more than an academic question. I was contemplating writing fellowship applications to return to Austria for a year after graduating this May, and I wanted to confirm that living in Austria was something I really wanted to do before committing to another year in the country.
The answer, I found, was an unequivocal yes. I both reconnected with old friends from my semester abroad and made new ones. I was constantly astonished by Austrians’ hospitality, their willingness to open up their homes, lives, and stories to my inquisitive gaze. There are more objective things I love about Austria, such as public transportation that runs every three minutes during peak hours, but the people I’ve met during my time abroad are the main reason that I do want to return to the country after graduation. And to that end, I was able to forge contacts this summer that will prove fruitful to me in the years ahead. Most concretely, I connected with a professor at the University of Vienna willing to sponsor me for a Fulbright scholarship application. But I gleaned almost as much from members of the Harvard Club of Austria, who were incredibly hospitable to me as well, in hearing the various ways in which they finance their lives abroad.
Even if my plans change and I remain stateside, however, the concrete research skills I gained during my summer abroad will prove invaluable to me in my future career. I hope to eventually pursue a Ph.D. in sociology, so the opportunity to participate in all aspects of the research process, from conducting secondary source research to collecting and analyzing data to preparing articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals, gave me insight into how knowledge is actually created within a university setting and confirmed my desire to work in the research field. I even gained experience on the statistical analysis software SPSS, which will aid my attempts to find a job in this field.
I also expect my summer abroad to have an influence on my time at Harvard. I am writing a senior thesis on how young people become activists within right-wing movements in Austria and in the United States, so I used my time abroad to conduct archival research and interviews with young far-right Austrian activists as well. I also received an invitation to join the student chapter of the Harvard Club of Austria, which will enable me to keep up my association with the country in Cambridge as well.
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