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Vienna - why not?

Vienna - why not?

Old Aug 20th 2018, 1:27 pm
  #16  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

That's more expensive than I thought.
We pay £1100 for a 1 bed apartment in Raynes Park, which is a very nice area just outside Wimbledon. It's smaller than yours, but the ratio salary:rent looks similar to here.
Which is unreasonable from my point of view.
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Old Aug 20th 2018, 1:32 pm
  #17  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by Ugo51
That's more expensive than I thought.
We pay £1100 for a 1 bed apartment in Raynes Park, which is a very nice area just outside Wimbledon. It's smaller than yours, but the ratio salary:rent looks similar to here.
Which is unreasonable from my point of view.
While 50K income looks not too bad, did you compare taxation between A and GB?
I cannot comment as we are in a different situation tax wise.
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Old Aug 20th 2018, 1:46 pm
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by Ugo51
That's more expensive than I thought.
We pay £1100 for a 1 bed apartment in Raynes Park, which is a very nice area just outside Wimbledon. It's smaller than yours, but the ratio salary:rent looks similar to here.
Which is unreasonable from my point of view.
I'm not a Wien expert and it will again depend how far from the centre you are. For me anything in a city would look expensive, but it seems you can still get enough smaller apartments under €800 in different Bezirke. https://www.immobilienscout24.at/mie.../800-euro.html
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Old Aug 20th 2018, 2:16 pm
  #19  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by Thairetired2016
While 50K income looks not too bad, did you compare taxation between A and GB?
I cannot comment as we are in a different situation tax wise.
Taxation is indeed very different between here and there.
In fact, 50k (gross) income seemed to me a very generous salary compared to what I am used to here in the UK, but it would appear it's roughly on the same level, once taxes are taken into account.
Which makes sense in a way, but it also changes things a little bit because at first sight the salary was one of the biggest selling points of the job I have been interviewed for.

I still need to figure out what the 13th and 14th paychecks are though.
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Old Aug 20th 2018, 4:13 pm
  #20  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by Ugo51
I still need to figure out what the 13th and 14th paychecks are though.
For what it's worth, I used to get a 13th month when salaried (in France), half of which was given at the end of June, the other half at the end of December. This was last century and a 14th month seems to be more the norm nowadays. A summer-holiday and Christmas bonus, as mentioned above, the equivalent of a month's salary (or two).
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Old Aug 20th 2018, 4:29 pm
  #21  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

I see
I definitely prefer the 12 month system...

Anyway this clarifies the discrepancy between the calculation done in net salary annually and monthly. I was dividing the annual by 12, not 14 So, anyway, it's roughly 30k/year after tax. However many installments is that divided in
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Old Sep 6th 2018, 2:51 pm
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

I read following article in Kurier newspaper today. May be you can find a German speaker to translate it for you.

https://kurier.at/chronik/oesterreich/umfrage-expats-finden-oesterreich-lebenswert-aber-unfreundlich/400110395
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Old Sep 6th 2018, 3:22 pm
  #23  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

It makes an interesting read.

It's not the first time I hear about Austrian being not friendly. I think it would be interesting to know how this opinion is distributed among expats from different nationalities.
Different cultures have different meanings for the word friend.
Here in the UK, for example, I find people generally friendly, but it doesn't make it easy to make friends. It's very easy to find someone to go to the pub, and share come confidences with, but it doesn't go very deep.
Funnily enough we met a couple of Austrians a couple of month ago and we are closer with them than with most of my colleagues I have been knowing for years.
Were these Austrians friendly since day 1. No. Cold, distant and not smiley at all. But somehow we found easier to connect with them than with other more overtly friendly people.

It will definitely be interesting to go there and see ourselves.
In the meantime, unfortunately, my job offer has been declined, so I am back at square one.
Tomorrow evening I will have a Skype chat with a friend's niece who has been living in Vienna for the past 10 years. I am curious to see what she will have to tell
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Old Sep 6th 2018, 6:12 pm
  #24  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by Ugo51
It makes an interesting read.

It's not the first time I hear about Austrian being not friendly. I think it would be interesting to know how this opinion is distributed among expats from different nationalities.
Different cultures have different meanings for the word friend.
Here in the UK, for example, I find people generally friendly, but it doesn't make it easy to make friends. It's very easy to find someone to go to the pub, and share come confidences with, but it doesn't go very deep.
Funnily enough we met a couple of Austrians a couple of month ago and we are closer with them than with most of my colleagues I have been knowing for years.
Were these Austrians friendly since day 1. No. Cold, distant and not smiley at all. But somehow we found easier to connect with them than with other more overtly friendly people.

It will definitely be interesting to go there and see ourselves.
In the meantime, unfortunately, my job offer has been declined, so I am back at square one.
Tomorrow evening I will have a Skype chat with a friend's niece who has been living in Vienna for the past 10 years. I am curious to see what she will have to tell
I discussed the article with my husband. He is a Brit, he speaks limited German. Enough to do shopping at the fresh market. My husband feels Austrians have a professional friendliness. He is very happy with the help he receives when speaking fragmented German. Austrians are more friendly than Germans. We have been expats for 45 years, and we understand that people don't open the front door for the newcomer in the first week. A contact has to develop. After 4 mts. in Salzburg we are finding that ppl we see frequently now chit chat, wave to us when ways cross, some ppl I have never spoken to even. Like anywhere, big cities are more anonymous and small towns. I find Viennese less friendly than Salzburgers. Yet my favorite group are Tyroleans. Here in Salzburg my closest contact is Chinese. In my opinion one cannot generalise whether ppl are friendly or unfriendly in a country. It takes two to tango. And expats often feel superior to locals, and as a consequence get shut out. We have to experience a country ourselves.

Last edited by Thairetired2016; Sep 6th 2018 at 6:14 pm.
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Old Sep 6th 2018, 6:20 pm
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Vienna - the imperial city that lost its Empire in 1918. When it lost all its hinterland it lost its reason for existing !
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Old Sep 6th 2018, 6:51 pm
  #26  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Originally Posted by scot47
Vienna - the imperial city that lost its Empire in 1918. When it lost all its hinterland it lost its reason for existing !

...as if anything needed a reason to be existing
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Old Sep 8th 2018, 12:31 pm
  #27  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Yes, in Italy there is the "13th month" salary that you get at Christmas.

Concur with the others that spending extended time there is the way to go.

Ultimately this will rise and fall on your job.

Lack of German will be a serious impediment to your integration and won't ever go away even if you get to moderate-level language skill.

If you don't need German and can get a reasonably well-paid position there (and 50k EUR is above average in Austria), then sure why not go for it?

Vienna has changed. 20 years ago it was a staid city full of seniors and elderly, now it has some life in it.

PS - My wife is Italian and like you, absolutely does not want to go back to live there. So we're in Australia. Though I think you will find "workplace seniority trumping skills" is unfortunately something that occurs throughout the European Continent and is by no means just an Italian phenomenon.

Last edited by carcajou; Sep 8th 2018 at 12:37 pm.
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Old Sep 8th 2018, 2:49 pm
  #28  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

"it has some life in it" doesn't sound too cheerful.

Yesterday we had a very interesting Skype chat with a friend's niece and her parents. Although they had nothing but praises for the society and Austrians in general, I couldn't help but to feel that somehow what they were describing wasn't that appealing.
Of course, as it has already been suggested multiple times, nothing will substitute a real-life visit. But certain things are difficult to pick up when on holiday.

At the moment I would say that the biggest pull towards Austria is geographical. I think it lies is a very nice zone of Europe and its topography certainly suits our lifestyles.
But now that the job offer is no longer on the table, I will have to wait for something equally good to come along .
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Old Sep 8th 2018, 11:58 pm
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

Just to throw something out there - have you considered Ticino or Grigioni? We gave a very hard look at Ticino some years ago. Though Switzerland is more expensive than Austria, Ticino or Grigioni might tick many of the same boxes for you as Austria, without the language impediment on the job front. Ticino is also very different, and run very differently, than Lombardia right across the border.

On the same token - though it is in Italy - I would wonder if you would look at Alto Adige, and a place like Bolzano, which also does very well in those "quality of life" things in magazines though it has always seemed quite industrial to me. Bolzano would have enough Italian speakers that you could get employment there.
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Old Sep 9th 2018, 8:40 am
  #30  
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Default Re: Vienna - why not?

The short answer is no.

Three years ago we traveled a bit through Switzerland with the purpose of checking it out. Excluding the "German" part, we focused on Geneva and Lausanne. We found the latter a very strange place, although I can't point my finger on what was that gave out this sense of strangeness.

Ticino and Grigioni have never been on the table. I don't know why, maybe because of the lack of actual cities. I will check them out though, just for the sake of knowing what's there in terms of opportunities.
Has to be said that although I like Alps for the sport opportunities they offer, I don't think it would be nice to actually live on them. We traveled through Alps quite a bit and they are somehow very depressing. Great for a day out skiing or corner-hunting with the motorbike, but that's about it. When I was talking about the geography of Austria and its advantages I was especially referring to lower reliefs such as Tatra mountains, which are - as far as I am concerned - superior to Alps for hiking and wilderness.
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