Just recently I temporarily moved to Vienna, Austria from Sweden to attend a training for development workers. As a German I had not expected or thought about any big cultural differences as Austria is neighboring my home country German.
However I lived in Sweden the past 7 years and over the time had adopted to the Swedish culture. Moving from liberal and modern Swedish to rather conservative and traditional Austria came with a slight unexpected cultural shock.
11 things I noticed when moving from Sweden to Austria:
- I said “hello” to God about 100 times a day:
The common Austrian greeting is “Grüss Gott!” which translates to “Greet God” and is commonly used as like “hello”. Something that I still don’t get used to. - Booze is available 24/7 :
In Austria you can buy booze in gas stations, small stores, shacks, bistros at any corner and any time of the day. Having lived in Sweden where alcohol is restricted to be sold in the state-owned liquor shops which are open from 10am – 6pm only and closed as from Saturday noon this was easy to get used to. - Titles are king:
As like for the media industry “content is king” for Austrians “titles are king”. Titles are very important in Austria and if you don´t have one you are in trouble. Married woman often inherit their husband’s title and become Mrs. Doctor, Mrs. Lawyer, Mrs. Mag. rer. nat. pol. or Mrs. Retired Lawyer……Not having a title in Austria puts you down on the lowest piece of the food chain. ….Your title is sort of glued to your name. It will be mentioned everywhere where your name appears like contracts, emails or media articles. You also have to make sure it’s mentioned in your private email signature. is also very important to list all titles you have. Here I was facing my first challenge: having lived in Sweden were hierarchies and titles – especially the educational titles don’t play a big role and are often not even mentioned I had forgotten about mine.
So here I was called Mrs. Diplom Kauffrau Brit W. – a title that I had received during my university education some 20 years back. I still have a hard time getting used to it. - Cycling is evil:
Cycling is for sure the best, easiest and cheapest way to explore the city. The infrastructure is well prepared for bikers with cycling tracks covering the whole city. So perfect right… if it just wasnt for the aggression of the Viennese people. Cycling in Vienna is not for the light-hearted!! The tolerance rate of the Viennese people when it comes to cycling is Zero point zero!! The city is covered with one way roads which are usually free to be used both was for cyclist…some of them..On my first days I stopped counting on how many times people have yelled or honked at me. In many cases I don´t even knew what I was doing wrong. One time I was standing waiting for the light to turn green when a passenger screamed and yelled at me and one time I was even hit by a passing cyclist. Coming from moderate Sweden, where people usually never complain, hunk or let alone yell at each other this aggression was the biggest cultural shock to me. - Being served like in heaven:
One of the things I was most looking forward to was sitting down in a cafe at a clean nicely prepared table and being served. Unlike in Sweden where in most coffee-houses and even many midrange restaurants customers have to order and pick-up their food at the self-service desk and also leave their leftovers at the rubbish containers. Where the later mostly fails due to people not cleaning up after themselves. So very often you will have to clean your table yourself before you can enjoy your coffee. And not benefiting from lower self-service prices! Not so in Austria! Unless its a fast food place you will be seated at a nicely prepared table and get served like a princess almost everywhere!
(Sidenote: high labour costs in Sweden which forces many restaurants to keep the number of staff down is one of the main reasons for the self-service) - Getting used to my mother tongue again:
Austrians speak German – well sort of…When living in Sweden I was not exposed to the German language – my mother tongue – on a daily basis. Even though I regularly visited my family in Germany it was usually only for a few days. So it took me a while to get used to people around me speaking my language – it was like someone had taken the earplugs out of my ears. It took me a bit longer to realize everyone around me also understands perfectly what I am saying. - Smokers heaven:
Smoking is completely banned indoors all over Sweden and also in most parts of Germany and many other countries in the western world which I highly appreciate. This is not the case in Austria. In most of the places like restaurants and pubs smoking is allowed. Some of them have dedicated smoking areas – some are smoked all over. As a consequent my clothes smelled smoked after eating out or having a beer or two. - It is all about papers and forms:
In the modern digital world i had gotten used to handling office and even formal stuff digitally. Sweden is very advanced in many things especially in the digital world. Bills, contracts, insurance claims, registrations are mostly handled digitally – even for immigration you can register and send your files online. This has made my life very easy. Taking pictures of signed documents with a phone, email them, done.
Not so in Austria. Everything has to be post mailed in original papers, signed and stamped, then returned in at least 2 copies no scanning at all. And once you have done that you need another form to be filled in…. - Mobile payment – an invention from out of space:
In the modern world I have experienced the advantages of paying with plastic and never carried a lot of cash with me. The advantage being security. I never had to worry about having enough cash, losing cash or get robbed. Mobile payment is possible almost everywhere: parking lots, beach huts even on a paddle board. Many of my swedish friends don’t even have a purse that fits coins. In Austria mobile payment seemed like an invention from outta space. - Austria is not for the dieters
Be aware of the food in Austria: it is highly addictive! Austria is very famous for its cuisine and there is a reason for it. The most famous probably being “Wiener Schnitzel” , all sorts of dumplings and delicious pastries like Apfelstrudel. Food, pastries and coffee is available at every corner in the city. For me as a coffee, bread and pastry addict the traditional Viennese coffee houses were my daily target. It did not take long for me to put my diet plans on hold for the time being. Food for the soul ! - Culture & History overflow:
In terms of culture and history it is hard to top Austria – especially Vienna. You name it and you will find it in Vienna. From architectural perfection and UNESCO Sites to history and culture from opera and theater to photography and arts – Vienna has it all and it’s all on world-class level.
Many of the cultural aspects in Austria also apply for Germany which is equally traditionally influenced. As a consequence I started to appreciate many Swedish habits I used to make fun of when living in Sweden. Like the value of consents for example or the “never complain and no conflict attitude”. I also noticed I felt more German when in Sweden and more Swedish when in Austria. So far I have not figured out why.