Program Details
| Program Length | Start | End | Price | Age on Departure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | July | $73,800 | 15.5-18 |
Austria, situated in the middle of Europe. It has a reputation for beauty. Vienna, the capital, is full of beautiful houses, churches, squares and buildings.
Austria is known as being one of the cleanest countries in the world and most Austrians are actively involved in maintaining that image.
In the rural areas of Austria, traditions linger, with most Austrians wearing traditional dress to church, visiting the local inn after church and in the summer months festivals are held in a field with traditional music and dancing.
The climate varies depending upon altitude and is much cooler in the mountainous areas. Vienna’s summer temperatures can range from 15º to 30ºC with winter being as cool as -10ºC. It can become even colder in rural areas.
AFS in Austria
The first Austrian AFS students participated on a program to the US in 1949. Seven years later, in 1956, AFS Austria was founded. Currently AFS Austria has about 3000 members across 9 regional chapters, with over 400 active volunteers.
Host Schools
Because school has been compulsory in Austria since 1774 there is long standing school education tradition. Most hosted students attend public high school which is attended from Monday to Friday, 8am to 2pm and on Saturdays 8am to 12pm. Extra curricular activities available include choir, theatre, singing groups and soccer club. Most hosted students have the opportunity to participate with their class on organized trips, dance courses, and “Vienna week”.
Host Families
For many Austrian families eating meals together is important and polite behavior requires waiting until everyone has finished eating before leaving the table. Generally the main meal is at midday. In the evenings the meal is often cold – bread, cold meat, cheese etc.
Power, telephones and petrol are all considered to be expensive, so power is often conserved. Good manners, good behavior and cleanliness are all very important in the Austrian family.
AFS students are hosted all over the country – in cities as well as in small villages in the middle of the beautiful countryside. Hosted students in small villages, rather than being isolated, are able to integrate into their smaller communities and feel part of and accepted by local society.
For the official website of AFS Austria, please refer to the front page.
