Der Wissensturm

Very, very nice name has one of the highest buildings in Linz - The Tower of Knowledge. Really great place - full of culture and potential. It is located close to the Hauptbahnhof and... 10 minutes of walk from my house.



Der Wissensturm holds many cultural and scientific programs targeting almost everyone. There are University for Adults Volkshochschule, big City Library Stadtbibliothek, Learning Center LeWis and more.

I am really looking forward to the 2011, because on 17th of January my German language course will start. It will take place in The Tower and it will be very intensive. Four times a week for two hours. It's the most basic A1/1 level. Didn't I have German for seven years at school? Scheiße. Maybe I'll take the A1/2. It costs 198 euro for 3 months.

And there is a fast elevator! Watch that! (sorry for the Linz Weather)



There are some buildings that can be seen from the elevator's window: Hauptbahnhof (with OBB), Bundesministerium für Finanzen (the higher one on the right) and Landesdienstleistungszentrum (yeah!! just spell or pronounce it!!)


Hauptbahnhof - The main train station


Bundesministerium für Finanzen - Federal Ministry of Finance


Landesdienstleistungszentrum - Administrative Services Center

I know, photos are grey. This is not Spain. I'll try to make more sightseeing photos when the weather gets better.

My flatmate says that winters in Linz are grey and cold... she is right. I smile anyway :) Aufwiederschreiben!

Free furniture

I needed my space in our room. I had brought some stuff with me to organize a little "Corner Office", but as it occured it was not enough. I needed two crucial things: a desk and a chair.

Where to look for furniture in Linz? At first I thought about the easiest (but the most expensive) solution - buy it. Hmm... not so clever!

It is absolutely normal in Linz that people give their furniture for free! Of course it is not brand new, but I "do not look a gift horse in the mouth". Nevertheless its condition may surprise.

We got our new desk (which cost aprox. 69 euro) for free, because we posted an annoucement on the Anton Bruckner University mailing list. German girl told us that "the desk is not in the best condition and it was in the basement for a long time". I was a bit alarmed while penetrating the one of the unfamous austrian basements, but nothing happened. The standard in Germany must be different that the Polish one - as you will see on the picture the desk is just great!

We transported the desk with Asia (strong girl she is, indeed) to our 500-meters-away-spacious-room. Both very happy, wanting to celebrate it, we headed toward the McDonald's restaurant to compensate ourselves for the effort. Being very close to McDonald's it stood in our way! A beautiful abandoned child of the furniture fashion. The armchair. For free! :)



This is how my little corner (and our room) evolved. Wonderful. Now I can do programming all day. On the left you can see the city plan. The plan is the key.

First things first

What will you need in Linz from the first day? No doubt - ticket for the public transportation. Linz has buses and trams. There are 3 regular tram lines and lots of buses.



The 30 days ticket costs 37 euro. There is no student discount for it unless you have Aktivpass. Then you will be an Aktivpassinhaber which means "The Aktivepass holder". Yes, I am having fun with German. Aktivpass is given to a student from the city after some paperwork, but hey, I am not a student anymore.

There are also other tickets, but I will not dive deeper into the fares subject - everything can be found on the Linz AG website.

When it comes to flat I was lucky. My girlfriend has been studying here for more than a year, so I've found it easily. Maybe some day I will describe how to find a flat in detail. Anyway, I have to register in Linz. That seems to be quite easy - fill up the Meldezettel and get it signed by the flat owner.

What's interesting is that we can get the Wohnbeihilfe from the city which is a money supplement for the rent. Cool. It's 200 euro to split between all the flatmates. Of course the are some requirements. First - appliers can't earn more that 1500 euro by flat. Second - one applier has to be registered on the flat's address as his/her main place (to do so he/she has to show that has 5500 euro on his/her bank account). Third - the flat can't cost more that 7,00 euro per square meter. These are the conditions.

Flat prices are OK. Comparing to Madrid, they are just awesome. For a big room in a 76 square meters flat one can pay from 120-200 euro. Bills would be around 30 euro a month.

I came a year ago to Linz from Madrid to visit my girlfriend. The first feeling about the city was so different from which I actually have. It seemed small and sad, now it feels compact and well organized. It seemed windy and cold, now it feels windy and not so cold. Austria is a very rich country and Linz takes advantage of it in a fantastic way.

By the way I have been to my first job interview at celum. It went great.