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Reino Ault skiing in Austria

Lake Achensee near Innsbruck

Hiking above Innsbruck

Colourful houses on the Inn River, Innsbruck

Finance major Reino Ault’s university career has been unusually nomadic. His first year was interrupted by the pandemic, which leached into his second. By the time travel restrictions were finally lifted, he was itching to explore the world. His first exchange was to Innsbruck, Austria, where he studied at for a whole year. Reino’s requirements for a study abroad destination were twofold: 1) it had to be close to nature, preferably near mountains, and 2) he should be able to experience a new culture. Reino had the flexibility to choose his own classes, and Austria’s centrality in Europe made travel to neighbouring countries extremely convenient.

Proximal to the snowy Nordkette mountains, Innsbruck is a popular destination among hikers and skiers. Reino shared a university dorm with eight others; his roommates were all either native German or Italian speakers, and most of them didn’t speak much English. Despite the language barrier, they became fast friends. Soon, they were taking full advantage of everything Innsbruck had to offer — hiking, skiing, skating, and more domestically, cooking together.  

For the most part, the language barrier wasn’t a problem. His professors and everyone in his classes spoke English. Even among those who didn’t speak fluent English, Reino found himself integrating pretty easily.  

“It was an adjustment — I needed to switch how I was speaking because I wanted to talk with them. I just needed to change how I communicated a bit. But everybody wants to meet people and everybody wants to be friends. Usually you overcome that stuff pretty easily.”

Reino credits the great time he had in Austria to the openness of the people. Their willingness to befriend him encouraged him to match their sincerity. 

“The best parts were just being able to spend time with people who enjoyed the same things even though we didn't come from the same place. Having discussions, whether we were playing board games or going to parties at night.” 

As amazing as Innsbruck was, it couldn’t quite quench Reino’s thirst for studying abroad. His next destination was Japan, where he went to . He encountered similar challenges with the language barrier in Shizuoka, but found a way around it with like-minded people. 

Both exchanges were learning experiences, and Reino came out of it with the intuition required to communicate with those from other cultures, with different native languages. 

“When we go abroad, I think we have to be okay with being uncomfortable. There are gonna be times where we can't understand people. If you hear an accent for the first time, you might not understand, but because you've never heard of it before.”

He recommends breaking down sentence structure and being more conscious about the kind of vocabulary and slang you use in order to facilitate conversation. 

Since he became a student at the U of A, Reino has spent more time abroad than on North Campus. Despite being a business student, he was able to pay arts tuition while on exchange, making the experience more affordable. While many prefer the comfort and stability of being in one place for college, Reino’s transient lifestyle has truly made his university career.