Being Boundless in Vienna
w/ Jessela Budiman
iSchool Vienna: Semantic AI-Using Metadata to Build Advanced Intelligent Systems
When I heard about the study abroad programs offered for UW students, I knew I had to check them out. I was thrilled by the idea to branch out and get a glimpse of a different environment. I saw the opportunity of a lifetime when I found my program Semantic AI-Using Metadata to Build Advanced Intelligent Systems located in Vienna, Austria as it is related to my major in Computer Science. Out of this experience, I wanted to apply what I’d learned in school to understand how it aligns with real-world problems. I found that this trip will teach me the basics of gathering data and the way to use these analysis and knowledge graphs to improve user experience. I also wanted to learn the business side of things, and how the creation of the system involves all of the stakeholders. Additionally, as a student who lives with family, this would be my first time experiencing independent travel and having to provide for myself in a foreign country. I wanted to try out living alone and exploring on my own. Now that I’m back from this trip, I can say that my goals have been met and that studying abroad is one of the best experiences of my life.
Before departure, I knew it would be a challenge to navigate my way in a country where I couldn’t speak their national language and to quickly adapt to the time zone and customs. I’m thankful to have traveled with some seasoned travelers who have been to Vienna before and gave the best tips and tricks on traveling. This, along with Rick Steves’ guide to Europe, and coincidentally taking the same flight there as a few other students took the edge off of some of the fears I had about traveling.
My first experience in Vienna was memorable, it really hit me that I was in a new place but at the same time the place felt familiar. Our hotel and office we worked at were alongside a street of shopping centers. When I finally arrived in Vienna on Saturday night, totally drained from the jetlag, I went straight to bed and skipped dinner. Hungry and excited to explore the many shops and cafes next Sunday morning, the streets were deserted and no shops were open. I was totally disoriented and at a loss as to why it was so quiet, it was very strange to have wandered around in a ghost town. That’s when it dawned on me that Vienna was a predominantly Catholic city resulting in closed shops on Sundays. I ended up settling for a McDonald’s and Starbucks that was open and was reminded of home. My expectations versus the reality of the moment were very different to say the least, but there was plenty of time to explore the new cafes and restaurants I wanted to.
As I got accustomed to the environment, I was absolutely immersed in the culture, grand baroque architecture, music, and art. Vienna was home to many musical geniuses, like Mozart, Beethoven, and Strauss to name a few. As well as artists like Gustav Klimt. The museums and cathedrals have so much history, there were so many moments of awe from admiring the intricate designs of the buildings like St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Schönbrunn Palace, Hofburg Palace, and many more. It felt unreal that all of these beautiful buildings were walking distance or a subway ride away.
Out of this trip, I met the most amazing people and have made close friends along the way and even met my birthday twin! We were all diverse and came from different cities and backgrounds but were bonded by our husky pride. We worked in groups of four and learned to utilize everyone’s strengths. My project was in regards to Low Vision Travel with Expedia, creating a method to enhance the experience of visiting well-known travel destinations for visually impaired travelers through developing a knowledge graph that can be used to connect content from open-source data sets in order to enable a more meaningful travel experience for visually-impaired users. We worked with stakeholders like our clients(Starbucks, Microsoft, and Expedia) through video calling, and experts working at the Semantic Web Company who helped us with the Pool Party software.
My goals and expectations of this trip have been realized because I learned about this problem domain and the process of creating a service along with experiencing what it was like to live on my own for a month, doing things like laundry, grocery shopping, and navigating my way around the city. I also got to try Viennese Cuisine that I’ve never had before like wiener schnitzel, apfelstrudel, and sachertorte. In addition to spending the weekdays in Vienna, the fact that other cities were only a few hours away, allowed us to spend weekends in Bratislava, Prague, and Budapest which was like a reset button to get used to the new environment, culture, language, and currency exchange rate all over again. In which all were unique experiences jam-packed with adventure!
Jessela Budiman, Summer 2019
