The IES Abroad Vienna Center hosted its inaugural Alumni Weekend from October 9-11, 2015. Our Vienna Center Director Dr. Morten Solvik and his staff welcomed more than 140 alumni and their guests who returned to our Center, located at the Palais Corbelli, to reunite with old friends and new.
The highlight of the weekend was the first-ever IES Abroad Vienna Alumni Ball attended by 80 alumni and their guests at the Palais Kinsky, which was home to the Vienna Center from 1968-1982 and is now a premier event space. From the salon orchestra (composed of more than 20 recent alumni and current students) to soprano soloist Anne Wieben (Vienna 2004-05), the music and the dancing was powerfully emotional for attending alumni and their guests. Eight student couples who are currently studying abroad in Vienna performed special dances, and Anthony Oliveras (Vienna, Fall 2001) also charmed the audience with a clarinet solo. After a short waltzing lesson led by IES Abroad faculty members, alumni and their guests danced the night away to many favorite arrangements, ending with the Radetzsky March by Johann Strauss Jr. It was a truly magical, unforgettable evening in Vienna.
During the three-day weekend, alumni also remembered their study abroad days in Vienna by participating in walking and museum tours, finding the apartments and buildings where they lived as students, dining and drinking at kellers, and riding the tram up to Grinzing for dinner at a heurigen.
Many memories were shared and new ones created. You can view photos from the inaugural Vienna Alumni Weekend here: http://bit.ly/1HaUHBb
More IES Abroad Alumni Weekends are being planned at the Centers below:
- Beijing: July 1-3, 2016
- Freiburg/EU: September 23-25, 2016
- Granada: June 3-5, 2016
- Nantes: April 22-25, 2016
- Paris: June 10-12, 2016
- Vienna: September 23-25, 2016
For more information on IES Abroad Alumni Weekends, contact Jennifer Jerzyk (Nantes, 1981) at jjerzyk@IESabroad.org.
