When HBA student Shane Bachman arrived in Linz, Austria as an exchange student at the Johannes Kepler University (JKU), he knew little about the country other than it was the hometown of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. But after being immersed in the country for five months, from February to June 2024, he learned and experienced more than he could have imagined. Bachman and fellow HBA student Riley Hummel-Kusins even represented JKU as a top 10 finalist at Europe's largest student-focused startup competition where their idea was deemed a fan favourite. In his blog below, he writes about key takeaways from his exchange experience.
Expectations: Mountains and Red Bull
I went into my exchange experience a bit unsure of what to expect in Europe, but excited and nonetheless committed to embracing any new experience that presented itself. Having not known anyone who had visited Austria, I based my first impressions around mountains, beer, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fast forward six months later, and I now have a much greater appreciation of the country. As I reflect on my time spent immersed in a considerate, efficient, and truly welcoming culture, I now have a much broader understanding of Austria and Europe as a whole along with an outside view of our Canadian lifestyle.
Language as a double-edged sword
At first it was difficult for me to build relationships with the Austrian students or even to navigate the day-to-day interactions with local residents in the city of Linz, due to the language barrier. After completing three weeks of intensive German language lessons, I could get around solo, but didn’t have the chops to hold a proper conversation. But I slowly began to view this as an opportunity to seek other forms of connection. This included practicing our counting as scorekeepers in intramural beach volleyball on campus, and dancing in the weekly Mensa festivals to the same songs we all barely knew the lyrics to. Even just sharing a smile and makeshift sign language to get directions from a flower shop owner, made these interactions less burdensome. They instead became moments to appreciate for their true human nature. In business school, we are taught that connections are everything, however, I think real connections are what actually matter. Adding someone on LinkedIn who you haven’t shared a real moment with may not fulfill this criteria. It took a learning curve with language to realize this so clearly, but I will definitely take this back to Canada as I continue to build real relationships with my peers in the future.
Business and cultural takeaways
The European business landscape is much more fragmented than I’d expected, making developmental differences between countries quite apparent, most notably with technological innovation. This discovery stirred new business ideas between me and the other travellers we met across almost all of the 13 countries we visited. As a cohort of international business students studying cases on cross-cultural organizations, we were shocked by the lack of conglomeration between countries within such close proximity to each other (the Balkans for example). Yet when you see the stark differences in each culture, the desire to have native brands and businesses becomes clearer. In Canada, we have several oligopolistic industries (such as telecommunications or banking) and this makes me question whether the preferences of all Canadians are really catered to. Canada is not divided by borders, but the sheer geographic size no doubt sees diversity fluctuate across provinces similar to these neighbouring countries in Europe. It makes me question if there needs to be more decentralization to better fit the needs of all Canadians?
Business aside, from a lifestyle perspective, my biggest takeaway was realizing how much we strive for efficiency and productivity in our daily lives whereas Austrians make time in their day to (for lack of a better term) “stop and smell the roses.” It is not uncommon to sit in a cafe for an hour and enjoy a conversation with a stranger or to get groceries just for one dinner that evening. I boiled this down to a heightened sense of consideration and being truly present, which I know is very easily lost in western culture in the pursuit for our personal goals.
The startup competition experience
My favourite memory from this trip was getting to create a venture with my roommate, Riley Hummel-Kusins (also from Ivey), and compete in Europe’s largest student focused startup competition – The Entrepreneurship Avenue. We took an idea we know has been successful in Canada, the vodka water beverage, and applied it to the untapped Austrian market with a healthy twist. We noticed cyclists, hikers, and recreational sports players stopping to grab a beer mid-game or during the day, so we launched our beverage, “TRAVLER,” as an alternative for the socially-active consumer. We were selected to represent JKU Vienna for the finals where we pitched to a panel of investors along with nine other ventures. We won in the fan favourite category, which was a great way to cap off the exchange and build some “real connections” with our fellow competitors afterwards in the Vienna Startup U festivities.
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