Details

• Mexico
• BaWiRe-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 5 months

1. Preparation

There are no direct flights from Vienna to Mexico City, so most likely you will need to book a connecting flight (e.g. through Amsterdam, Madrid, Frankfurt, Istanbul etc.). Some airlines (such as Air France, Turkish) offer student discounts, or extra baggage + free/ discounted changes in travel plans. I think the best option is to also buy a return flight, which is flexible so you can adjust the date when you know more, because it’s oftentimes a lot cheaper than buying both flights separately. Also, Turkish Airlines asks you to show them your return ticket when flying to Mexico, while European airlines don’t.

2. Accommodation

You can basically decide if you want to stay in San Angel/ Tizapan (the area ITAM is in), or stay in Roma/Condesa. I would make this decision based off how many courses you have and what days they are, eg if you have to come to uni only for two days, staying in the center makes more sense, but if you have uni Monday through Thursday, it makes more sense to stay in San Angel. ITAM provides you a list of recommended housing options, but I would also recommend talking to former exchange students, ppl who are there at the moment, and if you want to stay somewhere central look at facebook etc. I stayed in Alpina 11(Casa Magda) which was the cheapest option(250€), it was alright, but the kitchen and showers aren’t awesome. It also isn’t a party place, they are really strict abt beng quiet after 11pm (no guests in common areas etc). I would definitely recommend reaching out REALLY early eg to Hidalgo (best house), for just 100€ more you get so much more. This is my landlords number at Alpina 11: ‪+52 55 3456 0155‬ Generally, San Angel is very safe. I haven’t heard of anything happening in this area to anyone. Be careful with taxi drivers, don’t drive home alone very drunk.

3. Academic life at host university

Good campus, nice sports facilities (to play football, dance salsa etc), gym is meh, lots of places to study The international office is really helpful and if your WU prof allows it, they can supervise you writing your WU exams (the winter semester ends later at WU than the OTAM semester begins). A lot of profs at WU were als considerate and are letting me write the exams in June, when I get back. I study WiRe so it was a lot harder to get the courses recognized, so if you study WiRe and want to go abroad I would suggest you do the International Business SBWL. These were my courses: Global Law 1 (recognized as juristisches Wahlfach) Super easy, you just need to do the assignments and sometimes say sth in class and you’ll have a good grade. The final is more like a presentation. Agenda Global de Desarrollo (recognized as SBWL RSGB Course 3) In Spanish, but she let me write the exam in English and Isabel Flores is also really nice and supportive. Not difficult. Sustainable Business and Social Responsibility (recognized as SBWL RSGB Course 4) Boring, but quite easy, you are allowed to use the computer at some of the exams. Desarrollo Económico (ECO 18101) Really a hidden gem. He’s pretty chill with attendance, course is in Spanish, but he doesn’t count participation in class. And he let me do all the assignments and the final presentation (which counts as the final) in English. Communication in Spanish 3 Wasn’t that difficult for me, and the exams are open book. Managerial Skills Pretty boring and a lot of assignments (mostly reflections), but the content is super easy and it’s easy to get a good grade.

5. Every day life in the host country

Mexico is really awesome, there are so many places to travel to both within and outside the country. For Semana Santa you have 10 days free + I skipped an extra week so I travelled for like 17 days (Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia). You can also fly to Tijuana (the airport is right at the border) and visit San Diego and LA. Within Mexico I really recommend Puerto Escondido (a lot cheaper than Yucatan and fun). Public transport is okay but taxis are really cheap and the city is incredibly huge so I barely used them. Definitely download Didi (for iPhone you need to switch your App Store to Mexico) where you can order taxis (it’s like the Mexican uber), as well as food. It’s a lot cheaper than Uber so download it right when you arrive and you’ll save a lot of money. Safety situation really depends on what you do but I would say it’s generally safe, especially San Angel, as well as Roma, Condesa, and Polanco. Didn’t hear of any pickpocketing. Only things that happened when ppl were extremely drunk and got into random cars/ alone in an Uber.

6. Testimonial

You get to know a country and region that is extremely different to Austria, you can visit a lot of places, Mexicans are really open and want to meet foreigners so it’s easy to make friends. Mexico City is a very artistic, creative and diverse city.