This week was the first week of classes for me. Before coming to Vienna, I knew their semesters would have a different schedule than I am used to, but even so, starting school in October felt pretty late. Another thing that is quite different here is the course schedule. I have some courses that meet everyday for 10 days and that is the entire course! Other courses meet once a week for anywhere between 6 or 10 sessions total. Finals for each of my classes take place during the last session, instead of a separate finals week.

Since I am an exchange student from the U.S., many of the courses taught in English end before the New Year, thus I am able to make it back to Pitt on time for the Spring semester. In total, I am enrolled in 5 classes, two of which take place online on Zoom or Microsoft Teams. It was nice that I had participated in the Pre Semester German Course, as I was already familiar with the commute to campus, as mentioned in my first blog post.

I have noticed that my classes are quite diverse, as there are exchange students from all over the world as well as local WU students in all of my classes.

Another interesting point to make is that so far students have not been required to wear masks during their in-person classes, as before entering the building you must show security a valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate, proof of recovery or PCR test as well as your WU Student ID. However, students are welcome to wear a mask in class if it makes them feel more comfortable.