Forget culture shock. How about uni shock? The Universität Salzburg differs from Longwood in so many ways; some are good, some are bad, but all are amazing.

To start off with, students here simply go to whatever university is closest to them. There isn’t nearly as much of a choice as there is in America when it comes to school. There was one day in the kitchen when one of the Austrian girls was asking me all sorts of questions about American schools, like how many there are, how big they are, the difference between a college and a university, and so on. That really made me realize just how different our schools were from each other.

The shocker for her was how much American universities cost per year—the only costs I know of here would never amount to even how much American college textbooks cost per semester. Going to a uni here is basically free. There aren’t even any textbooks to buy for most classes; instead, your notes are your only resource or you have to make copies of pages the professor puts out for you, be it in the library or elsewhere. Sometimes the professors will ask the students to pay for copies made; yup, even the professors must pay for every copy they make. I’ve paid professors anywhere from fifty cents to five euros for copies. Altogether, I haven’t paid more than €70 for one semester for school purposes. How cool is that?

Another clincher for me was the mode of homework. The Europeans must have some sort of work ethic ingrained in their very being that I never found, because pretty much the only homework to do here is study. Study study study study! I’m the good American student who’s used to being assigned readings and papers and given tests. Some classes here have a midterm test, but for most classes, the only homework is so study your butt off. The only papers and test that come into play—from what I’ve seen—are at the end of the semester and count as the final grade. For many, this is the only grade for a class.

There are two different types of classes: Vorlesung, or lecture, and Proseminar. A Vorlesung is just that—a lecture. There is usually no discussion, and the students simply write down what the professor says. There is no Anmeldung, or registration, for a Vorlesung. You simply go, and at the end of the semester, you take the test and get credit for it. A Proseminar is more like what American classes are—you have to sign up for a Proseminar as there are a limited number of seats, and the classes are a combination of notes and discussions.

Something else that is very un-American is how the campus is more or less spread all throughout the city. Each department is grouped in its own place in the city; for instance, our equivalent of the modern language, English, and education departments are in a cluster of buildings on the south side of town. The science building is about ten minutes from there, and the history department is downtown by the river. There are also no university-affiliated student housing; all over the city are places for only students to live, but none are directly associated with the Unversität Salzburg.

But I think I would have to say that the part I miss most about American schools is the structure. Here, there is no big computer system—or any system at all, for that matter—with which you must register to take a class. What a lot of students do is take lots of classes at the beginning of the semester, and gradually thin out the ones they don’t need or want as the semester goes on. This is really very easy, as you need only stop going to a Vorlesung to drop it, and you just go to the secretary of the respective department to take your name off the list for a Proseminar. There is also no set structure for the classes during the week; most classes meet once a week for an hour and a half or two hours, and that’s it. None of this MWF 12-12:50 stuff, not here! It’s much harder to memorize your weekly schedule because of that.

I think I’ll stick with Longwood. J