Being back in my hometown after all of the other college
students have left is an interesting experience. I’m definitely mastering the
“why aren’t you in school?” conversation.
Like when a neighbor caught me walking my dog in the middle
of the day. “Why aren’t you at school?” they asked.
“I’m in college now,” was my somewhat-glib reply. It didn’t
clear up their confusion. I then explained that I was studying abroad, and they
start school later in Austria.
I’ve had similar encounters at Starbucks, and when my
parents’ friends come to visit. It’s tempting to start making up elaborate
stories about how I dropped out of school to join the circus. In the end
though, that’s not as cool as spending a semester in Vienna, so I stick with
the truth.
Every country, even every university, has its own start
date. Some spring semesters start in January. That is when classes started at
USC. In Vienna, on the other hand, classes don’t start until March. The way my new
university schedules its classes is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Classes
only meet five to ten times. Sometimes that is for one week, sometimes it’s
every Wednesday for a month plus one random Tuesday. It was a confusing system
to learn, but now I almost have put a complete schedule together.
Here’s a one-month preview. Every month looks different.
I can’t wait to start my new classes. All of them will be in
English. There are classes offered in German too, but those aren’t designed for
international students. Even on my most confident days, my German isn’t that
good. I’m registered for five awesome classes to earn credit towards my two
majors.
This is my only chance to take a few of these classes, since
some of them, like social media marketing, aren’t offered at USC. So, I’m extra
excited. Isn’t that what college is about? Geeking out about what classes you
get to take?
In the meantime, I wait. I’m ironing out the final details
of my time abroad: like my teeny-weeny rent problem. The housing office
required rent to be paid in cash by the 5th of the month. Only
problem was, on the 5th of February, I would still be in Texas.
After getting no response to my first email, I started to panic a little. It
wasn’t like I could pick up the phone and call. To make matters worse, the
offices closed at noon. That is 5 am central time. So, I set two alarms, one
for 2:30 am and one for 4:30 am.
When your alarm goes off at 2:30 am, it takes a moment to
remember that it is not a fire alarm. Once that panic-inducing moment was over,
I checked my email. The housing office had answered some of my questions. After
another moment of sheer panic at 4:30 am, I learned that the housing office in
Austria only employs the nicest people. They said they made a note of when I
was arriving and would waive my late fee. My early morning email conversations
had paid off!
There’s only ten days until I leave. I can hardly believe
it! I should probably start packing. I’ll check in with an update soon.
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