Die Universität Wien

And now for a little bit about a pretty important topic.. school. I'm taking five classes here, two with an American professor from the University of Illinois and three through the University of Vienna, or die Universität Wien. The picture below is of the Hauptgebäude (main building) of the Uni Wien, where I have one class, Literaturgeschichte (Literature History). The university is huge, with different campuses and buildings throughout the city and 88,000 students. Eighty-eight thousand! Can you believe it? Another fun fact: the Uni Wien is the oldest university in the German-speaking world! It was founded in the 14th century. That means that the list of all the past presidents of the university located in the entrance hall (below) is very very long.

List of presidents.

After you walk through the entrance hall, you reach the central courtyard, where all the entrances to the different staircases of the building are located. No one is allowed on the grass (yet), but students sit on the benches on the edge of the courtyard.

My Literaturgeschichte class is in a big lecture hall that over 300 students have to cram into. Unfortunately, the lecture hall isn't that big, so not everyone can get a seat.. some people have to stand at the back (I had to do that the first day) or sit on the stairs. So you have to get to class fairly early so you can squeeze through the doors once the previous class lets out and snatch a spot on one of the long benches (there are no individual seats or desks). And the way the class is set up is very different from almost all American university courses. It's called a Vorlesung, or lecture, which means that it takes place only one day a week for an hour and a half, and everyone's whole grade is determined by only one thing.. the final exam. There are no assignments, no quizzes, no attendance-taking, no mid-terms. Just the final exam. So the learning is much more independent, and the students have to motivate themselves to keep up with the reading throughout the semester so that they won't be in trouble for the exam. I have to concentrate very very hard to be able to follow the professor during the lectures, and even when I do, it's not possible to catch every single thing, but I think my comprehension has gotten better. At the end of each "Stunde," or class, all the students knock on the tables or desks, which is their way of applauding for the professor and a lecture-well-given. When that happened at the end of my first class here, I was caught by surprise and thought it was pretty funny.

Stairs leading up to the lecture hall, or Hörsaal.