I cannot believe I am already six weeks into the semester. The time has flown! Hitting the six-week mark has made me reflect on how my expectations surrounding abroad have been significantly altered. Before I came abroad, I would say I had relatively reasonable exceptions. I knew that this experience would challenge me more than anything else, and while it may be the best experience of my life, there were definitely going to be lows. For the most part, I would say those expectations have been accurate. Studying abroad in a foreign country where you do not know anyone or the language being spoken is an overwhelming experience, to say the least. However, my expectations around the relationships I would be forming have changed drastically. I was very nervous walking into this program, knowing I was the only student from the University of Pittsburgh on this trip. So, I did not have exceptionally high expectations of the friendships I would form here. I expected to make some friends to spend some time with outside of class time, hopefully, but what has happened has blown me away. I am astonished by the number of close friendships I have made here in such a short period. Everything that occurs during a semester abroad is hyper-speed, and the rate at which these friendships have developed is no exception. After traveling almost every weekend with these new friends, you create bonds that I know the distance will not put a strain on once I return to the United States.

Professionally and academically, my expectations have also changed. I walked into this semester thinking my academics would be similar to a regular semester at Pitt, but I was wrong. For one, in Vienna, we only have ten weeks of classes, excluding midterms and finals, and all of my classes except for German are only held once a week. This results in a lot less class time than I am used to, but it also means the courses are moving at a much more rapid pace. Many of my classes are also experientially based, so many classes are at least partially made up of excursions to supplement our work outside class. This setup also means that I am responsible for much more theoretical learning outside of course, and my professors here act much more like guides to our understanding than teachers. While my expectations have changed significantly since the start of the semester, I would say these changes are overwhelmingly positive. I cannot wait to see how the rest of my semester develops.