The biggest difference between Salzburg College and Northeastern is that there are only ten students, myself included. This is much smaller than I am used too; there are only three people, once again including myself, in my German course. I am used to 30 people or more depending on the course in a large lecture hall. The biggest effect this has on the teaching style is that all classes are much more oriented around discussion and hearing from different viewpoints rather than having a straight lecture. It is also set up more to fit our needs in terms of what we need to learn rather than following a set program. All of us come from different backgrounds of knowledge and the teachers do their best to accommodate everyone.
The school system here is also set up on the quarter system, something I did not realize until I arrived. That means we have two six-week chunks of classes with a break of around ten days in between. In order to fit all the material in, some courses run close to two-and-a-half hours long.
The classroom itself is also less defined. This is partly because there are only ten of us so small class sizes mean small rooms and different seating arrangements. In addition, we go on excursions at least once every week to learn first-hand about Austrian culture. The school also provides programs through other people and organizations in the city, such as cooking classes by one of the host mothers to trying out different coffee houses with one of the program assistants to tennis with one of the other universities.
Finally, in terms of textbooks, I have not needed to buy any materials, at least for the two classes I am currently in. Therefore, this is a lot cheaper than Northeastern.
