Immediately when I stepped foot on the university the first thing that I saw was that there were no students around. It was so dead that the university might as well be closed. This is completely contrary to pitt as we all know from about 9-10am there are always people walking around either to class or with their friends or just going about their business. What I learned from talking to the German students however, was that since most of them do not have to pay a whole lot for a college education, most of them simply don’t go to class that often. Now I’m not getting any ideas here, but it is something interesting to me that school attendance isn’t mandatory nor important to them. 

I learned about the rich history of the city and how it was very finance and religion heavy. The amount of churches and religious motivation especially during and after the protestant reformation in shaping the city was certainly interesting to me. What they did say however is that their grades for most classes are determined by only a few assignments and finals which is when they really need to focus and make sure that they are really set for and get their work done. 

The Italian restaurant wasn’t bad, as far as the atmosphere went it felt like some of the mom and pop shops I went to in Italy. The nice decorations and the seats were a good relaxing setting considering how tired I was being away from any sort of energy drink I was used to. The pizza I got was good. I wanted to play it safe with something I know I would like because I was absolutely starving. All in all a good experience that I would definitely go back to if given the chance.