Well, as usual... the last week has been a blast. Among other things, I visited various parks in Trier, attended several beginning-of-the-semester parties, and visited the quaint town of Koblenz.
But, before the brief entertaining bits, I suppose I should comment on the whole reason I'm actually here: school. Oh, what fun it is to enroll in 9 classes to be considered "full time" by US standards. It truly makes no sense to me; the most anyone else (non-Erasmus) takes is 6, so for whatever reason it seems that class requirements are far different in Germany.
Another problem coming up is that no one, not even the instructors, seems to know just how many "points" any given class offers. It is quite frustrating to me, considering I'm used to all classes being worth 3 "hours" by US standards, with some exceptions clearly noted before registration. Here, though, due to some system switching in the Masters-level classes, the value of each class is different than in past years, confusing even the administrators.
For example, different departments offer various class types that are all worth different amounts of points depending on the department, class type, and assignments given. In most "seminar" classes, for example, you can get 2-3 points by just attending the lectures, but up to 6 points if you write some ridiculously long term paper, give a detailed oral presentation, and take an exam. When these assignments are and are not required, though, is still a mystery to me. In America, we (as students) just do whatever the professor says to do for our grade. Here, though, the decision making appears to be up to the student.
All in all, though, basing my judgement on the classes I have thus attended, I like the classes here better than any of the other 4 universities I have attended; the professors that I have had are all legitimately interested in the subjects they teach (at least in my experience), and all seem more than willing to help out in any way possible. This is not to say that the same caring exists in American universities, but in my experience more budget cuts have forced professors into things they do not want to do, and the increased stress shows in their performance.
Aside from professors, I enjoy the classes thus based largely on the fact that it the material is being taught from a totally different prospective than what I am used to. This, actually, is the most refreshing bit of "educating" I've had in awhile; I'm not bored! For example, I just came from a class on an American author, Kurt Vonnegut, taught by a German professor (in English). During part of the lecture, the professor noted historical significance in Germany surrounding past war sites by saying "Just up the road, where the battle of so-and-so was fought." That's a new one for me... the history is up close and personal, right around me!
Professors seem to have a less tight leash, so to say, in terms of what they are allowed to say too. Political correctness exists, but not to any degree of what it does in America; another class I have on British linguistics is taught by a Scottish man who blatantly bashes other British nationalities throughout the class. He has no problem making a joke about a Welsh man not knowing "of these things," whatever the subject. In America, he would be fired for that!
But, aside from the classes, I do have a few gripes. First is easy access to technology. As I type this, there is a line of at least 20 students waiting to print something from one of the library's limited computer labs. The printers rarely work, and if they do, it is usually only a small portion. Last week, every printer in the library was broken one day, and the next the entire school network went down. If this was a high school, these would not be big deals. But, coming from what I did not realize was a technological Mecca in America, it blows my mind that in Germany, the country with the strongest economy in the EU, in the year 2011, I can come to a university and not have internet access or online class access. Yes, I am spoiled... but having a broken laptop ties me to the university, and that is quite a frustrating experience indeed.
Another gripe: doors. Yes, doors. Can someone please tell me the logic behind putting what appear to be double-doors at every entrance to any given hallway, yet only having one side that opens? Seriously, the width of the hallway is then limited to those of us taking turns to come in and out of a classroom-sized door where there is space for a "real" door. With 20,000 plus students at Universitat Trier, it's quite a pain to have to wait forever to get in and out of any building. Imagine a door at Wal-Mart and the volume of people coming in and out. Then, imagine that only half of one of the 4 doors is able to open, and it is not automatic. Traffic jam.
Seriously, the library has a huge revolving door to conserve on energy costs. Great. But just in front of it? A door smaller than the size of a classroom door. So, huge volumes of people can go through the revolving door only to get bottle necked at the useless second "gate." I'm not a fan. Nonetheless, it's not my responsibility, so I will wait patiently with every other person trying to go to the same places.
Moving on... about 18 of us took the train (for free as students) to Koblenz, a small town about an hour and a half away, on Saturday. It was quite lovely! Like many German towns, it played host to old castle-style complexes and a variety of other old-styled buildings. Some sort of expedition was going on, and the entire city was accessible for a 5 Euro ticket including access to a sky-lift to a castle-museum. Flowers were everywhere! It was truly beautiful... I have posted the link for the Facebook picture album below. We had a lovely time, and are planning more excursions for the near future.
In any event, more to come tomorrow. For now, off to a bit of Deutsch studying, then who knows what lurks about in the city tonight...
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