Off the Map

Thoughts on German University

The first week of Uni is over, and despite the total chaos, alles ist in ordnung (everything's 'aight).

In German Universities there is no formal, and especially no centralized registration system for classes. This means that some professors require you to send an email in advance, some don't, and some cancel their classes the day of. The first week is chock-a-block full of students trying 5, 10, or even 15 different classes to see which ones are A) Still being held, B) Didn't require special registration, C) Don't conflict with others, D) Have a reasonable Prof. with a reasonable work load.

After planning on trying 8 different classes (3 Credit Hours a-piece), I ended up not taking some as they were pre-registered, not taking others due to pre-req's, not taking another b/c of the graduate-level research project that turned out to be involved (Imagine that for European Economic-Politics, auf Deutsch!). I also ended up picking up a class the day of, which has turned out to be great (although I'm going to have to read at least 6 books in German, by Germans).

The aftermath? Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship Management (both with Ubungs, which are like intense recitations, as they are valued at the same number of credits as the classes themselves), and then New German Literature: Contemporary 1990's German Lit. Looks like they are going to be feasible, but certainly a lot of work to understand all the lectures in a forigne language.

Fridays are off. Word.

Eventhough only a week has passed, its clear that the classes are going to have a different feel from the University of Colorado. Lots less time in class, and lots more time doing independent research/readings. I've already spent 2 hours in our library (and managed to get yelled at 3 different times by 3 different librarians for 3 different transgressions!) digging thru Business Case Studies, which are, thankfully, in English!!!

I'll be posting some Fall photos in the next couple of days, so keep updated. Right now though, I've got a party to throw...

posted by Jason @ 6:13 pm