Ferien

My classes at the International House are over. I had my final exams on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday there was a meeting with the AYF co-ordinators about signing up for classes.

Whereas in the USA, there are:

Lectures ( where students are expected to ask questions, but not discuss the topic thoroughly )
Recitations ( where students discuss topics from the lecture with an assistant teacher )
Labs ( practice of theories/methods for science courses )

for undergraduates, there are:

Vorlesung ( large lecture with "distinguished senior professors" who read from an essay or book. Open to the public. Students must make arrangements to receive a grade from the professor, usually earned by writing a paper )

Einfuehrung or Grundkurs ( intro course in which a department acquaints students with the methods, topics, and history of its discipline )

Uebung ( sometimes offered alongside a Vorlesung, focuses on the formal aspects of studying a field )

Proseminar ( comparable to an advanced undergraduate course in the US )

to chose from. Most of the classes I'm looking at are Proseminare. I have a schedule written out with first-choices, but still need to come up with Plan Bs and Plane Cs.

This Week's Clash of the Cultures

Americans are loud, obnoxious, and unruly. So the stereotype goes. I always thought of myself as being on the quieter side of things. I might wear tennis shoes everyday and eat a large dinner, but at least I was quiet.

Well, I thought wrong!

When I go to the library to study in the US, usually with friends, we always try to find a group-study room, so we don't have to deal with cell phones ringing, noisy fans walking through on game days, people talking. The library is a quiet place, but it's not a graveyard.

Well, on a tour through the University of Freiburg's library with our professor, we were kindly asked by a woman at the front desk to leave the floor we were on. Apparently, 12 people walking through the library is way too loud. We all sorta laughed it off. Einerseits, it's nice to know that the library is a place for studying and the sanctity of its silence is not to be compromised. Andererseits ... 12 pairs of feet walking through the library is nothing that can really be helped.

In a week I leave for Florence, Italy, and then I'm off to Paris, France.