Facing the Inevitable

So the unavoidable has finally come to pass. I am sick. In all honesty, I am surprised that this did not happen soon but there it is. I am am currently feeling much better than the past few days but I want to be well recovered before reemerging in the world of the living. I was originally going to break this post into two shorter posts but that just did not happen. As I really don't feel like waiting for another week to explain all of this, this will be  a long, dry, and picture less (maybe) post about classes here in Germany.

This was another very big hurdle for me because I was given no information on when or where my classes were or how to find out. In fact, the learning agreement that I had written up previously was made by looking at the courses that had been offered the previous year. Once it was explained to me, it really was not that bad. I am not sure exactly when the information is added, but by simply going to the following link  you can find your classes, when they are meeting, where they are meeting, and who your professors are. Then I hit the second hurdle, the scheduling conflicts. I had been repeatedly informed by people (both in the US and her in Braunschweig) that many of the classes only meet one time a week. When I saw multiple times listed under the class, I just assumed that they were different time slots. You know how it is. CHEM 1060 is offered at two different times three days a week, so this is just their version of the same thing right? Wrong. All of the classes that I have looked up are only offered as specific times and all times listed are the times you should go.

This immediately shot my previous plan to pieces. Here I was, in Germany, partway through the first week of classes with no idea where to go. With help, I was able to find someone to guide me through this mess of planning and come out with a shaky schedule. Now here comes the next thing to take notice of. At home at UW, most classes are just class with the lab being listed separately for timing issues. Here they function in what are called "Modules". Many of these modules consist of several different parts. The main components that I saw were the "Vorlesung", the "Ubung", the "Seminar", and the "Praktikum". The "Vorlesung" is the standard lecture that we all know and love with the teacher at the front and the horde of eager minds (well hopefully at least awake minds) in the seats. As far as I can tell, a "Seminar" is very similar to the lectures except they are with different teachers and in smaller groups. Bear in mind I only had one full week of classes , but these seem to be much more interactive than the lectures. I do not have any of theses, but as far as I can tell, the "Preaktikums" are just like our lab work at UW. I have no experience here, so you are on your own. Now, the "Ubung" is most similar to the "discussions" that we have with some of our classes at UW. During the week, the professor will give out a sheet of problems for the students to work on, and everyone works through the solutions during the Ubungs. There are also rumored to be these things called "Tutorials", but I have yet to experience one.

Here is the warning label. It seems that each Institute at the University handles their classes slightly differently, so be sure to check with someone who will know how it all works.

Now here is a little more information about me, or, more specifically, about my course preparations. I believe I mentioned this earlier, but I only need to get 3 transfer credits in order to complete my International Engineering Concentration and, thus, graduate. Small note here. Here at Braunschweig they use what are called ECTS credits, and, as far as I can tell, are worth about half of the credits at home. This means I need to pass 6 credits here to transfer 3 credits home. Anyway, back to me. As I have already completed all of my course work at the University of Wyoming except for my time abroad, I do not need any of my courses here in Germany to transfer as specific classes. The idea here was too simplify the transfer process. Normally, there is a great big nightmare of you sending them all the information on the class to the IO office in UW so that they can compare with the corresponding department in order to determine if you are learning the same material you would at UW. More than a little confusing, I know. I do not yet know if this will actually simplify things, but I am holding on to hope.

The reason that I mention all of this, is that it has been an incredible help, even in just my first week of classes. Because I have taken all of the classes, there is no new material, it is all just review. Maybe a review of five year old material for me, but a review none the less. While I do not know if this will help me learn the language faster, it has certainly helped me feel more comfortable with what I am attempting to do here. I may not understand everything the teacher says, but just the simple fact that I know what he is trying to explain pushes back the panic. That being said, I had no idea how much we depend upon our language for higher order mathematics. I have attended a couple of classes using more complicated mathematics and while the mathematics was all familiar, I could not follow what I was supposed to be doing. This could just be me though. I always picked up much faster on the Chemistry side of things than on the math side of my degree. I do not know if this will be an option for those of you looking to spend time abroad in the future, but it has been great for me. After getting sick, I cannot tell you how much every little familiar thing helps me feel more comfortable with my situation. I hope that this post will be helpful to students in the future, but I need to rest some more. Guten Tag.