Last Stanza

So I am back, punctual as ever. Things got really crazy for a bit there when some of the places seemed to have lost my reservations. I am just glad that I called ahead to double check. Today I thought I would rant a little bit about the classes and tests that I took here in Germany. I hope that this might help others in the future make a more informed decision about their schedules.

I regret nothing in my choice of classes and schedule during my time here in Braunschweig, but it certainly was difficult. What it really comes down to is what you want to get from your semester, because I had already completed all of my course requirements in Wyoming, with the exception of the time abroad, I only need to transfer three credits in order to graduate. A brief side note here, the credit system in Europe is different from that in the USA. Every two credits at Braunschweig is worth a little more than one credit at UW. I honestly think that having several classes in German was a huge help and speed up my language development quite a bit, but I did not think it would be so difficult. It was very hard, even when they were topics that I was fairly familiar with.

It was hard to follow in the classes but I was shocked when I got to the tests. I had a really hard time with even the simplest of my classes during finals. I was really not expecting that. Apparently, the language gap was large enough that I was not able to truly understand the points that were being emphasized during the lectures. There is also the matter of the Tutorials. I was lead to believe, once informed about them at all, that they were optional and of little import. Turns out that only the first statement is true. They are optional, but in the Tutorials they go over practice problems, old tests, and complete exercises to build on the students knowledge. There is also a place on campus, I learned 3 days before my last test, that you can go and get old exams for your classes.

Now, this was really hard for me to come to grips with, but you should not expect to pass all of your classes. Especially if you are taking them in German. I am not saying that you cannot pass. If you are more fluent in German than I, then this might be another matter entirely. I was just floored by all the difficulties I had with my classes and their exams, even though they were subjects I had previously studied. To anybody using my blog as a guide, I would not recommend taking classes in German unless you are really looking for a challenge. I am not saying that it cannot be done. I think that the levels of stress that it can add to an already strange time and place might be more than it is worth.

That is it for today. In fact, this might be the last post until I get back to the USA. Today I am heading back down to Bavaria and checking into a Hotel a little east of Munich. This weekend I am attending a Knights Tournament at Kaltenberg, Monday I return to Braunschweig and check out of my apartment, and on Tuesday I am in the air on the way home. If I don't get a chance before then. Thanks for reading, and see you on the other side.