School starts soon
Thursday, September 2, 2010 Leave a Comment
Wow, so it’s September and I finally know what’s going on with school.
Sort of.
I know when orientation is, when classes start, and when and how long my Winter break will be (only 2 weeks).
But I still don’t know how to register myself, how to pay tuition fees, what any of the deadlines are, or what my schedule will be like. I think I have a M-F schedule with a full courseload of 10 classes though.
I’m finding that German universities are really different from Canadian universities so far. The big difference [I can see] is that there isn’t much money spent on administrative needs, which means that things are confusing and service is low. I’ve heard of this before from other North Americans studying in Germany, so I’m not surprised.
It makes things a little stressful for me while I’m still in Canada and trying to figure it out, but I’m also okay with it because the tuition fees are MUCH lower than what I’m used to. So at least I’m not paying for service whilst not getting it. Life is still good.
I can’t believe I’m back to being a student again. I’m really excited and grateful for the opportunity. It’s gonna be so cool, and on top of learning more science (my favourite course of study), I’ll get to learn German and soak up German student culture too.
I like seeing what it’s like for other students in other schools. I’ve only ever known the Canadian education system, so it’ll be neat to see something different. When Martin and I went to Bratislava last year, we chose to stay at the university and had a blast being ‘dorm mates’. We could have stayed in any downtown hotel, but then we would have missed our glimpse into student life within Slovakia’s capital. We still talk about how it was such a great experience.
And soon I’ll get to experience first-hand what it’s like to be a student in Germany. Thrilling!