School Bells!

Wow, actually back to school after almost two weeks of exploring the world. Normally I am always excited to head back to school, but not quite so much this year. Unlike college back at home where you have your schedule set months in advance, Germans don't actually finalize a schedule until 2 weeks into the year. The first two weeks students are allowed to "test out" classes they might be interested in. You are not really on an official roster or class list until the "testing" period is over. I was originally kinda ticked about this; however, I am actually so thankful the system works this way. I ended up going to twice as many classes Weeks 1&2 just to test out Professors and hear some more German. One class I originally planned to take I hated because it was so boring, so I never put it on my "offical schedule" and instead I added two new classes.

I was also not super excited for school, because the reality that I would actually be in a college classroom with real German students at a real life pace (instead of foreign language class) kicked in. Not to mention, I would be trying to understand the history of business and phonetiks, etc from real German Professors who were not going to hold my hand through the language. Thankfully, it has all worked out. My classes are challenging, but not overwhelming and my professors are relatively easy to understand. I wouldn't say I understand every aspect of their lectures, but enough to get by and write the papers.

The down side to classes, is that we have gotten to know as many German students as we would have liked to. We get the opprounity to talk to more Germans; however, they are not overwhelmingly friendly. Bummer...thankfully, I have Julia and a few other girls in my classes who I have met and see on a regular basis so that I can practice my German.

For those of you who claim you can't believe I actually go to class, here is my schedule.

Monday : Theorie und Praxis der Phonetik und Intonation (The Theory and Practice of Phonetics and Intonation) ----11:15-12:45

Tuesday: Das System der deutschen Wirtschaft nach 1945 (The System of German Business/Economy after 1945) --- 14:15-15:45

Wednesday: Practicum at Hölderlin Gymnasium --- 9:20 to 11:40. Then Gesellschaft und Literatur um die Jahrhundertwende 1871-1914 (Society and Literature around the turn of the century from 1871 to 1914) -- 13:15 to 15:30

Thursday: Übungen zum Lesen, Verstehen und Schreiben (Exercises in Reading, Understand and Writing) -- 17:00 - 19:30

Friday: Practicum at Hölderlin Gymnasium -- 7:40 - 11:40

Although, I am not in class for as many hours as I would normally be in the US, the amount of work expected outside of class is generally higher. Universität Heidelberg is a large school, so unlike NCC, we don't have much homework on a weekly basis, but anything the Professor says in class you are supposed to have memorized the following week. My Monday and Tuesday classes do not require much work out of class yet; however, my Wednesday and Thursday classes do. My biggest workload doesn't really come from classes, but rather my practicum. I have a minimum of 6 lessons to prepare a week and am given the material anywhere from 1 to 4 days in advance. It is rough, but more like the life of a teacher so that I like.

Overall, I am loving the free time I get and I don't know how I am going to go back to my crazy schedule back at NCC! I have quite a bit a work to do during the days, but also more freetime then I have had in my last 2 years of college combined! :)