So I tell my professor that I need to take my exams early since semester at my college begins at the end of August. Final exams here are held in September/October! He says he can do that for exchange students but I need some sort of proof that I'm in fact an exchange student and indeed need to return before August.
I head out to the international department and get a letter explaining my circumstances in German. This morning before handing the letter to my professor I decide to take a look. And it is addressed to the wrong professor! I read on and see that even my name has been spelled incorrectly. And to top it off, the name of my college is inaccurate. I decide to hand it in anyway, and although my professor remarked on the errors, decided it was adequate for the purpose. I was awfully thankful!
Getting things done isn't easy. It took me a few days simply to get the person I was supposed to talk to. Everyone has strict office hours. The staff might be at their offices all day but will only see you from like 9 to 12 for example. It's true for government offices too. You cannot just drop by during working hours. You actually need to check what hours and on what days you can visit the office and work your schedule around it. Sometimes the hours appear very arbitrary, but that's how things are. Should I receive a package in the mail, there are only two 15-minute slots each day during which I can pick them up. And the time-slots aren't consistent throughout the week either.
Also, some professors are so busy you have to talk to their assistants and setup an appointment. I was once told the next available appointment for one of my professors was over two weeks away! To be fair, the upcoming week was "excursion week" for the mechanical engineering department. The professor does have office hours for each course he teaches but these are very busy. I've been lucky to only be in small classes where the professors stay back after class to take individual questions. Otherwise student tutors are your best bet.
I had a rough idea of what I was going to write about on this post today but it ended up being about something totally different! Oh well...
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Monday, June 08, 2009
... Yep
I can't believe how lazy I've been about posting. Knowing how much time I have squandered religiously following late night talk shows (especially now that Conan’s on), I cannot pretend I was too occupied to update my blog either. No surprise here though, indolence can be counted among my defining characteristics. That and bursts of inspiration that keep me going for days without sleep. So I guess at the moment I am in an uninspired lull.
The lull can’t last very long though, as I am now entering the final phase of my time here in Germany. My final exam dates have been finalized and my flights have been booked. The thought that I have less than two months remaining stirs up a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. There is so much more I still want to do and see. I cannot go back yet! I have classes until the very last week of July and my exams are interspersed throughout the month. Not enough weekends to visit all the places I still want to go.
I can hear fireworks outside! I have no clue what it’s for. I didn’t see any celebrations today, and people don’t seem to be out and about as they would be when there’s a “fest” of some sort. Anyway, I can hardly see anything from my room. I do see others in the building next to ours bent over their desks working calmly though. Yes, if you leave your shades up in the evening and your lights on, there’s absolutely no privacy. But most are careful enough to have their shades down in the evening. Going by the stereotype of Germans and their privacy, the ones with the shades up are probably the exchange students!
There’s just so much I haven’t written about since my last post and I don’t have the urge to write it all down now. I have a class early tomorrow and I need to go to bed. I can sleep through alarms when I don’t get enough hours of sleep. That’s the reason I have setup both the alarm clock and my cellphone’s alarms. On important occasions I have a third alarm on my portable audio system thingy!
Anyway, I will hopefully post again tomorrow. Goodnight!
The lull can’t last very long though, as I am now entering the final phase of my time here in Germany. My final exam dates have been finalized and my flights have been booked. The thought that I have less than two months remaining stirs up a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. There is so much more I still want to do and see. I cannot go back yet! I have classes until the very last week of July and my exams are interspersed throughout the month. Not enough weekends to visit all the places I still want to go.
I can hear fireworks outside! I have no clue what it’s for. I didn’t see any celebrations today, and people don’t seem to be out and about as they would be when there’s a “fest” of some sort. Anyway, I can hardly see anything from my room. I do see others in the building next to ours bent over their desks working calmly though. Yes, if you leave your shades up in the evening and your lights on, there’s absolutely no privacy. But most are careful enough to have their shades down in the evening. Going by the stereotype of Germans and their privacy, the ones with the shades up are probably the exchange students!
There’s just so much I haven’t written about since my last post and I don’t have the urge to write it all down now. I have a class early tomorrow and I need to go to bed. I can sleep through alarms when I don’t get enough hours of sleep. That’s the reason I have setup both the alarm clock and my cellphone’s alarms. On important occasions I have a third alarm on my portable audio system thingy!
Anyway, I will hopefully post again tomorrow. Goodnight!
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