Life in the Lecture Theatres of Erfurt!

Well I couldn't let it get to over a month without a post, so this self-imposed deadline has made me find the time to write a long overdue update. Time has simply flown by, which is slightly worrying...I don't really feel that my German has improved at all, it's probably not even returned to it's pre-France state, and meanwhile my ability to speak French is fading rapidly! However language problems aside I'm having a great time here, more work than I have ever had in my life but equally many exciting things having been going on. Spring seems to have come and gone and we're now just touching on summer, sunny days and thunderstorms, of the most dramatic kind, my favourite! I took a minute the other day and actually looked properly out of my window, and was highly surprised to see that the view has completely changed, in fact I now have no view! The trees in front of my window have suddenly become green and bushy, I have absolutely no recollection of any actual growing happening, last time I looked out I could see fields and the city! So what've I been up to during the last few weeks?

Well sadly a large portion of my time has been in lectures, but these themselves have provided comedy moments! Not least because of the lecturers themselves, who really are an odd bunch, far more so than in York! I had one man for a lecture (whose course I subsequently dropped) who was exactly like one of the main characters from Last of the Summer Wine, in appearance AND character! So much so that I couldn't for the life of me concentrate on the course I found it so amusing!

I have to say, that although there are some aspects of the German university system that I like (such as the massive number of courses on offer, despite the uni being half the size of York), I do find Erfurt a bit stuck in the past. There are blackboards in every room, an OHP if we're lucky and that's about it. And we're all called by our surnames! Being known as Frau xxx (insert name here!) cracks me up every time, especially as most lecturers don't find it the easiest name to pronounce (anything that puts them off asking me a question is a positive!). What's even stranger as it means that I don't know the names of most of my fellow students, just their surname, if it's simple enough to remember.

In the courses that I have with other exchange students it's no better, how the teachers navigate their way round Ting, Ping and Xing I have no idea, I certainly can't, which is really embarrassing, especially as they have no problem with my name. Although it being written on most of my hoodies is probably a great help for them...however, no-one has referred to me as UYNC yet!

I have one course called Fremdwoerter, basically learning about the foreign words in the German language, of which there are plenty! A lot of the words are obviously English and so Rosie and I are often called upon to pronounce them to the class. One time, and unfortunately I can't remember the word, Rosie (who's from Birmingham) and I disagreed on the pronunciation of this word, much to their interest. They then got rather excited about hearing the different accents of English, and before we knew it we were putting on all sorts of accents for them, with limited success, but much banter! I really think that one week we should say everything in a particularly strange style just to see if they take it in...I think they would, anything we say about English language is taken as gospel!

My French courses are great, except one, where we are studying comics. COMICS! I hate comics! I really can't think of anything worse to have to read: Asterix, Lucky Luke, Isnogoud... horrific! I have to do a presentation on one this week, eugh! Reading them is just awful, words and pictures just do not go together in my head. Bring on the real literature later in the term (and I genuinely never ever thought I'd say that!).

As regards my fellow students, I have to say the whole university atmosphere is different to that in Britain. Students are a lot less friendly, they tend to arrive at the lecture, open their book and read, listen to the lecture, then go as soon as possible. Of course there are exceptions and I do have friends from my course (mainly those that learn French too) but that appears to be the norm. One friend of mine was really funny the other day, we were copying some morphology tree of the blackboard and I hadn't left enough space so it all got a bit crammed, but still completely readable. However she turned to me, tutted, and with a shake of a head said it was a shame it'd have to copy it all out again! I was shocked, and having absolutely no intention of doing so, said I'd do it at home later!

My German housemates are also very diligent, always working, never seem to go out and are tucked up in bed at 10 (I must really annoy them...at 1 am the other day I decided to rearrange my furniture, so was dragging my bed etc across the room for a good 45 mins!). Plus they go home on either Thursday or Friday and come back as late as possible on Monday morning, it's almost like they don't want to be here, but see going to university as something they have to do to get a good job etc. But we Erasmus students have a different mentality and of course there are some exciting Germans around.

Unsurprisingly, the most interesting Germans are those who also learn foreign languages and have done Erasmus themselves. I signed up for Tandem (where you meet someone and speak your language for half the meeting and then German for the other half) and now have two nice partners. What's funny is that it almost feels like I'm "two-timing" them, neither knows that the other one exists, and I'm forever having to juggle them around!

Thinking of people who learn languages, a girl randomly got in touch with me, she had a 40 page thesis in English, and she wanted me to proof-read it! I was slightly overwhelmed at the prospect but at an offer of £2.50 a page I couldn't resist and have to say it was debatably the cushtiest money that I have ever earnt! Am seriously considering setting up business here, I think it would be immensely popular. Now the only question is, is my English really up to it, I will be intrigued to find out if the girl requests a refund once she gets her mark back!

Unfortunately I have to pass a large amount of my time in the library, but this in itself has provided me with some entertainment, chiefly because they have a really funny system regarding bags etc. Nothing, except paper, pens and books (duh!) are allowed in the library, so this means that there's a locker system and then you carry your things into the library in a basket. The baskets are exactly the same as those in the local supermarket and I am beginning to wonder if they have been stolen one by one over the years! It does make for a funny sight, lots of students wandering round the library with a basket on their arm, they literally look like they're shopping for books! I find selecting books is much more fun once you feel like you're shopping, I could spend the whole day in there browsing, and then feel particularly pleased with myself for going shopping without spending any money!

So, student life in Germany is really no joke, not even for us Erasmus students, but I certainly can't complain, I do get the chance to travel and the last few weekends have been spent aound Thuringia, in Munich and in Berlin, living the life! I will evaluate (oooh, haven't I got my essay voice on?!) the exciting things in the next post, coming soon I promise (depending on the progression of my presentation on comics!).