First week of school
Almost done my first week of school here. and well, so far so good. Im really liking my classes, had a great one today on the Physics of Atoms and Nuclei. The sub-atomic world is one messed up place, Im glad I experience things in this scale.
The system here is really interesting, and as far as I can tell, way better for those actually interested in education. For those who go to school to get a job, it might not be the perfect surroundings, but for all those other 'professional students' out there, this place is great.
For starters, you don't sign up for courses. You only sign up for exams. You look at the schedule, and you attend the lectures you want. Now, I have to get a few required courses (or Pflichtkursen, as the Germans would say), but even still, I cant take them whenever I want.
There are also no marks, which coming from a system which prides itself on standardization and organization of students, is very strange. My mark is either a fail, or a pass. Well, I guess theres a bit of marks, buts totally determined by the professors judgment on how well you grasp the material. A '0' is sastisfactory, a '-' is sub par (but still a pass), and a '+' is above average. I find it funny that I can get '-'s across the board, and still pass. The lectures are very interesting, although right now, alot of it is review. Our school system in Canada is very very good. When talking to some other students here, it seems like we are very well prepared. There are really no assignments or tests throughout the term, not graded at least, so it is a very independent way of learning, which I have always thrived on. I found in N.A. that I was so caught up pumping out assignments like a Ford Model-T assembly line that there was no time to really think about the material, and form a real understanding.
Upon coming here, I had heard that the atmosphere in class is much different from in North America. I heard that since school is free for everyone, the professors have the opinion that it is a priveledge for the students to be 'graced' by their presence. Questions are avoided, and well, they don't care about anyone in the class. Ive been told this is true for some faculties (economics, for example) but my lectures have been very open and interactive, and the professors are always eager to answer any question you have on the spot. This may be because there are only 10 people in my class, and this atmosphere is not very feasible in a class of 200. Regardless, the professors are really bright and warm people.
I need to get a picture of my quantum theory prof. He's such a stereotypical theoretical physicist. He looks like he hasnt shaved or cut his hair in about 10 years, but is a very cool person.
And my exams are going to be interesting. There are no written exams, all oral. this means I sit with each prof one-on-one, and he questions me for 30 minutes on any topic covered in the course. He then gives his personal opinion on how well I grasp the information, and passes or fails me accordingly. I find this better, because we all know how studying goes for our exams in Canada. We know the basic topics, maybe some keys problems, and we study exactly how to solve these problems. So when they come up on a test, we vomit the procedure out, and the better we regurgitate the method and information, the better we do. This totally rids the system of that, and guages your personal understanding of key concpets. It also give you a chance to not make retarded errors at the start and finish a long question with false assumptions. The prof can reask the question, or give you a general direction to take. Very comfortable.
I think I like the freedom that this system gives. It requires one to stay on tope of lectures, but I only have about 6 or 7 lectures a week, which is great. I can also sit in on lectures that I know I will be taking in the upcoming years, and prepare beforehand, if time allows.
All in all, Im very happy with the structure of the system here, and I hope it continues to be this open-ended and free. I recommend anyone to try this out, if they are able to afford the 108 EU tuition per term ;) ... I know, Im rubbing it in. sorry.
My classmates are all pretty cool. I'd say about half are people I know I will get along with very well. There is one guy who came straight from Baghdad, I had a long talk with him and he has some very interesting things to say about the current situation there. I'll post that when I get some free time. I have a 40 minute seminar that I have to give on Tuesday, and I really haven't started, so that will take up my weekend, for sure, but hey, I like talking, and after my non-engineering Fireball internship, I can talk to anyone about anything.
peace and love
t
The system here is really interesting, and as far as I can tell, way better for those actually interested in education. For those who go to school to get a job, it might not be the perfect surroundings, but for all those other 'professional students' out there, this place is great.
For starters, you don't sign up for courses. You only sign up for exams. You look at the schedule, and you attend the lectures you want. Now, I have to get a few required courses (or Pflichtkursen, as the Germans would say), but even still, I cant take them whenever I want.
There are also no marks, which coming from a system which prides itself on standardization and organization of students, is very strange. My mark is either a fail, or a pass. Well, I guess theres a bit of marks, buts totally determined by the professors judgment on how well you grasp the material. A '0' is sastisfactory, a '-' is sub par (but still a pass), and a '+' is above average. I find it funny that I can get '-'s across the board, and still pass. The lectures are very interesting, although right now, alot of it is review. Our school system in Canada is very very good. When talking to some other students here, it seems like we are very well prepared. There are really no assignments or tests throughout the term, not graded at least, so it is a very independent way of learning, which I have always thrived on. I found in N.A. that I was so caught up pumping out assignments like a Ford Model-T assembly line that there was no time to really think about the material, and form a real understanding.
Upon coming here, I had heard that the atmosphere in class is much different from in North America. I heard that since school is free for everyone, the professors have the opinion that it is a priveledge for the students to be 'graced' by their presence. Questions are avoided, and well, they don't care about anyone in the class. Ive been told this is true for some faculties (economics, for example) but my lectures have been very open and interactive, and the professors are always eager to answer any question you have on the spot. This may be because there are only 10 people in my class, and this atmosphere is not very feasible in a class of 200. Regardless, the professors are really bright and warm people.
I need to get a picture of my quantum theory prof. He's such a stereotypical theoretical physicist. He looks like he hasnt shaved or cut his hair in about 10 years, but is a very cool person.
And my exams are going to be interesting. There are no written exams, all oral. this means I sit with each prof one-on-one, and he questions me for 30 minutes on any topic covered in the course. He then gives his personal opinion on how well I grasp the information, and passes or fails me accordingly. I find this better, because we all know how studying goes for our exams in Canada. We know the basic topics, maybe some keys problems, and we study exactly how to solve these problems. So when they come up on a test, we vomit the procedure out, and the better we regurgitate the method and information, the better we do. This totally rids the system of that, and guages your personal understanding of key concpets. It also give you a chance to not make retarded errors at the start and finish a long question with false assumptions. The prof can reask the question, or give you a general direction to take. Very comfortable.
I think I like the freedom that this system gives. It requires one to stay on tope of lectures, but I only have about 6 or 7 lectures a week, which is great. I can also sit in on lectures that I know I will be taking in the upcoming years, and prepare beforehand, if time allows.
All in all, Im very happy with the structure of the system here, and I hope it continues to be this open-ended and free. I recommend anyone to try this out, if they are able to afford the 108 EU tuition per term ;) ... I know, Im rubbing it in. sorry.
My classmates are all pretty cool. I'd say about half are people I know I will get along with very well. There is one guy who came straight from Baghdad, I had a long talk with him and he has some very interesting things to say about the current situation there. I'll post that when I get some free time. I have a 40 minute seminar that I have to give on Tuesday, and I really haven't started, so that will take up my weekend, for sure, but hey, I like talking, and after my non-engineering Fireball internship, I can talk to anyone about anything.
peace and love
t
posted by SunPowered at
10:49 AM
1 Comments:
sounds wicked man! certainly sounds like a TVB life.
I often got frustrated at the amount of work I did in eng phys while constantly having to stop myself from thinking about the cool implications of what I was learning because I was getting off topic for the following day's test or was already late on an assignment. Seems like you are really in an environment conducive to independant/creative thought and I'm happy for ya. Seems like exactly what you need.
You'll have to upload a pic of your physics prof. I'm picturing a Dr. Sprung-like character waving his hands around trying to demonstrate electro-magnetism.
By
Dano, at 9:37 AM
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