Back to School!

Wow! Two posts in one day! I feel productive. Please check out my last Prague post below this one (Feb 18-19) – I put up new pictures. Holland will also be updated in the next week...ish...so please, stay tuned! J

After reading about all my travel posts, you may wonder when I ever go to school here. ;-) I am happy to say that most of my classes have started up this week, and I’m really excited for this semester! I have three philosophy courses, one German language course, a geography course (digital terrain modeling), a course on the aesthetics of the Alps, and a geology/paleontology field course.

Today, I had my Phil course on Locke’s “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.” It’s a seminar, so there should be lots of discussion with our small class size. One of the new Canadian exchange students, C (from Calgary!), is also taking the same class. We met up with Tiny and another new friend from the Netherlands to have lunch today. I got a LARGE Almdudler. J

This afternoon didn’t go quite so swimmingly. I had my digital terrain modeling course, but this one is in German. You really come to appreciate the challenge of taking content courses in another language when you try it out for yourself. While I did get a bit of the material our prof was talking about, whole sections went right over my head. I only realized we had to do an exercise when everyone collectively ripped out sheets from their notebooks and started drawing a topographic representation of a mountain photograph. It’s a pretty startling experience, feeling at a complete loss for what to do… Fortunately, he explained the concept a bit further and drew a picture on the board, and my other course knowledge kicked in so that I could actually draw something half decent. But I’ll be asking a lot of questions for this one, I think. Quite a lot of the reading is in English, actually, so I think I should be ok, it’ll just be getting used to the lecture.

Afterwards, I went to the big bookstore in Graz, Moser, and sat in a chair for a while, looking at all the lovely books they’ve got there. It’s a dangerous place. They have so many great titles…and quite a few in English! But I really shouldn't buy too many books over here... ;-)

I bought balsamic vinegar today, too. A new ingredient for our next experiment!