Dream Finally Came True

This semester one of my dreams finally came true. I got the opportunity to study for half a year at a German university. I have been to Germany many times before not only as a tourist but also as an exchange student at a German high school when I still was at school. Therefore, I was confident about my language skills, and the whole thing of going to Germany for such a long time didn't scare me. I look forward to new experiences, eager to broaden my horizons.

Even before my arrival in Germany, I faced some complications, connected to paperwork, preparing all the documents etc. The international office helped me a lot getting this whole thing arranged. I arrived in Germany right before the beginning of the semester. What I didn't know was that I had to do a lot of work even before I started studying.

As soon as I arrived in Darmstadt, the city in Germany, where the university is situated, I was assigned a tutor, who helped me to take some first steps. I moved into a really nice dorm, made a contract with an insurance company, registered at the local office. All in all, the first days in Darmstadt were absolutely busy. However, I enjoyed it, since, to my amusement, the city turned out to be quite nice and all the people were absolutely friendly and helpful.

There is an electronic system for studying pretty much like the one we have at ITMO, DLC. I also found it really convenient, though it took me some time to get used to it. Every lecture is shown there, so you can easily keep track of your study plan.

The most interesting for me is that there is no fixed curriculum. You don't have to go to some specific lectures at some specific time. The student himself determines what and when he will study. Of course, there are some obligatory subjects, that one should study at a certain time, but they make only a part of credit points required. The rest of the subjects one can choose himself based on personal preferences and interests. That does require some responsibility and planning skills, but as a result, one gets to make a personally based study plan. In my opinion, it is quite a positive thing. It allows one to choose something that one is really interested in, which also means that better results might be achieved.

As a consequence of such a system, there are no traditional groups, that always go to the same lectures together. In every lecture, I chose there were always different people. It caused some complications for me in a way. One does not have so called support of the group, meaning that you cannot ask your group mates questions about content of lectures, and receive some explanations from them. Your studying is only your thing and you have to take care of it by yourself.

Still, you can always ask questions during or after the lectures. Lecturers are always glad to help you. Besides, there are some extra lessons, where you can also receive help and answers to your questions.

As I have already said the learning process is totally different from the one in Russia, but it appeals to me in some way and I find such an experience totally interesting.