Back to School...Ohh auf Deutsch

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Hope that everyone is adjusting to the cold weather. I heard that Minnesota already got its first snowfall in October. My October was filled with adjusting to my new town and trying to figure out school. I am studying at the Universtät in Wuppertal for only a semester. My program told the school I would be studying Wirtschaftwissenschaft and Geschichte or Economics/Management and History. In the beginning of October I had to go in and register with the school. My first sight of the school one word came to mind “Ugly”. It didn’t help that it was a rainy day but it really is one of the ugliest campuses I have ever seen. It was only built in the 70s and the buildings and classrooms reflect that. I met the couple of other people in my program going to school there and we decided to check out the town of Wuppertal after registration (Mind you this registration was only that I was going to the school nothing with class registration).
The town of Wuppertal is much nicer looking than Remscheid. It has a larger shopping center and a beautiful old church with interesting fountain. It actually has a Starbuck in which I have already frequented enough to get recognized. The town of Wuppertal is well known for a special transportation called the Schwebahn. It is basically like a monorail but it swings from the top. It really is a fascinating that this Schwebahn was actually built in the early 1900 and is still used today. Since I am an international student I was given a tour of the town and then the international team at the school took us out for drinks. The town of Wuppertal isn’t huge but it is nice to go to school in a town I can easy to walk around.
So for the last 3 weeks of school I have been struggling with one thing. Most would think the language is the issue but it is the simple issue of German University class registration. The system of signing up for courses is nothing like the American system since the German system has no organization. The largest issue was that my program does not require grades only a signature from the professor saying we attended class. So not a single person really knew what to do with me. What I ended up doing was talking to the professors I wanted to take classes from. Once they heard I only really wanted to audit the class and that I was a curious American I had no problem getting into what I wanted. I am signed up for Photography, Organizational Behavior, Marketing, and German for Business, and History of the Third Reich. It feels weird being in school but I am starting to enjoy the experience.

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Photos

Bergische Uni in Wuppertal
This the the schools logo and colors. A very bright Target BTC green

Around Campus
Very unique buildings. Every building has about 5 or 6 floors. It can get pretty confusing.

Typical Lecture Hall
This room is a really ugly blue including the chairs. Sometimes hard to concentrate with this color.

Amazing View
The campus is on a hill so at least it gives amazing views of the city and mountains.

Church in Main Square
This church is right in the main square and it the nice view I have when I go to Starbucks.

Schwebahn
The crazy train-like transportation that goes through the city of Wuppertal.

Mina Knallenfalls
This is a figure from a Wuppertal poet and it is in a busy shopping area. The behind is very worn since it is a legend that hitting the butt cheek is good luck.

Comments

[Alyssa Simmons]

Leave it to the BTC captain to call out a "BTC Green" logo in Germany... :)