Recap

The past few days have been jam-packed.  I went through orientation, experienced my first German nightclub, did team building exercises, and cooked/ate a huge dinner full of traditional German foods (DELICIOUS).  I thought I wasn't jet lagged, but my going to bed at 6:00am and sleeping until 3:00pm for the last two days may suggest otherwise.

Tomorrow I begin classes.  Classes here are…different, to say the least.  For starters, registration isn't on a set day.  Each class has its own registration and drop dates, so I can’t even register for a couple of my classes for another two weeks.  “How is that possible if classes begin tomorrow?” Great question.  Classes here aren't necessarily all semester long, don’t last a set amount of time, and aren't on set days of the week.  This means that I may have a class on Monday one week, Monday and Wednesday the next week, and Thursday the week after that.  I may have a class that only meets for three weeks out of the semester, but each class period will be 4 hours long.  It’s horrible to keep track of, and it is pretty much impossible to schedule classes without having at least a few days of overlap.  This is also a problem, as attendance is crucial here.  My first two classes of the semester happen to occur at the exact same time tomorrow, so I’m already going to be off to a great start.  As of right now I’m planning on taking:

Econometrics

Strategic Management

International Marketing

German Language

Germany in Europe

I still need to figure out a 6^th class.  I was originally going to take social entrepreneurship, but it only meets 6 times and 2 of those interfere with econometrics.  Oy vey.

Making this class search process even more difficult is the fact that the WiFi in my room is atrocious.  If it’s really late and everyone is asleep, it’s mostly tolerable.  However, if everyone is in their rooms (like today, as everything here shuts down on Sundays), it’s borderline unusable.

Anyway, back to my earlier mention of the German club… Ladies and gentlemen, I have sustained my first injury.  It took me a grand total of one day.  Most of the exchange students and our mentors left for the club around midnight the day after I got here (Crazy, right? Germans don’t start the party until around 12 or 1 and go until between 4 and 6.)  At some point in the evening, I stood up off my bar stool for all of 15 seconds.  In that time, someone accidentally knocked it ever so slightly away from where it had stood.  I went to hop back onto it, was only half successful, and pitched over sideways.  In an attempt to shield my head from the foot bar, I raised my arm over my head.  This and a very sore, somewhat immobile shoulder were the results:

I really need to start looking before I leap, but don’t worry too much.  I will proceed with caution from here on out.