About a month ago I started my new German class ~20 academic hours. However 1 academic hour equals 45min of real time. So though it seems like I have 4 hours of class a day, in reality it only translates to 3hrs 15min. Just one of the small things that German Universities like to complicated. Sometimes its amusing while other times frustrating with the entire system. For example things are not as easily coordinated as we would like in the USA. But I believe that most of this is due to the small administrative staff that is kept. This way it allows the Uni to keep costs low for local citizens and international students. It reminds me of an article I read recently that talks about the reasons why American Universities and Colleges keep raising tuition every year faster than the rate of inflation. Admin costs take precendence over academic endeavors in the US. Although I believe that this can be a good thing, overbloated admin budgets are rife with waste and fraud. Unfortunately the goverment keeps adding subsidies to students and the colleges respond in kind. Ie. if the cost of attendance is $20k/year and the student gets $14k in financial aid then the following year since the government will increase financial aid to $16k/year the school responds in kind and raises tuition to $22k/year making up for their lost profit from direct student contribution. However in reality the school has just made an extra $2k. Though the student appears not to have paid anything more (and this is their justification) in reality he is paying more due to government loans. Just another way that the system is terrible in the US. This is where capital market systems DO NOT WORK! I could go on as this is a topic I am quite passionate about though I appear this passion is futile to make a change. Giving people scholarships and the like is just feeding the problem. This is something I always found annoying. If I earned a scholarship (merit based), I earned it! Don't then go and say well you don't have a need anymore and take away any other money. How is it fair that the person who didn't try as hard or who didn't spend countless nights studying to get good grades recieves the same aid as the one who did, but come from the same social backgrounds. It becomes Communism 101.
But I digress! Well here are some photos from our trips.
London
Switzerland
Schwarzwald: Triberg und Freiburg
