Lust auf dem Studium

Hey Peeps,

How's life? I'm feeling a rather strange combination of contentedness and uncertainty (Unsicherheit - can't find correct translation). Content because it's the weekend - hurrah for having Fridays off :-) Uncertain because it is the weekend and I am looking at a blank canvas. I have no plans at all and I don't like it. Surely the parties can't have dried up already. I think it's just because it is the first Thursday night without a big party at the uni :-( Still, life isn't all about partying. I am here to study.

I tried really hard to make the upcoming weekend a studious one today. I went to the library with the aim of getting books out (feeling rather proud of my achievement.) I found 3 books that would have been perfect for the job, took them down to the electronic machine, and proceeded to be shown how to get them out using the new electronic machine (think the FH library is v proud of its new technology). The woman showing me how to use the machine was almost as bemused as I was when the machine refused to check them out. The reason for the machine's refusal to comply was soon discovered; apparently the 3 books I had chosen were all unausleihbar (non-get-out-able). I had found them in the Semesterapparat - the section of the library where the Professors put all the important books. Yep, the books that are of most use cannot be borrowed. I suppose it makes sense in that if one person had them for 4 weeks (the standard borrowing time) then no-one else could access them, but why not have a reserve section like Edinburgh where you can borrow books for 2hrs or even a short loan section where you have to return them after a week. It seems they do things differently here. Well I'm rather cross at the whole system and have taken it as a (probably successful) attempt by the authorities that be to prevent me from having the studious weekend that I vaguely thought about.

On the bright side, there is some work I can do. As part of our Xenology seminar we have to do group projects on an aspect of German culture that we find strange, different or intriguing. Bec and I came up with an ingenious idea, found 3 others who expressed an equally large interest in the subject and then had to positively refuse other ICEUS-Leute from joining our group. Our chosen topic to investigate is, wait for it... German Beer Culture! Pretty cool hey?! So we are going to investigate such important issues as when it is appropriate to drink (what time of day and in what situations - we are going to drink a beer or two in class and see how our fellow students and teachers react), where it is appropriate to drink (again, in class, and then, on the street, at the bus stop, etc. etc.), also how society reacts to people drinking beer and then all the different rules and norms that go with German beer drinking. So, for our research we get to drink beer, record the reactions of others to our beer drinking, and investigate various different types of pubs, bars and parties. Beer drinking in the name of uni-work. Brilliant.

Hmm, so I guess where the library failed me, my Xenology project may prove to be the saviour. I can do some research after all :-)

Love to all,
xx