The Herbstkurs has been going on for 3 weeks here and it has been such an exciting and tiring time. It has been great meeting students from all over the world. Göttingen is pretty easy to get a feel for, but I am sure there are a lot of hidden spots throughout the city. Today I went on a tour of Göttingen during the time of Nationalsozialismus which put a different spin into the city. University cities like Göttingen and Heidelberg were big targets of the party.

There are activities organized all the time during the Herbstkurs and it is very hard to feel that one has gotten anything accomplished. There are morning classes, afternoon special classes (literature, science, econ, etc), sports, Film nights, Cultural evenings, and of course exploring Göttingens nightlife…what kind of name is Savoy anyways..okay bad experience. Göttingen is becoming homey for me. The fall leaves are beautiful, but beware it is very cold. It has been below freezing the last two nights, and the humidity level here leaves you with a different feeling than the Colorado dry weather. Fun abends, long days and short nights are defining my time in Göttingen. Meeting such a diverse group of people, most being opinionated thank goodness is great! My German and English language skills both seem to be decreasing, but recuperation is coming.

To the Göttingen student next year: You will be exhausted dealing with the bureaucracy here. You are not alone, the two Amherst exchange students are going the same stuff. First, it takes forever Deutsche Bank to start your account, while Studentwerk is writing you letters saying that you need the account, and you cannot obtain a Studentenausweis because there is actually a 217 euro tuition (enrollment fee) you have to pay. It takes a few days then to get a real ausweis, where you can look up classes and try to figure out the ECTS credit system. For German Lit it is 5 for a Hausarbeit plus 2 for Protokoll I think, so it should be 7… There is so much more for me to figure out. There is a printing card, and some courses you cannot register for, others you can….

Just look at the positives of all this: Your friends are in the same boat, you can stroll downtown, enjoy the architecture here (very bourgeoise). The houses are huge and beautiful and the trees are very colorful. Also, the landscape around Göttingen is very beautiful. It is extremely hilly, with Weserbergland to the west and the Harz Mountains right near us to the east. It is great!!!

Will be back with more. There is one more week of the Herbstkurs and then I will whee the wind flows.