Germany: Quentin Schultz (Our Global Classroom)

Today I’ll be talking about how the classrooms in Freiburg, both literal and figurative, are different than those in Madison. And at the very least structurally, they aren’t all as much. Sure, instead of your desks being attached to the sides of your seats and being folded up and over, the writing surface is connected to the backside of the row in front of you, sort of like in an airplane. Assuming, that is, you have large-lecture-hall-style seating. In a seminar or discussion environment, you’ll find tables and chairs just as you might in the States. And no, the front row isn’t stuck without something to write on; typically there’s some other surface placed to allow for writing.

Beyond small differences in classroom set-up, there’s plenty different between universities. For one, campus isn’t at all centralized. You can walk for well over half an hour around Madison without ever leaving campus, but here in Freiburg, it can take me 15 minutes by tram to get from the center of campus to my now-completed computer science class. It’s about 18 minutes by foot between the center and where the math & physics departments exist.

Another, less physical, difference between the two universities is that Uni-Freiburg is a whole lot less involved in non-academics. Student housing is provided by a separate corporation, but it does check to see if you’re a student. Any extracurriculars you may join are independent organizations, rather than something that’s registered with the university. I don’t think Uni-Freiburg keeps a list of clubs.

And of course, the academic requirements are rather different here too, more focusing on a final, end-of-semester product than work done during the semester, but I’m pretty sure I’ve written more than you were expecting this time through, so we’ll cut it here. Have a fantastic March!

Quentin Schultz

Hometown: Mukwonago, Wisconsin

Major: Physics, Computer Science

Program: Academic Year in Freiburg (AYF)

My primary goal during AYF is to improve my fluency in German as much as possible. I’m most looking forward to the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) to be completely honest, but I’m very exited to be there and will find plenty of things to enjoy.