First day of school

Today was day one of visiting Stefan's Mediem Akademie, and despite the obvious differences in class room size and language, there were several aspects that I found different from VCU back home.

First off, the classroom atmosphere is far more relaxed than it is back home, which I was surprised about because everyone pictures Germans to be very disciplined. Students opened and closed windows at their own leisure and during breaks in the class they talked louder than what a teacher in the US would allow.

They also knock on their desks at the end of a lecture, as a way to "applaud" the teacher for a good class. When everyone did this at first I thought something unlucky happened and they were "knocking on wood," like what we do back home. I never thought of applauding a teacher for a good lecture and the idea is funny to me.

Although the first class I attended (Politics in Journalism) was all in German it was fun to see the differences in our government. The second class (a vocational class for journalism) was more interactive. They actually interviewed me and video taped it! Which I was really nervous about but overall everyone was very nice and easygoing. It's always so funny to hear the questions people ask. You'd be surprised how many people ask me if I watch the Simpsons haha, which is probably my favorite question.

I get to go again to BM-Mediemakademie tomorrow, to take two different course, so we'll see how that goes.