Hitting the Books Again

Ah, classes have started. I am not pleased about this. I would really like it if I could just live here and not have to do work except adjusting to the culture. School puts a damper on my social life. But, it's what I'm paid to do, so I might as well just accept that I have to attend classes.

Danish classes are different than classes at OU. For starters, for one of my classes, to register, I simply showed up the first day and signed a paper. For the other two, I talked to some people in the department. There's nothing formal about registration, and classes for the semester are put out about two weeks before they begin. Most are set up to be two or three hours a week, but instead of being spread over two or three days, they do it all in one. So I have a class Wednesday from 11-2, a different class Thursday from 2-5, and a new class Friday from 10-12. That's my entire schedule, which is quite nice. I don't miss getting up four days a week for a 9:30 class. In Denmark, you choose what kind of final exam you take. For most classes, the final is your entire grade for the semester. You can choose papers of different lengths, oral or written exams, or some sort of original project. Sometimes, the amount of credit you earn for the class depends on the exam you take. You sign up for exams in March, and if you don't sign up, show up, and pass the final, you don't get credit for the class. Actual classes are over in mid-to-late May, but finals can stretch to the end of June. I think I will do papers for all my finals so I can be finished earlier. I know there's no way I'll study for a month when I never have to go to class.

My first class is Institutions of the European Union. It's crowded, with more foreign than Danish students. I think I'll enjoy it, and if I don't enjoy it, I'll at least learn a lot of really useful things. I think in the US we don't hear a lot of what's going on with the EU (but what's new - who cares about Europe when we have our own big country to dominate the news). I don't know too much about how the EU came into being, or what exactly it does now. Of course I've heard of the EMU and euro, but that's really all I know anything about. The European Union also has a Common Foreign and Security Policy that I'm completely ignorant of. They have a Court of Justice that's been building a huge body of case law over the last 40 years, but I don't know about any of their landmark decisions. There are so many EU facts that I'm completely in the dark about, and things that I actually find interesting. This class should solve that problem for me.

The second class I attend is called Languages of the World, in the Linguistics department. The professor is a funny little Australian guy who wears his pants about 6 inches too short in the legs. I think I'll learn some interesting things in the class, but, for the most part, there will be a lot of boredom and many hours of pinching myself to stay awake. It's a class that can be taken on different levels by choosing different exams, so there are Masters' students in there. It looks like they are probably going to argue with the professor over every point he makes, and tear apart all of his arguments. It could get a little frustrating.

My final class, and the one I most likely will not remain in, is Spoken/Oral Competence in Italian. Everyone is far more advanced than I am, and the class is on a level that's way over my head. We will be reading selections from Italian books and short stories to learn about different regions in Italy. Not too bad, I can get through the reading material. Then we will be discussing it in class, concentrating specifically on genre, style, and theme. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No way I can handle literary discussions in Italian. I would have trouble renting a hotel room in Italian, much less getting into topics I would be a little unsure discussing in English! So, I hope I can get into an easier class. If not, I think there are night language classes offered by some organization in the city. Hopefully I can take Italian there, and it will fit well into my schedule. I don't want to give up my four day weekends.