Walking across the campus.

As I mentioned in my last post, this is the "Lernphase". There are only a few courses offered at this University of 30,000 students that actually have exams during the first part of the semester. The vast majority just have a final exam or a final paper due during the semester break (it's a joke, of course, that it's called a break). But because attendance is not required in most lectures (seminars and other smaller courses, sure, but not most lectures), there's at least as many students on campus during the Lernphase if not more than in the regular semester, as all are making the pilgrimage to one of the several libraries or cafés on campus.

Everyone is in a haze of exams. Studying habits like constant tea consumption and the listening of dramatic instrumental music are contagious. Diagrams like this one are flying around Facebook:

And I'm part of the craziness. However, with only one final this time, I have a relatively calm few weeks ahead of me - just a bunch of algebra, which I'm alright with.

There are two non-exam-related things I wanted to mention today. First of all, as I got to campus today I worked for a while on the other side of the University from the math building (a more cozy library than the math one, and since I was only there for the atmosphere and not for the books, it didn't matter that there weren't any math books around). Then after lunch, I made the trek to the back of the campus and as I went, I heard snippets of different conversations, since I (for once) didn't have my headphones on:

In front of the building where most foreign language classes are held:
"Yeah, there's a lot of exchange students in that lecture..."
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In front of the main library:
"Really? Sub-saharan? I thought that was..."
-
In the absolute center of campus near the music building:
"I have my first exam tomorrow..."

Then a trend starts:
-
In front of the main cafeteria, on the other side of which is the math building:
"Yeah, that's what I said - positiv-definit and symmetric..."
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On the other side of that cafeteria:
"And we have to calculate Eigenvalues too, right?"
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And finally, in the elevator of the math building.
"Of course it's obvious if you are considering it over the complex numbers. But as soon as you move to a more general ring, then...."

I just couldn't help grinning to myself. That last conversation was actually happening in English (the others I translated), with heavy non-German accents on either side (grad students, I'm assuming) and it went on to name a bunch more terms that I know vaguely from hear-say but have no real clue what they are mathematically, and just the fact that that kind of research is going on down the hall from where I'm prepping for my one little Algebra exam makes me so happy.

And finally, C and I have started a new project with our fantastic neighbor. We've decided to watch all the movies on the American Film Institute's Top 100 list. Actually, we decided to do this a while ago but we haven't managed to start until last weekend. Let me just say - 100 films is a lot of movies. A few I've seen on the list, but not all. We're starting at the bottom, so theoretically, they'll just get better and better. The list was apparently constructed based on criteria such as: awards won (i.e. Oscars or similar), popularity over time (including DVD/VHS sales as well as box office), critical recognition, historical significance, and cultural impact.

In any case, we began on Saturday night with Ben Hur, Film No. 100, and Toy Story (No. 99) on Monday. We decided to keep certain tallies with each of the films, though the same things might not be counted - for example, for Ben Hur we counted the number of beers drunk during the 3.5 hour spectacle (5) but for Toy Story, we counted cups of coffee (4). Ben Hur also got +3 Jesus points, since none of us expected to see Jesus because all we knew about the film was that there was a chariot race. I shall be sure to keep you posted about our progress there! We'll have to make hay while the sun shines, or rather watch films during our semester break, since if we watched only one every week it would take us at least a two years to get through all of this. We shall see!

Forgot to mention!

I realize that the article to which I will be linking in just a few sentences is already taking the internet and podcast discussions by storm, but I want to make sure that I also say a few words about it. I'm talking about the article "Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say" by Jonathan Chait. This article discusses a phenomenon that I frequently find hard to explain to folks who didn't go to a liberal women's college in the Bay Area. It's about the phenomenon of P.C. culture, particularly in academia in the US currently.

Please do read this article if you haven't already, but while you do, keep in mind one important thing: Chait is a white man (he says as much in the article). In addition, I have read several criticisms of the article as well, all mostly focusing on the lack of research into the claims Chait makes, instead covering ground mostly based on anecdotes that illustrate his point. Take all of this with a grain of salt, maybe a tasty grain of salt since it's the first time I've ever heard anything written about the phenomenon. My head has been reeling with arguments for and against the article ever since I read it and I'm about to Skype with a dear, dear friend and fellow Mills graduate tonight to talk about it some more. If you feel particularly flummoxed afterwards and want a little more discussion of it, I also encourage you to listen to a podcast from Slate.com about it. Slate (yes, notoriously liberal-slanted, bear this in mind as well as you listen) offers a great deal of interesting (and free) podcasts and the one to which I regularly listen is called the Political Gabfest. Last week's issue (the podcast title is "The 'Can You Buy a President for $889 Million?' Edition") has the three correspondents discussing three topics - the Koch brothers' enormous financial commitment to the 2016 election, the supreme court facing an upcoming decision on the death penalty as well as Chait's article. You can skip to the end to just hear the latter, but if you feel like giving the podcast a chance, I encourage you to listen to the whole thing. I've linked to the page where you can stream the podcast, or you can find it in iTunes. If you feel like pulling an Emily, put it on while you do the dishes and then forget that you are doing the dishes and stare into space while you listen. :)

If you have any thoughts about it and feel like sharing, please do.

So, February.

“It was a Tuesday in February. Many of my life's most awful moments have taken place on Tuesdays. And what is February if not the Tuesday of the year?” -Stephen Fry, in Moab is my Washpot

Okay, so don't get me wrong - nothing terrible has happened to me in February, but it is a Tuesday in February as I write, and I always have to think of that quote on such occasions.

No, so far, my February has been fairly reasonable. I have two more weeks (including this one) of classes and then the "Lernphase" (studying phase) begins before exams. As I have explained in earlier posts, the German university system (at least in Math) is based on one grade from the final exam, so it's around this time of the semester that a little ripple of panic goes through the lecture halls and study rooms as students realize that the are soon to be responsible for every lecture and piece of homework that has passed through their ears and eyes since the beginning of October. Due to a complicated set of circumstances induced from the switch of University systems, though I was in five courses this semester, I am only required to take one exam, and that's possibly in the very class that I feel most confident. So as I said, February's not been so bad.

We've been enjoying a mixture of Fall, Winter, and Spring weather here, including sudden flurries with the biggest snowflakes I've ever seen:

A ten minute flurry, photo taken just outside the Mainz train station.

 We've also had singing birds and falling leaves and sudden gifts like this one next to a Wiesbaden sidewalk:

The happiest leaf I have ever seen.

And now, my desk is properly set up for a preliminary stage of the Lernphase - pot of tea, candle burning, pencils, erasers, rulers and pens (Yes, rulers - I like my underlining to be quite straight). Better get to it while the tea's still hot.