Aka. "Destination Anywhere", "The Boy and Girl from County Bavaria"... After a very intense year in Würzburg (Germany), I'm back in Salamanca. I probably won't have that many experiences to write, but there's always an excuse to post a new entry!

Although I'm already done with the exams (and leaving Würzburg in about a week), here's the traditional post about the courses I've been taking in the summer semester.

1. THE SECRETS OF GERMAN GRAMMAR

Real title: Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar II (Linguistics II)

Type: Seminar

Lecturer: The one with the very long last name (again)

What it consists of: We learn EVERYTHING about German grammar - we analyze phrases using tree-shaped diagrams. It's more interesting and difficult than it sounds, really. Oh, and the best thing about it is that we foreign students seem to know some things much better than Germans (they don't even know their own verbs!)

What to do to get marks: Written assignment (thank god I did it together with the Finnish girls! Otherwise I wouldn't have survived it!) and exam... which was last week and didn't go as well as I'd like to...

2. HOW TO BECOME A TEACHER

Real title: Einführung in die Didaktik der spanischen Sprache und Literatur (Introduction to the didactic of Spanish language and literature)

Type: Übung

Lecturer: The adorable Rayman... erm... Reimann

What it consists of: Let's face it - the course is damn boring. Some terms ring a bell to me because I faintly recall having heard something about them in Linguistics, but most of the time I have no idea what it is about. It's really theoretical and I don't think I've learnt anything useful at all... but the lecturer is just adorable! He printed some documents for me and gave me some practical advice in case I want to teach Spanish in Germany. I just have to love him.

What to do to get marks: Nothing! I just got a paper stating that I visited that course for being there every day.

3.THINGS YOU SHOULD ALREADY KNOW

Real title: Tutorium zum Sprachwissenschaftlichen Seminar II (Linguistics Tutorial)

Type: Tutorium

Lecturer: Fat Kat (god, that was mean :S)

What it consists of: We basically repeat the same things we learnt in Linguistics, but the girl (who by the way is rather cold and boring) doesn't seem to manage to get anyone's attention... and most of the students don't seem to give a damn about it. She asks the same questions everyday and I'm often the only one who answers...

What to do to get marks: You don't get marks.

4.GERMAN FILMS FOR DUMMIES II

Real title: DaF-Filmseminar (Film seminar for international students)

Type: Kurs

Lecturer: Our good old Dominik

What it consists of: Pretty much the same as last semester, but as this time there were like twice as many people, we don't really get a chance to discuss the film in more depth or to answer questions, as we have two or three presentations every day. Some remarkable things are the lecturer, who's just a great guy, the trip to Munich we went on to visit the Bavaria Filmstudios and the film "Das Leben der anderen" (The lives of others)... simply amazing!

What to do to get marks: Written assignment and presentation about one of the films - in my case, it was the Star Trek parody "(T)Raumschiff Surprise", and both went quite well.

5. SLANG FOR BEGINNERS

Real title: Wortschatz (Vocabulary)

Type: Kurs

Lecturer: Bruce Willis

What it consists of: First of all, you get the impression that all German words sound the same, as most of the exercises we've done were about words that are easily mistaken. Apart from that, we learn synonyms for many words and slang. It's a very interesting course and the lecurer is great fun... and hot!

What to do to get marks: Exam, which was last week and wasn't bad at all.

6. MORE SECRETS OF GERMAN GRAMMAR

Real title: Gasttutorium zum Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar II (Lingustics tutorium for international students)

Type: Tutorium

Lecturer: Ellen

What it consists of: A group of foreign students meets to revise what we learnt in Linguistics. Ellen, the girl in charge, is really nice and managed to get the class involved pretty well. I take my hat off for her.

What to do to get marks: You don't get marks.

7. FUN FOR FOREIGNERS

Real title: GastStudentenBegrüssung (I don't really know how to translate it)

Type: Seminar

Lecturer: Emine and Jakob

What it consists of: It's just great! We meet every Wednesday evening and do something else each week - once we analyzed poems, another time we went to the cinema or the theatre... we even had a farewell barbecue! The main purpose of it is to get to know new people and to get to know Würzburg a little better. Besides, Emine and Jakob are really nice and easy-going. She's a 24-year-old Turk and he's 26 and from Würzburg.

What to do to get marks: I didn't get marks because I didn't go to every session, but if I had, I would have had to give a presentation about my home land.