An American Furry in Germany

    I'm taking four courses at the moment. Java programming is in German, which should speak for itself (pretty difficult is the message I'm trying to convey), but the other three are harder to define. Two of them are in the HfK (Hochschule für Kunst, or University of the Arts), which also says a lot, but the remaining course, even though it's more of a computer course than an art course, has many similarities. The three courses range in number of participants from 5 to 15, no more. In America this is unheard-of: courses at Humboldt State University, prized for its "small class sizes taught by professors who know your name" (from the website) get as small as 20 people sometimes, but lately there's been a push (from higher-up, opposed by the students) to add more 150-person lecture-hall courses on basic required general education subjects. They're more cost-effective, certainly, but I can say from experience that it's one hell of a lousy learning environment. I don't know how they afford it, but I certainly appreciate the socratic style of round-table discussion in a small group--although Frieder Nake has a tendency to ramble (I feel tempted to shout out "Digression!" in the middle of class, but I don't think anyone would get it). And yes, that was a name drop--I'd never heard of him, but they say Frieder Nake is very well-known in Germany. Or maybe just in Bremen. (He seriously almost bought half the class copies of the Communist Manifesto, until he found out that English language versions couldn't be had for cheap.)
    But anyway, it seems like a lot of the essays I've been reading lately are very... obtuse. Unclear. Using a lot of big words to cover the fact that they're not saying anything at all. And I always hesitate before calling something out as BS, because there's a chance that I simply don't understand, and I'm making the mistake of denouncing something because I don't understand it. I think this is part of what I was talking about in the last post. I prize conciseness. Yes, if you read my LJ you'll often find me using strange phrasings or joking around with the English language (or German, when I dare). That's just for fun, though, because I'm typically trying to entertain more than to inform. But in these essays, it seems like their writing style is running contrary to their purpose--to inform. And it turns me off of the whole educational system. I don't want to constantly read and interpret 20-page manifestos that could have been summarized in a paragraph. I don't want to learn how to write essays to fit a minimum page limit, when I feel that I could be clearer if I said less. In fact, I always feel that one can be clearer by using fewer words, up to a point (the exception sometimes is in highly technical discussions among users of a particular jargon, where bigger words are more precise, but also likely to be understood). It's like the development of computer hardware--by making a processor smaller, you at once make it faster, and more energy-efficient. It's a sign of a novice when one uses newly-learned big words just for their own sake, because they think it represents intelligence. Maybe I'm just being arrogant, but I think that it's a sign of higher intelligence to be able to explain complicated concepts to a young child, not just other "experts". (I go by the assertion that any concept of any complexity can be explained in as little as two words. Not necessarily precisely, but it's a good start. Very concise. :P)
    So I'm worried about spending two more years in university. And if I want to go to graduate school, I know I'm going to have to write a thesis or sommat, which is pretty much the very embodiment of what I've been explaining here. I don't want to learn to BS. That's a skill I can do without.

Dear Germany:
What's so hard to understand about the term "water fountain"? We need water to live. When I'm visiting a public landmark, I don't want to walk around thirsty for hours and hours because all the shops are closed. When I'm in a restaurant, I don't want to go thirsty because it costs €1,50 for literally just a few swallows of water (0,2 liters). I can understand that there might not be much incentive for McD's to give out free ketchup, but I won't die for lack of ketchup. Not that I've ever been in any real danger of death by dehydration... I'm just thirsty.

Oh, and in case there's anyone reading this who doesn't know what a water fountain is (no, it's not a "fountain"): it's a box that sticks up out of the ground and squirts water into the air when you press the button. You drink the water out of the air--which sounds a lot harder than it actually is, now that I think about it. Usually the water is cold and filtered (often it's too cold, actually, and it hurts the teeth), and of course nobody charges you to use one. They're found in schools, office buildings, parks, and public areas like libraries, monuments, and touristy areas. (Not in restaurants, just to clear things up--in restaurants the waiters come around and refill your glass of water whenever it gets low. Plus they give you free bread.)

I just converted $1000 of my Paypal balance into Euros. As I suspected, this was cheaper than doing it through my bank. I love how things that come from the internet (Google, Paypal, to some extent Linux) are usually much more commonsense, much better, and at the same time much cheaper and much more profitable than the alternative. Breaking with tradition is always fun. On that note, props to ING DIRECT for having a simple, pleasant-looking interface. Bank websites tend to have too much information, and too many "offers". The ING DIRECT site has just what you came there for.
So, at once I'm hoping that the interest I earned on the balance (about 5%) was enough to offset the continual slide of the dollar's value against the Euro, yet I'm also hoping that transferring the money will help my money retain more value than just keeping it in dollars. I wonder if I can still put my Euros into the money-market account. Actually... what I'm really hoping for is for the US dollar to plummet once I get into Europe. Heh, heh. Then my student loans will be easier than ever to repay. :D
I mean, we're already worth less than the Canadian dollar. That's scary. Without someone to denigrate, what American culture will we have?