Exams

From Deggendorf- Final Year

I know this feeling well now. The utter stress and nervousness that comes with exam time. With 2/5 of my exams done, the stress is beginning to recede. By tomorrow it will have nearly vanished. And when that stress finally makes its exit on Saturday- it will be because I have taken my final exam as a student here. Sure I still have a project and my thesis to finish… But the realization that my late-night study sessions and frustration at not understanding a simple theory have come to an end brings with it a great big sigh of relief. I didn’t have a clue how hard college in Germany was going to be. I am so proud of myself for sticking with it through all the failure and disappointment I encountered while I was adjusting to living abroad and studying in a way different from that I grew up practicing.

I persevered, and now it is paying off with my bachelor degree.

Free Derry

From Deggendorf- Final Year

Germans love their drinking…but they also love games. Combine the two and what do you get? Pub Quiz! Every Tuesday, a group of us (now known by our Pub Quiz name of Free Derry) drop whatever is in our busy lives and head to the Irish for a night of frustration and, occasionally, triumph. I say frustration because the 50 questions are anything but simple in most cases. And even more intimidating for me is that they are in German.

Always starting with a “Zitat frage”, the host is a peculiar man that wears a top hat and smokes in nearly every break. His choice of music for the 10th question in each set is dreadfully biased towards hard rock, but his Bavarian accent makes up for that on all fronts.  To top off the entertainment are the prizes to be won- drinks and more. Although Free Derry remains hopeful, we have yet to make it to a prize level. We have, however, hit rock bottom. But no amount of aggravation can dampen the part of the evening every starving student looks forward to with gleaming eyes- the penny pot. Guess the number of coins and they are yours. And we aren’t talking about actual pennies. In this pot are anything from 1 cent to 2 euro coins, and based on 50-70 people per week paying 1.5 Euros to get in…that can add up to a LOT of money.

Pub Quiz has become a tradition for us, and it is a tradition that will be dearly missed.