University

Heidelberg University, or, actually, Ruperto Carola, or the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, is the oldest university in Germany. Indeed, it has a number of traditionalist features:

• At the end of a lecture, students applaud by knocking with their knuckles on the tables; it is called akademisches Klatschen. So far, I had only seen this in a film whose story took place at the end of the 19th century :p.
  
• In the natural sciences departments, the ECTS system has not really been adopted yet. In the physics department, it is there, but because of those funny exchange students who need ECTS credits for their home universities. In the mathematics department, it is completely absent. This morning, I asked the president of the examination committee, who should know such things if anyone does, how many credits I could get for a course, and he told me to ask the people in Utrecht.
  
• The professor teaching QFT looks and talks very much like a traditional German 19^th-century professor. He seems to be a very nice person, though, and a good teacher.
  
• At the introduction talk to the new students, the rector addressed them as Kommilitoninnen und Kommilitonen, i.e. fellow fighters (in both genders).
  

The quantum field theory course will, unfortunately, be in English. After speaking two sentences in German, the professor switched to English wiz a strong Zherman akzent, saying that the issue of the language had to be solved. He asked who did not speak German and absolutely wanted the course to be held in English; two hands were raised. He asked who absolutely wanted the course to be held in German; about ten hands were raised. He then concluded the issue by saying that he'd start in English and see how that went...

My courses so far are interesting, and seem to be at about the right level. Of course I don't know if that will continue to be the case, but at least today I could follow what was being said. I visited one lecture on differential topology and, as I mentioned, one on quantum field theory. I liked both of these, and think I will keep following them, if I can sort out my timetable properly. (Yes, the good old clashes occur here as well...) Tomorrow I will try one on the standard model of particle physics and one on statistical physics; Friday I will try one on tensor analysis, and then over the weekend I'll decide which ones I will in the end keep following :p.