Back in Australia! I arrived on Saturday morning after a 32 hour flight. The last couple of weeks were crazy, I had three big exams and so many beurocratic things to sort out! The first exam was for 'Management of Sustainable Development', which was the easiest because it was in English. Then, two days later, I had an exam for 'Technische Waermelehre I' (Technical Heat Transfer). I expected it to be really hard, since I'd already really struggled with the mid-semester and the work had become a lot more complex later in the semester, but it actually turned out to be fine. Even though the questions were a bit harder, the exam was a lot shorter so I didn't struggle so much with time. Plus the questions weren't as wordy as the ones in the mid-sem, so the language didn't give me too much trouble. The real killer was 'Thermodynamik II', which I had the next week. It's widely recognised among the students as the toughest course at TU and most of the other students were already in their masters program. Every semester 80% fail... So that one was really hard, but I managed to scrape through :). I ended up having a much more full on exam period than any of my German friends, since I had to follow the rules set by UQ, which are a lot more strict than at TU. If a TU student gets to the end of semester and feels a bit stressed, no problem, he can just decide not to sit half his exams. Students aren't enrolled in courses, they just apply for exams at the end of semester if they want to. The best bit is, courses are free and there's no minimum study load, so there are no consequences if you don't sit an exam except that your degree takes a bit longer. Of course, the result is that a three-year bachelor ends up taking five years... So you have to be self-motivated. Everything's very unofficial, when I took my academic transcript from TU into the UQ faculty office, they didn't believe it was real! Which is understandable, it's just a form I filled in online and printed myself, then had signed by an employee in the office for international students. But over there, that's all you get. The laid-back attitude is something I think I'll miss, as well as the huge variety of cultures. My roommates at college were all foreigners from countries including Egypt, Bulgaria, Poland, Nepal, China, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Czech Repulic... You get the idea. So yeah, it was an amazing experience, I'd really recommend an international exchange to anyone with an inclination towards adventure, challenge and heaps of fun :). Especially if you can speak a second language, studying in German was such a great opportunity for me to improve my language skills and challenge myself. At the same time, I'm happy to be back at UQ. This semester has started out well, my lecturers seem really good and the courses are interesting. I'm a bit scared of CIVL3140, it's following on from Fluid Dynamics last semester and I think the one I did in Berlin was a bit different to the UQ one, but the content seems interesting and I'm sure I'll be able to catch up. Anyway, that's probably enough for one post. Bis bald!

Getting really stressful over here! It's the last week of lectures, which is when most of the exams take place. There's no swotvac here, or a specific exam block. Because I'm leaving next week I've had to organise to do one exam early as an oral, but apart from that I'll just be sitting with the German students. There's a lot more freedom here because your not officially enrolled in subjects, only exams, so you can choose not to sit an exam if you don't feel ready for it. You can also re-sit if you fail a lot of the time, there are heaps of ways to work the system if you're lucky enough to be around long enough to organise yourself... This week I have Management of Sustainable Development and Technische Wärmelehre (it'll be tough) and next week Thermodynamik II (that's the oral). I also have to write a 25 page German assignment... So better get back to it!