Knuckling the desks - a German lecture

The first time it happened I thought it was some kind of small earthquake, or at least a student revolution - as at the end of a lecture everyone wraps their knuckles violently onto the desk. I'm still working out if its a form of thanks, or that everyone has lost their pencils and is simultaneously looking for them.

This is just one of the many exciting encounters I had today, as this week is the first week of lectures. Seminar sizes are at least 30, and most of the students seem to be grey/balding/sitting at the front and commenting on every three words the professor says.

I nodded off, twice during the ‘City Planning in Medieval Europe’ lecture, while the only thing that kept me awake during the ‘Aliens in Literature and Science’ seminar (which I ended up in because I thought it was something else) was because I practiced my autograph 300 times.

The one class I take outside the Technical University is 'Art and Architecture in Renaissance Italy' where I feel at home amongst all the other non-engineers. I take pleasure in noting that I am no longer wearing the skinniest jeans and am decidly mainstream once more.