Studying gets stressful

Already three weeks studying at National Taiwan University passed and I have to admit studying here makes you work! It is becoming more and more stressful, perhaps this is due to my course selection but I think you can take the workload as common. Of course I am contributing to this stress by travelling during the weekend, but it is kind of the last chance to catch some sun and have good weather, so I have to take my chances in October!  

 

Back to the tough part of life: I am doing 17 Credits that are composed of the following courses (the order is according to their importance to me, the numbers in brackets are the credits I get): Chinese (3), Corporate Social Responsibility (3), Ecology (3), Academic Presentation in English, Field Geology II (2), Agriculture in Taiwan (2), Taiqichuan (1). 

The way courses are conducted differ a lot from Germany. In Germany it is sufficient to basically prepare for one exam at the end of the semester, it does not matter if you go to the lecture, if you prefer to study alone at home its fine, too. If it is a seminar you are required to read texts, but nobody checks, it is your own choice to read and be able to engage in a class discussion or just don’t. For your grade a presentation or an assignment counts alone. 

In Taiwan we have many tests in class and in most of my courses participation is part of my final grade. Also attendance is taken, and the Professor or the Teaching Assistant keeps recording if you actually engage in class discussions. Other classes give bonus points of you are good in pop-up quizzes (small not announced tests). My Chinese Class is the most stressful for me, last week we already had two quick writing tests, our teacher read out a sentence and we are supposed to write it down in traditional Chinese characters. This kind of test required a lot of studying for me, because I didn’t study traditional characters before. For my presenting class I already had to prepare two short talks, for ecology I was supposed to read about 150 pages until last Thursday, and even in my sports course, Taiqichuan, there will be a test next Monday. I am sure the Germans will agree with me, that 17 Credits here are worth a lot more than 17 Credits in Germany!   

My schedule turned out to become even nicer than before, I still have no class on Friday and Thursday now ends at 12.20. I can use the long weekend to travel through Taiwan and enjoy its beauty. During October I try to travel a lot to have good weather for some water activities and hiking. I hope you enjoy my stories about my trips!

Stay positive! 

Yihua.