September Summary – My First Weeks

Sadly, you haven’t heard from me for a while now, but every new start is difficult. That’s how it was with my first weeks of lectures, too. But before I go into the details of the first few weeks, I would like to introduce you to my schedule.

What’s important to know is that “Managing Operations and Supply Chains” and “Financial Statement Management” are only designed to last half a semester. Therefore, starting October 23, both courses will be removed and the schedule will loosen up a little bit. Nevertheless, exams will be written during “Mid-Terms”.

Let’s move on to my first week of lectures. At first glance, everything looked very good and relaxed. September 4th was Labor Day in America, which means: no lectures. So far so good. But after choosing the courses and signing up for them, we were caught up in reality.

But I want to start with the encouraging news: On the first Tuesday, Fletcher School followed the Monday schedule. However, since the rest of the university had the normal Tuesday schedule, Global Investment Management was rescheduled for a date to be determined in the near future.

Now to the somewhat unpleasant news: Depending on the professor and the course, it can happen to you that you already have to prepare for the first lecture. This is not the case in all courses, but it can range from a short preparation, to reading texts, to submitting a first homework assignment. For example, before my first lecture in Supply Chains on Thursday, I was already sitting on my first homeworks, which I had to submit Wednesday evening. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.

Apart from that, I have the feeling that we are drowning under reading, assignments and homeworks to be handed in. Since we didn’t have wifi at home for the first week (the new router didn’t work), I was in the library almost all weekend to prepare all the to-dos for the second week of lectures. So far, boredom doesn’t look like a problem at all. And also the other three weeks were or are similarly full and offer no break. As soon as we approach Thursday, we have to prepare for the upcoming week. The only difference is that we don’t have lectures on the weekend. But for at least once a week I go out for dinner with my new friends to see the different neighborhoods and get to know Boston.

So if you only hear from me sporadically until the end of October (Mid-Terms), it’s not because there’s nothing to tell, but because I’m swamped with reading, preparing submissions and studying. But I’ll be fine, and so far I’m enjoying it, even though it’s exhausting. Hopefully, after Mid-Terms, everything will be a little bit more relaxed. At least that’s what I hope for.