Mathematics

In fall 2003 (from September until December 2003, to be exact), I spent one semester abroad at the City College of New York (CCNY). On this page, I would like to provide some information about my studies – a diary about my other activities (i.e. sightseeing in New York) can be found on my travel pages.

At the beginning of my studies in New York (one week prior to the start of the semester), an "Orientation Meeting" was held. However, the term "Disorientation Meeting" might have been more appropriate: The person looking after the exchange students (five Austrians from the UT Vienna, five Germans and two Britons) seems to know everything important concerning the university – however, she did not really tell us! When asking her a specific question, she could usually help you, but it is quite difficult to find out (especially on the first day of your study abroad), which questions one should ask in order to take the hurdle of Registration. And that wasn't all: She expected us to decide (more or less within a quarter of an hour) which courses we would like to take during the next semester – with the help of a class schedule that did not include any description of the courses, but rather course titles like "REP BR WR: VICT PERD"!

Despite those unfavourable circumstances, we were all able to register for our courses (even though some had to change their arrangements, as some courses were already fully booked). Within eight hours, we

• proved that each of us has received two measle vaccines, one mumps vaccine and one rubella vaccine,
• made it plain to the Admissions Officers that we should have been cleared for registration some two month ago, and that it was finally time to do so,
• registered for our courses (some of us even had to get the permission of the appropriate departement),
• picked up a bill stating an amount of some $6,000.--,
• picked up a new bill at the bursar, which acknowledged the tuition fee waiver,
• paid our new $0 bill at the cashier,
• finally applied for a College ID at the Office of Student Identification.

For me, this gauntlet continued in the first week of the semester, because I had the absurd idea of dropping two of my courses and registering for another, for which I even had to get an overtally form. But finally, I even managed to do all this (even though I had to pay $10 "Late Fee", and of course no-one had told me that in advance).

The studies themselves, however, were rather enjoyable: I registered for four courses (totalling to 15 hours), and only had to work for one of them at home. Because of that, I had fortunately enough time for sightseeing and other activities.

As far as the level of tuition is concerned, the study at the CCNY is definitly not as challenging as the study at the UT Vienna – at least that's what all twelve exchange students claimed. Perhaps this is caused by the fact that only the better students are leaving home to study abroad, but I do not think that this is the only reason. One of my tests in the course "Measurements, Modelling and Computing" might have been symptomatic: With 135 or more out of 170 points, one could get an A, and even with only 65 out of 170 points, one passed the test! One of the other exchange students even told me that in one of his test, half of the points were enough for an A!

However, even though this might sound as if I was completely disappointed in the academic part of my study abroad, this is not the case: My course "Concepts in Astronomy" was very enjoyable, even though I have to admit that it could have been more informative. What is more, I was especially fond of my course "Atmospheric Modelling" which dealt with modelling in Earth Atmospheric Science. Of course we could not develop a detailed weather forecast, but at least we were able to simulate the more simple weather phenomena (after a short, but detailded, overview about the basics of Earth Atmospheric Science): Among others, we simulated a rising parcel of warm air, and precipitation, we developed a simple climate model and even a model of sea ice. All in all, we were able to learn the most important aspects of atmospheric modelling. For me (with my interest in modelling), this course was absolutely perfect – especially since the main focus at the UT Vienna is in modelling medical or biological phenomena. Thanks to this course in New York, I was able to get to know modelling in a different field.

All in all, my study abroad was an unforgetable experience that I would not do without. Especially my activities away from college (no matter whether it was sightseeing, or partying with the other exchange students, or ...) were really great – and even though this page is dedicated to my studies, one has to say that the college is not the most important part of a study abroad ...

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