Hmm, I didn't do that module but I would say that if they're literature, it's much better to read them in the original German (takes longer but can always wikipedia the synopsis), though a lot of people do just read translations - however don't tell the lecturers if you do that, they hate it

For reference/non-fiction books, get them in English, reading that in German is such hard work. Reminds me I've got a couple of those for final year, so not looking forward to that!

Happy Birthday!

Right - I'm currently ordering my books and I'm doing the 'Aspects of German Culture in the Age of Enlightenment module'. There are some pretty heavy-duty literary texts and I was just wondering whether I buy the english translations or the original german editions? xx

Thankyou well I don't know where i'll be yet but I put Arthur Vick as my first choice thanks for the advice, I'm really excited

I shall add you know, my name's Jo x

Awesome! You must have got good results then so congrats! Do you know which accommodation you'll be in yet? I'm living on campus so I can definitely help you out with anything you need, I remember feeling pretty lost and confused for the first few days and it took me a couple of weeks to really get to know my way around! One thing I'll tell you now - make sure you go to the Fresher Fairs and Socetiy/Sports Fairs as well (they're all in the first week I think) - loads of free stuff and a great way to get involved with stuff early. I'll be going as well to see what freebies they're giving away...

Feel free to add me on facebook as well if you want, http://www.facebook.com/aliceday

Sooooo, looks like imma' take up your offer of a Warwick campus tour

Hi! Sorry, I only just got your message, I've not logged on in a while!

I did indeed put Warwick as my firm choice Any advice would be awesome, thankyou very much

heyyy was just having a look through my messages and remember you're taking your A Levels this time... did you put Warwick as your firm in the end?Hope you make it here if you do, seriously let me know cos I can give you advice etc regarding the department and modules, and I'll be a cool 4th year who can show you round campus heh. Warwick's awesome, so I hope you make it, good luck! xx

Huzzah! See you there olol :')

So are you on your year out at the moment then? How's it going for you?

Yay! Good luck with your A Levels. If you come to Warwick in the autumn I'll be there too

Thankyou so much for the information, that was really helpful and I feel more chilled about the whole thing now! I was very impressed with the Uni as a whole on the Open Day and now I'm definitely going to have it as my firm choice Bring on the A-levels! haha

Hey

I sure do go to Warwick uni, congrats on the offer! As a whole university I think it's great. It's really good academically (came 3rd last year in one league table I believe), and I really enjoy being a student there. If you went to the Open Day you'll have seen how pretty it is The campus is really nice and everything's close together.

Ok the German department. It's pretty small, in my year there's around 50-60 people who study German in some form (like, some people study straight German, some do German and another language - like me - and some do German and another subject - like you), but I think your home department will be German. The tutors are mostly great (there's one lecturer who's boring as hell, but you'll get the same anywhere, and the others are all lovely) and as a whole I'm happy with the department.

In terms of work, it is quite a step up from A Levels and they expect you to work hard, but at the same time, I didn't have many problems with the workload. Language-wise they go through absolutely everything to bring up everyone up to the same level. You'll have 2 language classes a week (if they haven't changed the structure) - one is in a fairly large group (aorund 20 people) and the other is with only 5 or 6 people, so you can really focus on individual problems. I found those really helpful. They don't expect you to know everything and have perfect grammar, but they do expect you to work fairly hard.

One criticism that some people have of the department is that because it's quite small, there isn't that much choice for modules. For example in first year, you'll take the German language module and what's called the 'culture' module, which is everything else - literature, history, culture etc. There's only 2 choices, which have fancy names but are essentially 'modern' and 'medieval'. I chose the modern one (most people do), and it deals with Germany since 1945 and focuses on literature in the post-war movement and you do a fair bit of history too. And in 2nd year, it's the same story: you have 2 options: Germany in the 20s and 30s, or more medieval Germany. In 4th year however there's a much wider range of modules so that's good. I did enjoy both my 1st and 2nd year modules so even though there's hardly any choice, they're still good and well-taught.

Hope that helps somewhat, if you have any other questions or anything feel free to ask Overall I really love Warwick as a university and I feel very happy there and am glad I chose to study there. I have a friend who studies English as well and if you want to know anything about that department I can ask her if you'd like

Hi there

Okay, so aaages ago you very helpfully replied to some of my questions on The German Learners Thread and I remembered that you said you went to Warwick Uni (?) I ask because I got an offer from them the other day to read German and English and I was just wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the German Dept? I've been to an Open Day but I would be interested to hear a student's perspective Is it friendly? Is it a massive step up from A level? Do they expect you to be really strong on Grammar?

Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated

:O Flight of the conchords are amazing

Exam done

Well, as long as every damn landscape in Europe isn't exactly the same, the train trips will be a good experience - the trains here hardly go past great sights, you can only see so many hills and sheep before they get extremely dull as well as that, it'll be a new experience using trains too, seeing, like I've said, the trains here are pretty crap... There's a possibility I'll fly to Greece, but that's completely money dependant, and Greece would be an extra leg off the main Europe trip. Greece will be my luxury of the trip if I get there

Oh, going over there, I'll take a huge suitcase, but seeing we also get 7kg on flight luggage, I'll probably take my big bag on that bit, seeing they weigh a fair bit and yeah, if worst came to worst, I am lucky that I do know a crapload of Musers over there - I am staying with a couple in my time over there hopefully!

If there's always people around, then that's fine by me! Although I'm not going over there specifically to make lifelong friends, I do know that I'm (hopefully) going to meet some really awesome people, whether it be on the trains, hostels, tours, anywhere. I do know that tourists just end up bonding, and you bond even more when you're from the same countries and September/October seems to be primetime for NZers to go over there, so maybe the rest of the world follows that suit?

In times of desperation, I know I'll become one of the most sociable people ever, especially in a situation like yours and I'll just hope they're an Aussie or a Kiwi however, something I'm not going to enjoy is all the "you sound Australian" or "are you from Australia?" comments/questions we hate that!

Yeah, for money, my only expenses will mainly be food, and as you've said, it's not really THAT expensive over there. Seeing prices of everything will be splashed all over the internet, I'm sure I can plan a fun trip while still having a bit of freedom for some random place or clothes shopping or something 'tis all about the fun, while I'm over there, I'm going to try not to worry too much about money, otherwise I'll just leave with regrets about how I didn't do this or that

Cities? Well, the UK/Ireland cities I'll have 'guides' but as for Europe, most likely cities so far are Paris, Rome, Berlin and perhaps Athens. I feel like I'm missing one... I've decided against going to Scandanavia now, though, only because I know it's bloody expensive over there... That said, all money dependant on whether or not I go to Greece, Norway (probably Bergen) or maybe even Spain (Madrid). Anything for free is good though, so I'll most definitely make use of that site at some point

Everyone seems to enjoy it over here... Although I'm very used to it because I've travelled here heaps, there are still some brilliant sights that you'll never really see anywhere else in the world here - some still manage to wow me, and I've seen a lot here! I suppose that's the main point of travel though, minus all the entertainment and all, it also really gives you an awesome insight of just how different your own home base is to other places in the world...