Letters from Abroad

BOLOGNA, Italy – You might have just finished a five-page thesis for your topics class. Or maybe you have spent countless hours preparing for your graphic design portfolio review or re-learning reagents and reviewing old synthesis problems for organic chemistry. Regardless of your academic concentration, the last few weeks have probably been hell for you. Now you have what the IU administration mockingly calls “dead week” to relax before the real fun of finals week begins. Do you want to know what I have been doing for the past two weeks? Christmas shopping and sleeping. \nNow, before you seal the envelope of that hate mail, hear me out. I, too, am usually a ticking time bomb of stress this time of year. Art history professors love to give lengthy thesis assignments, and every single journalism professor makes you write an “in-depth feature” that is much longer and involves more sources than are really necessary – not to mention the mountain of reading that I usually have to catch up on at the end of the semester for all of my classes. This year, however, I find myself in the disorganized, relaxed atmosphere of the Italian academic system. And I hate it. \n When I say disorganized, I mean that in every sense of the word. You might get upset if a professor doesn’t post his PowerPoint presentations online. Here, there is no class registration (anyone can come and go from classes as they please). There is no homework or papers, just recommended reading. The exams aren’t even written, you sit down to a conversation with your professor and they ask you questions about what you know. We don’t have OneStart or OnCourse, or any of those little things that, admittedly, make our lives as IU students much easier. \nClasses here are usually two to three hours long, with the professors spending a majority of their time reading directly from the recommended textbook. There are usually small built-in cigarette and coffee breaks, but students are free to leave the lesson whenever they desire. Attendance is never mandatory. \nLibraries are hardly ever open, and when you can manage to find one with decent hours (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. is the best I have seen), finding a spot to study is difficult, because books usually cannot be taken from the library, and all of the tables are crammed with students. So, studying usually is just done on a very self-disciplined basis. You read the book, you go to class – every once in a while – to take some notes, and I like to do a little supplemental research on Wikipedia when I don’t understand something my professor tells me. My courses are in a foreign language, after all.\nDoes this sound like a little slice of heaven to you? I realize that it might, but just try to imagine what it feels like to know that your grade depends solely on a few 15-minute conversations between you and your professors, where they could literally ask you anything about their subjects. Study guides? Forget about it. The professors also do not have to report to any higher authority when giving you a grade, therefore, you can receive a low score just because the professor doesn’t like your shirt. There is no rubric or standardized method of distributing grades.\nThis is a new kind of stress. I have come to embrace the never-ending “to do” list of the American academic system, because it is exactly that – you always know what you are supposed to do. The stress of completing projects or raising our GPAs or getting into graduate school keeps us motivated to keep working. We always know what the next step will be. We have schedules. And we are organized. \nSo this finals week, stop and be thankful that even though you are stressed, you know exactly what to be worried about. Remember me across the pond. I might be napping, but I am just waiting for the most nail-biting round of final exams in my academic career.