International Food Night: PB& J Sandwiches

By Brandon Knight

This week I had the chance to attend something that many people never get to go to. I went to one of the International week days at Heidelberg’s own SRH. The SRH is one of the largest private institutions in the country, and known for its rigorous academic standards and unique was of teaching. For example, at my stay at SRH University their 5-week teaching method was explained to and after an initial feel of indifference I actually like this different approach to teaching a college course.  Essentially this process is self-explanatory, instead of 2-3 months for a course one at SRH may be taught for five weeks but much more frequently and rigorously. Also in these courses the conceptual knowledge behind everything being taught is very important. They aren’t just teaching you, so that you fulfill a requirement the staff at SRH genuinely wants it’s students to learn and master what they are being taught, and this I believe gives students learning here a little edge in the job market. I was truly nearly sold on this school, If I was a freshman interested in going to school abroad it definitely would be one of my top choices.

Moreover, now that I’ve gotten some brief history and facts out of the way, the event that I attended was called SRH International Week. International week is a very prestigious event that students from all over the planet come and take week long engaging courses and get to know someone. At the event there was people from New York, to here in Germany, all the way to seeing some students make the journey from Japan. For anyone considering going, my advice is stop considering and just go. It is well worth it. You will also be paired up with world class professors from around the world. These professors will actively and vigorously engage you on a topic of your choosing. Most of the topics were pretty interesting, for example I had Turkish Relation in the European Union and a friend of mine had a class dealing with start-ups. Though the work is pretty light on purpose, the way the class is taught will engage your mind to a degree where you will learn a surprisingly lot about what is being taught.

          

  There are also several events that are held throughout international week to give you a chance to bond with students. There are excursions that you could go on, though the Heidelberg Program covers most of them already. Though it never hurts to do something again, sometimes it’s more fun and then you can concentrate on interacting with your peers. The event I went was the International food night. I didn’t want to go at first because the first day was so long but I decided to go anyway. I’m glad I did as every represented school makes a dish there was plenty to try. So I suggest go on a near empty stomach if you want to sample all it has to offer. The most surprising thing to me though was the dish my school contributed. We made peanut butter and jelly, and back in the States it doesn’t get anymore basic than that. At first I was almost embarrassed since I was sure everyone had before and it lacked that exotic appeal. However, I kid you not, there were less than 8 people who had eaten it before at the whole event I counted. I was literally amazed so few people had tried PB&J outside the U.S. I guess you never know until you venture out and learn. I learned that it is very important to put oneself out there and try something new. So overall I’d highly recommend anyone that has a chance try the SRH International Week.

http://www.hochschule-heidelberg.de/de/internationales/international-week/international-week-2013/