Category: creative solutions.

Inspired by my fellow student and blogger Matthias I have decided to put some creative “solutions” for uncreative, common, everyday-problems here.

Number 1: How to remove the problems caused by a damaged roof with least possible effort (just by means of a bucket and a caution sign): (in the Cork bus station)

Number 2: This one is not quite a solution but more the problem itself:

From a toilet at our university: (Ground floor in the Physikalische Chemie building; now the temporary home of the Großer Lesesaal):

Not very spacious in there, is it?

Number 3: This one is quite good: It’s a “learning tent” which our AStA (Student’s Union) set up to provide students with facilities where they can learn during semester break.

“Why that?” you might ask? For the Germans: read the green manifesto. For everybody else: Read the translation of the manifesto:

500 € – we have to camp anyhow! The elite is camping – and learning in the tent!

Many of you will know the situation: exams are due soon, many handouts, books and papers have to be revised and time is short. But where to find an adequate and quiet place for learning? At home your flatmates are a nuisance and the phone rings endlessly. Many universities have solved this problem effectively by providing spacious, quiet facilities which are open daily. The RWTH unfortunately has a different approach. Despite the well-known fact that the Kármán-Auditorium is very popular as a learning facility among students – especially in the semester break – the dean’s office has ordered to hire it out as a conference facility as often as possible. The administration has fulfilled this task with such efficiency that the Kármán-Auditorium is blocked almost completely during the semester break. This means that the students have no access to it anymore. Due to the fact that the University is unable to provide an adequate substitution we have pitched up this tent. If somebody has to pay 500 € study fees per semester they should not fail exams because of a lack of learning facilities. Therefore: come in; sit down: we will not be deterred from learning! Open daily from 10:30am to 5:30pm.

AStA

Notes on the translation: AStA (Allgemeiner Studierenden Ausschuss) = Student’s Union; Kármán-Auditorium= an ugly, largish university building which contains lecture halls, a cafeteria, wireless internet access and (see above) places for studying; RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule) = my university.

 

Cheerio!!