Mainz Wine Fest & Grad School Update

The Final Fest.

Matt and I attended our last Mainz wine fest earlier this month in the rose garden on the far side of the city. We went two of the days and it was certainly bittersweet. I think we have both come to feel close to Mainz, and Germany itself, so to know that it was the last time we were going to walk over and then walk back to our apartment made us sad. 

It's always so enjoyable to sit outside with a glass of wine in the middle of a park.

I've definitely grown to enjoy white wines, namely Riesling, so much more now that I've lived here.

They always have such good food at these fests....

And of course coffees and cake.

I went with the apple cake one evening.

Matt had this layer cake. His was better.

Paired with the fest on the last day, we went was a free concert. The catch? You couldn't take anything into the area, hence the stau at the entrance.

Ugh, so many people! The music was pretty good, though.

At the end of the fest that evening, some of us stopped for a late-night crepe.

Grad school stuff.

I am now exactly halfway done with my degree, and aside from my final two courses, I'm done with my core classes. My specialization is Strategic Innovation & Change Management and I'm working on these courses now. I'm enrolled in a class called Dynamics of Power in Organizations. I like the books well enough, but there are some quirky things about the class I could do without. For example, there is a partner requirement for the bulk of my weekly papers where I have to trade with a classmate and add in information about her paper into my own assignment.

Like I don't have enough logistical stuff going on, you want me to coordinate with another person, too? Blargh. At least my partner travels a lot for work, so she gets her assignments to me earlier rather than later so I'm not waiting on her submission.

Another thing is that the professor likes to post an additional discussion question at the end of the week for us to answer. I don't know yet if I'll get points off if I skip it, but I don't appreciate additional work since I'm really stretched with all of the move and travel stuff I have going on. One of the big draws of having an online course is the ability to get work done when it's convenient for the student, so when the professor posts something on a weekend, I don't appreciate it if I've already gotten the work done for that week.

The work is not especially difficult, but it's still something to do between the other stuff. I'm sure I'll get in a better rhythm soon. I just got to keep going and get it all done! I cannot wait until I'm totally finished with the degree and won't have to think about homework. It's going to be a good day when it comes.

Until then, back to work for me...