End of the 1st semesters, exams, beginning of the 2nd semester

Overall, I had five exams from four subjects this semester (programming, algorithms and data structures, discrete mathematics, linear algebra). At ETH took all mandatory exams place in person and only the exams of optional subjects could be taken online. As a freshman all my subjects are mandatory, and I hence took all my exams in person. Taking the exams in big examination-halls with more than 100 people in each of them was a new exciting experience for me.

My exam-schedule was kind to me, and I had at least two days off in between each one of the exams. What did not seem so kind was the fact that one does not know the minimum number of points to pass, and one has to therefore wait for the official results, which should be available after 2-3 weeks.

The original plan to go back to home after the exams because of the COVID situation failed and so together with my roommates, we decided to go skiing for a couple of days. We were lucky, we had a great weather and the Engelberg, normally very crowded place and favorite ski area of many, was almost empty.

The summer semester is of course starting in online mode and it is not quite clear, when we could get back to in-person learning. In my second semester I have (same as in the first semester) four subjects signed up – parallel programming, mathematical analysis, digital design and computer architecture, algorithms and probability. Three out of these four are taught in German. It is the first time we also have lectures in English. The system of Bubbles I described in the first blog was dropped since we all are being taught online now and it makes no longer sense to structure the students into small groups.