German & Philosophy with a year abroad

Roland
German & Philosophy with a year abroad BA
My reasons for deciding to come to King's are perhaps not quite the same as the things that I would now say are the most valuable experiences I have got out of being here. But this is the nature of anything new or unknown: your expectations will always differ from the reality. This is not a bad thing at all!

When I was applying to King's, part of the reason I wanted to come is that it actually offered German and Philosophy as a joint honours course. The German Department offers a lot of literature courses and the course in Kafka which is offered in the final year was something that caught my eye. I had heard of, and knew about, some of the academics who work/worked here like Prof. Horst Simon, but others who I did not know before have become valuable mentors for me, like Dr. Catherine Smale, and more recently I have enjoyed the seminars and lectures given on Wittgenstein by Prof. Dr. Jonathan Beere at the Humboldt in Berlin.

The Philosophy Department offers a wide variety of courses that interest me and I felt the breadth of options gave me a good chance of making informed decisions when finding my own path in the philosophical world. Since I have been studying here I have realised that my interests have moved from logic to Wittgenstein – there are a lot of logic courses offered at King's which was great for me at the beginning - another factor that I did not take into account when deciding to come to King's is that one can take courses from different London Universities and also that my Erasmus Year would give me the option to tackle German Philosophy in German.

When I came to King’s I knew that I wanted to be in London and that I wanted my Erasmus Year to be in Berlin (this was probably the deciding factor in me coming here). I wanted to be able to continue the band that I am in here (Girl From The Castle), I wanted to have the opportunity to meet people from varying backgrounds and have the opportunities that are only available in London (for instance the art galleries, concerts etc.).

At King's and now at the Humboldt, I enjoy going to the lectures and seminars because I find the atmosphere both relaxed and academic. This is something that I did not take into account as much when deciding to come to King's, but I now find vital to my education. Some of the people that I have met at King's have been invaluable to my development as a person and some of the people I have met outside of King's have been equally as important (if not more, i.e. my fiancée!).

I did not expect to spend most of my time with students who are a lot older than me when I joined King's, but I came to realise that their approach to academic work helped me to take my degree very seriously and they happen to be the people that I get along with best! When my degree does reach its conclusion, I plan to take a year out to write poetry and prose and make music and then embark on a Masters (these plans cannot be too concrete, because there is still a while to go before the end!).