Uni here, Uni there, Uni Uni everywhere

Every day this week I've been eating lunch and taking my "afternoon walk" (another common thing in Germany) with Ton. It's kind of sad that he's going to be done with his internship this week and leaving back for the Netherlands this weekend. We talked a little bit about the school systems in Europe and how they are very different from ours in America. I guess you don't typically do a mere "undergrad" program in engineering. Most students will make it a 5-year program and end up with their Masters at the end of it. In addition, you have to cap your studies off with a 9-month "project" that you can do either at your university or with some firm. I guess Ton just has this left and then he will graduate. We also talked a little bit about the differences between a public funded and private funded university. I guess in Europe, it's very rare for Alumni to give back to their university. University is seen more as a necessity than an entirely new era of your life like it is in the U.S. Colleges here rarely have campuses and students usually just live in random apartments somewhere close to their University. There is no place that builds up that "college life" culture like at Purdue. In addition sports are not common at all for universities. Usually, there will be some club teams but they are not nearly as competitive as college varsity sports are in the U.S. People who are looking to go pro in something don't go to college. Instead, they will attend a sports school to further their development in the sport their interest. I guess that makes sense, but I couldn't imagine going to college somewhere without the huge rivalries between schools merely due to their athletic programs. On a side note, I hear Purdue basketball's doing pretty good this year. I hope you kids still at Purdue are going to those games. I'm cheering for us over here (not that I can see the games but I watch the highlights on ESPN). That's another thing, I guess ESPN doesn't exist over here. I can not imagine a world without ESPN. Well, back to my point, without all of these programs that inspire school spirit and build university culture, alumni don't really care about their university too much after college and give back the ridiculous sums of money like they do in the U.S. Instead, the government does! Better? Worse? Not necessarily...just different...