The apartment consists of two double rooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It is cleaned weekly, when the toilet paper and soap are also replenished. Combined with a meal plan for the dining hall, this means you’re free from pretty much all of the bothersome aspects of everyday life. If you decide to go without a social life as well, you can devote yourself – completely uninhibitedly and without interruptions – to ambitious studying. One of my three roommates actually does that. He is studying applied mathematics and computer science – I don’t think I could cope with a program like that any other way, either.

Still, it wasn’t long before I noticed that I will probably have to hit the books significantly harder in the future, too. I am taking four classes to start out: an introduction to macroeconomics, a class on the history of the Middle East, an introduction to classical music, and a course on the international currency system.

The professor for the latter course, Galina Hale, is only visiting here; the actual professor, Maurice Obstfeld, has been tapped for a position on the Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in Washington, D.C. Hale also holds a senior position working for the Federal Reserve, and she has also taught at Yale and Stanford. My fellow students don’t seem particularly impressed by that – but I certainly am. When she presents the syllabus, including all of the required readings, graded assignments, and tests, I inwardly bid a final farewell to the idea of wild American college life.