diff --git a/scripts/config_loader.py b/scripts/config_loader.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4129f2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/config_loader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import shutil
+from pathlib import Path
+import importlib.util
+import os
+import sys
+
+# We read a configuration file for university setup that is located
+# in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/university-setup/config.cfg
+# We follow standard configparser procedure
+
+def get_config_dir() -> str:
+    if 'XDG_CONFIG_HOME' in os.environ.keys():
+        xdg_config_home = Path(os.environ['XDG_CONFIG_HOME']).resolve()
+    else:
+        xdg_config_home = Path('~/.config').expanduser().resolve()
+    config_file = xdg_config_home / 'university-setup' / 'config.py'
+    if not config_file.exists():
+        config_file.parent.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
+        shutil.copy(Path(__file__).with_name('default_config.py'), config_file)
+        print(f'Initialized default config file at {str(config_file)}.')
+    return str(config_file.parent.absolute())
+
+
+sys.path.append(get_config_dir())
+
+# Note that IDEs will probably complain about this, since they cannot find the module right now
+# This is because the module is in fact user-supplied
+from config import *
+
+# future: potentially check that config in fact defines all symbols that we need
diff --git a/scripts/courses.py b/scripts/courses.py
index f607cd3..0e7f5b2 100644
--- a/scripts/courses.py
+++ b/scripts/courses.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import warnings
 import yaml
 from typing import List
 
-from config import ROOT, CURRENT_COURSE_ROOT, CURRENT_COURSE_SYMLINK, CURRENT_COURSE_WATCH_FILE, COURSE_IGNORE_FILE, \
+from config_loader import ROOT, CURRENT_COURSE_ROOT, CURRENT_COURSE_SYMLINK, CURRENT_COURSE_WATCH_FILE, COURSE_IGNORE_FILE, \
     COURSE_INFO_FILE_NAME, FALLBACK_COURSE_INFO_FILE
 from notes import Notes
 from links import Links
diff --git a/scripts/config.py b/scripts/default_config.py
similarity index 94%
rename from scripts/config.py
rename to scripts/default_config.py
index 3ee37d6..eea1f19 100644
--- a/scripts/config.py
+++ b/scripts/default_config.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 import pytz
+
 # default is 'primary', if you are using a separate calendar for your course schedule,
 # your calendarId (which you can find by going to your Google Calendar settings, selecting
 # the relevant calendar and scrolling down to Calendar ID) probably looks like
@@ -10,7 +11,7 @@ USERCALENDARID = 'primary'
 CURRENT_COURSE_SYMLINK = Path('~/current_course').expanduser()
 CURRENT_COURSE_ROOT = CURRENT_COURSE_SYMLINK.resolve()
 CURRENT_COURSE_WATCH_FILE = Path('/tmp/current_course').resolve()
-ROOT = Path('~/Uni/semester-6').expanduser()
+ROOT = Path('~/uni/semester-6').expanduser()
 DATE_FORMAT = '%a %d %b %Y'
 LOCALE = "de_DE.utf8"
 COURSE_IGNORE_FILE = '.courseignore'
@@ -26,6 +27,8 @@ FALLBACK_COURSE_INFO_FILE = Path(__file__).parent.resolve() / 'fallback.yaml'
 TIMEZONE = pytz.timezone('CET')
 SCHEDULER_DELAY = 60
 DEFAULT_LATEX_COUNTER_AUX_FILE_EXTENSION = '.cnt'
+TERMINAL = 'i3-sensible-terminal'
+EDITOR = 'vim'
 
 NEW_EXERCISE_SHEET_HEADER = '\n'.join([
     r"%! TEX root = ./*.tex",
diff --git a/scripts/exercises.py b/scripts/exercises.py
index db3dc7a..1d069d4 100644
--- a/scripts/exercises.py
+++ b/scripts/exercises.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from file_list import Files, FileHandle, FileType
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict
 from utils import normalize
-from config import NEW_EXERCISE_SHEET_HEADER
+from config_loader import NEW_EXERCISE_SHEET_HEADER
 
 
 class ExerciseWriteUp(FileHandle):
diff --git a/scripts/notes.py b/scripts/notes.py
index abc02a1..4c472fc 100644
--- a/scripts/notes.py
+++ b/scripts/notes.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict
 
-from config import LECTURE_START_MARKER, LECTURE_END_MARKER, DEFAULT_IMPORT_INDENTATION, \
+from config_loader import LECTURE_START_MARKER, LECTURE_END_MARKER, DEFAULT_IMPORT_INDENTATION, \
     DEFAULT_LATEX_COUNTER_AUX_FILE_EXTENSION
 from window_subprocess import edit
 from lectures import Lectures, number2filename
diff --git a/scripts/parse_config.py b/scripts/parse_config.py
deleted file mode 100644
index c3a383d..0000000
--- a/scripts/parse_config.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,55 +0,0 @@
-import configparser
-import os
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Dict
-
-# We read a configuration file for university setup that is located
-# in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/university-setup/config.cfg
-# We follow standard configparser procedure
-
-
-def get_config_file():
-    if 'XDG_CONFIG_HOME' in os.environ.keys():
-        xdg_config_home = Path(os.environ['XDG_CONFIG_HOME']).resolve()
-    else:
-        xdg_config_home = Path('~/.config').expanduser().resolve()
-    config_file = xdg_config_home / 'university-setup' / 'config.cfg'
-    if not config_file.exists():
-        config_file.parent.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
-        config_file.write_text(
-            '# Automatically generated default config file for university-setup\n'
-            '# Edit this as you wish\n'
-            '\n'
-            '[Subprocess]\n'
-            'terminal = i3-sensible-terminal\n'
-            'editor = vim\n'
-            ''
-        )
-        print(f'Initialized default config file at {str(config_file)}.')
-    print(config_file)
-    return config_file
-
-
-def get_config(section_name: str = 'Subprocess') -> Dict:
-    parser = configparser.RawConfigParser()
-    parser.read(get_config_file())
-    if section_name in parser:
-        return dict(parser[section_name])
-    else:
-        return {}
-
-
-def terminal() -> str:
-    d = get_config('Subprocess')
-    if 'terminal' in d.keys():
-        return d['terminal']
-    else:
-        return 'i3-sensible-terminal'
-
-
-def editor() -> str:
-    d = get_config('Subprocess')
-    if 'editor' in d.keys():
-        return d['editor']
-    else:
-        return 'vim'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/parse_counters.py b/scripts/parse_counters.py
index 6dcf009..c3b0cfe 100755
--- a/scripts/parse_counters.py
+++ b/scripts/parse_counters.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 import re
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Dict
-from config import DEFAULT_IMPORT_INDENTATION
+from config_loader import DEFAULT_IMPORT_INDENTATION
 
 
 def parse_counters(filepath: Path, break_point: Dict) -> Dict:
diff --git a/scripts/rofi-exercises.py b/scripts/rofi-exercises.py
index 06dc5f9..446429c 100755
--- a/scripts/rofi-exercises.py
+++ b/scripts/rofi-exercises.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 from courses import Courses
 from exercises import Exercises
 from rofi import rofi
-from config import MAX_LEN
 import sys
 
 
diff --git a/scripts/rofi-lectures.py b/scripts/rofi-lectures.py
index 3f4bbad..ca5330d 100755
--- a/scripts/rofi-lectures.py
+++ b/scripts/rofi-lectures.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 from courses import Courses
 from rofi import rofi
 from utils import generate_short_title
-from config import MAX_LEN
+from config_loader import MAX_LEN
 
 notes = Courses().current.notes
 lectures = notes.lectures
diff --git a/scripts/utils.py b/scripts/utils.py
index 29ac6d8..c363622 100644
--- a/scripts/utils.py
+++ b/scripts/utils.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Dict
 import warnings
 
-from config import MAX_LEN
+from config_loader import MAX_LEN
 
 
 def beautify(string):
diff --git a/scripts/window_subprocess.py b/scripts/window_subprocess.py
index 44a184c..12e748b 100644
--- a/scripts/window_subprocess.py
+++ b/scripts/window_subprocess.py
@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@ import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 import os
 
-from parse_config import terminal, editor
+from config_loader import TERMINAL, EDITOR
 
 
 def edit(filepath: Path, rootpath: Path = None, env=os.environ, servername='tex lecture'):
     if not rootpath:
         rootpath = filepath.root
     subprocess.Popen([
-        terminal(),
+        TERMINAL,
         "-e",
-        editor(),
+        EDITOR,
         f"--servername {servername}",
         f"--remote-silent",
         f"{str(filepath)}"