Had my first week of classes this week (after having 2.5 months off...). Needless to say, my brain was NOT ready for sitting in a classroom, listening to a professor lecture, and taking notes after sitting on my butt doing nothing for so long. I am taking 4 classes (thank god-I wouldn't dare want to waste my time studying when I am clearly here to travel..).
Class #1: Indigenous Australia. My professor, "call me Ben," is the biggest hippie I have ever seen. Long curly hair, coke bottle glasses, doesn't seem to really care about much, except those indigenous australians. We opened class with listening to traditional indigenous music and "feeling the beat.." and watching some cool videos. Everyone was complaining about how hot the classroom was, since it has been incredibly humid lately (I don't even need to mention how much I sweat a day...), so Ben thought he would end class 45 minutes early. Awesome. The course is designed for 1st years, so it doesn't seem too tough, but I honestly think it will be really interesting. We had a few Nura Gili aboriginal studies department professors (yes-that is a major here) come talk to us about the Aboriginal people. Also, during orientation, we had 4 actual Aboriginal men perform a traditional dance, complete with a man straight out of the lion king or something playing the didgeridoo (see picture below-I apologize for the poor quality). There are a bunch of study abroad kids in the class as well, so I think it should hopefully be pretty fun.
Class #2: U.S. History: I am required to take one more perspective
course at SMU (from the History category), so I figured why not get it over with
abroad. It is SO weird taking American History at an Australian University. At
least it makes the topics I have heard a billion times since I was 5 way more
interesting coming from my Australian, “why does America think they are so
exceptional anyway?” professor. This is the last time he will ever teach this
course, as he is retiring at the end of the semester, so he hopes to make it a
“fun” semester. I hope so too, Ian. I have never felt more awkward being an American than in that
class. I hope he doesn’t call on me to answer a question and then discover my
American accent. I think he would feel pretty awkward after tearing the United
States apart every lecture…
Class #3: History of Sexuality: My professor hates exams. So
naturally, I love my professor. We have three papers instead of any tests,
midterms, or final exams. Not that I like papers that much either, but hey, you
win some, you lose some. It seems like a pretty interesting class though so
far. My professor, Zora, is your typical feminist liberal women’s and gender
studies professor, but she is hilarious and a great lecturer.
Class #4: Psychology and Law: This class seems really, really hard. It
counts as Forensic Psych for my major back at SMU, and after this course,
assuming I pass…, I only need one psych class to complete my major (YAY!). So I actually need to do well, since these grades transfer back to my GPA at SMU. My
professor has been throwing around a lot of legal jargon and talking about the
Australian government/law, so I felt a bit lost during the first two lectures.
I have to give two presentations during the semester, write a super fun
APA-style 3000 word legal report, take a two-part midterm, and a final exam. So
apparently this will be my “real” class abroad. It probably compares to a normal SMU psych class, but I was definitely not in the mindset for it this
week. I’m sure once I get into the swing of school it will be fine (I hope).
Uni is weird. I am taking 4 classes, but each class has a
lecture and a tutorial/lab each week. Instead of having a normal MWF or T/TH
schedule where your classes are at the same time on the same days every week, classes
are scheduled completely randomly here. For example, I have Psych and Law lab
Tuesday morning, lecture Tuesday night, and another lecture Thursday afternoon.
Also, instead of having buildings on campus that house certain subjects, like
how I spend a majority of my life in Hyer Hall at SMU, I have class in 10
DIFFERENT BUILDINGS each week, ranging from the electrical engineering
building, to the Webster theater, to the biomedical theater. So that’s fun.
Also, each class does not provide you with a required textbook list where you
go to bookstore and with your list and purchase the books. Instead, each
professor gives you a list of about ten texts at the back of the syllabus that
“will supplement what you learn in class.” You can buy none of them, all of
them, whatever you feel like will help you learn. Most teachers strongly
recommend one text, so I just bought those. At least I'm saving a ton of money on buying books here ($200 compared to like $900). The weekly readings for
the lectures are also confusing because it gives you like ten options of what to
read on what might help you understand the lecture better. Hopefully I can
figure this all out eventually. Also, professors get to decide if they want a
final or not. I think I only have one final exam (Psych and Law), and then one
final in class test (U.S. History). However, the uni final exam schedule isn’t
released until the fifth week of classes for some strange reason. UNSW has a
“study recess,” aka dead week-oh how I miss those, the week before finals start. So the first week
of June may become travel time if I only have one final. Finals run from June
8-25, so hopefully my final will fall at a good time so I can travel some more in June
(slash actually know when to purchase a return flight home). Not that I even
want to think about leaving yet!
the past few days...:
It has been raining here nonstop... blehhh. I miss the sun already!! What a tease. I bought a gym membership at the Coogee Diggers gym, and it
is a ten-minute hike uphill to get there, so that has been fun trekking there in the
rain. At least I get like four extra workouts a day walking everywhere. I usually switch off walking to school and taking the bus. It is only a
30-minute walk and I usually run into people I know along the way, so it goes
pretty quickly. It is much better to do it on the way home than to school so
you don’t show up to class sweating through your clothes. It is SO humid here
(WAY worse than Dallas ever is). But I got stuck half way through walking home
one day when it started raining pretty hard… So I’ve been sticking with the bus
for now. I am finally getting into a routine (finally having to do laundry and
clean the kitchen and make dinner-yes I actually cooked myself dinner!! I know…
impressive). I went to dinner one night earlier this week with a family friend from home who
happens to live in Sydney now, so it was great to see a familiar face and catch
up. It really is a small world. Last night a big group of UNSW students and I went out to Five
O’s (cheap burgers and beers-can’t beat it), ate, laughed, made new friends,
and watched the crazy ocean waves brew in the storm. It was a great night. It was one of my flat mate's birthdays today, so we hung around the apartment today, just being lazy and enjoying each other's company since none of us have class on Friday's. We celebrated by eating pizza and drinking passion pop (aka bubbly-aka champagne in America). Another great day. Thank god I decided to move-these girls are so much fun and are becoming some of my really good friends. I
finally succumbed and transfered money from my savings account into my
checking (ugh..) to book some exciting upcoming events! I am doing the Sydney
Bridge Climb on Monday and the Hunter Valley Wine Tour next Sunday! Sooo excited
for both! We are also going to the huge Mardi Gras parade tomorrow night in the city. Wow, so much going on all the time. I love it here. Good times ahead…
