Hi everyone! We’re halfway through the first week of classes and so far it’s been pretty good. The only problem is that I still have so many conflicts with classes, my advisor only has me enrolled in two classes! She promised this will be fixed by the latest on Friday so fingers crossed I have a permanent schedule by then! This week has been a nice ease in to academics again. No labs or tutorials were held this week and lots of fun events have been going on to get everyone involved with campus life. We had O (rientation) Day on Monday and I signed up for the bushwalkers club and emailed about interest in some sports teams. It’s very exciting to go to a school that has a syllabus week and be on a campus that isn’t run on city blocks. There are so many good places to eat and my lecturers are all very knowledge and engaging. One thing I really appreciate is that all my textbooks are available at the library and any online homework I need to do, I am given free access to. I think this is a great system because it lessens the financial burden on students and allows them to join more clubs (which you have to pay a very small fee for) or sports.
The campus itself is huge! It is divided into two parts, Camperdown and Darlington. Luckily, all my classes are in the Camperdown part, which is closer to where I live here. Though I still have to go to Darlington for any administrative things or for some really good food. There are also so many libraries here and they all have so many resources and study areas. This is a big change from Drexel for sure!
Campus has really picked up this week. Last week when we were walking around trying to find our way there was hardly anyone else there, this week it’s packed. The school has over 50,000 enrolled students and is one of the most popular study abroad schools in Australia. I have met students both on campus in classes and where I live from all over the world, which is making this an even more culturally enriching experience. It’s interesting to hear about international politics, schools and trends throughout the day. About half the people I talk to know where Philadelphia is, the rest I just explain that it’s between New York City and D.C.
I think all the native students think I’m going a little over board with academics. I’m used to jumping right in with Drexel and having homework the first day, so here I am ready to get my books and begin studying. But these students are much more laid back and take this week as just syllabus week and begin the hard work next week. It’s interesting to see the differences between us, and I will try to chill a bit, but I want to get high marks this term!
