In case you're wondering, there are three different types of classes for each course here: lectures, seminars, and tutorials. Each one is designed for a different purpose, and they are at different times, in different rooms, sometimes with different professors. The idea is, I suppose, to make us as confused as possible.
That being said, my first week of classes is complete. They are so totally different from classes at St. Rose. I only have four, because study-abroad students are only ALLOWED to take four. I guess that is so over-ambitious people like me don't take on too many and not fully enjoy their stay here. Also, I have not met one person who has class on Fridays. I have two classes with 8 people in them, and two with about 75 people in them. The dichotomy between the two extremes is unbelievable, especially because St. Rose generally falls right in the middle.
My first class was Australian Popular Culture. I think every single American is in this class. There are about 80 people in it, and it is a three hour class, plus a one-hour tutorial on a different day. The lecture only goes for about an hour, and then we watch an "Australian" movie - like, two weeks from now we are watching Crocodile Dundee. It seems pretty easy.
My next class was Spanish 3. Seeing as I was supposed to be in Spanish 4, the level of this class worried me. However, it seemed to be okay, aside from the fact that only 3.5 of the 8 people in the class understood what the teacher was saying in this all-Spanish class. She is a typical Spanish teacher, very enthusiastic but very scatterbrained. For example, she told us all to come at 10 for our tutorial, despite the fact that our schedules said 11, so I went at 10 - just to be on the safe side. Well, upon asking her when I was supposed to be there (and her not even recognizing me), she decided class was "at 12...oh no no...11...oh wait, maybe 12...no, definitely 11." It's going to be a long semester with this one. Thank goodness she's nice.
Tuesday evening I had Australian History. The coursepack was over 50 dollars and it is HUGE. I had a bad feeling coming into this class, because I have not taken history since high school. Luckily, two of my friends are in the same boat. We walked into the lecture hall of around 60 people and then listened to our professor talk a MILLION miles an hour for a solid 45 minutes. Then we were done. It was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed - we didn't have time to get bored (let alone breathe) because we were so consumed with writing. I zoned out for 5 seconds and missed 3 slides. Incredible.
Finally, I had Sociolinguistics. At 8am. There are 8 people in the class, 6 of which are adult graduate students. This is definitely going to be my most challenging class, but it also seems to be the most interesting. The people in it come from all different countries and linguistic backgrounds, and it was soo interesting to learn and compare basic social issues, like what to call disabled people and how the word "time" is compared to money. I loved my last linguistics course, and I have a funny feeling I am going to love this one as well.
All of the classes basically have two tests and one final paper with some assorted readings each week. That's it. I have zero homework so far, and I don't really know what to do with myself! I'm sure that will change next week though, once we really start learning.
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