I'm now heading in to my second week of school. It's all fun and games until the real work starts! During Orientation Week, there was not a care in the world... and no one seems to have any cares still as uni drives forward. I'm not sure if I'm too tightly wound or OCD about completing my work, but everyone here seems to be unconcerned with the work that is slowly starting to pile up. It's not uncommon to hear a fellow student explain how they're probably going to miss a lecture or two this upcoming week, and the next, and the next... I'm not saying it's wrong; people here seem to do pretty well. It's just much different than Colgate. Another weird thing about uni is the age demographic of the student population. I have several classes with older students (as in older than 25). In my Indigenous Studies course, there are about 150 students. However, that's only in the lecture. In the tutorial, which occurs during a separate two hours of the week, I am accompanied by 20 other students in a small classroom. Of those 20 students, about 4 are over the age of 40. Strange, right? Having the older crowd as part of my academic experience may be a good thing actually. They can relate to the subject matter from an older time period than any of us young adults can.
Contrary to popular belief, you can get in trouble for drinking in Australia (despite being over 18 years old). Campus East has instilled several policies in hopes of alleviating excessive intoxication, such as: no drinking games, no drinking parties that have more than nine people, and no carrying open glass containers around campus. I would hate to be on the other end of the RA's pen and writing pad. Which, speaking of RA's, it is a strange thing to be a resident now (instead of an RA). My RA, Neil, is really great--outgoing, personable, and generally interested in the welfare of his residents. Tonight, my roommates and I met with him to go over our room contract. The contract included items such as when to turn the lights off, when it should be quite in the room, who takes out the trash when, etc. I'm so used to having my residents fill these forms out; I felt almost juvenile filling out the forms with my RA. I guess coming to Australia is a reality check... I'm not always going to be the boss, or rather, the mentor (who should know everything about uni life).
I finally found a Catholic church in Fairy Meadow, which is the town I live in. I was reminded by an e-mail from the Colgate Chaplain that Lent begins tomorrow--I need to put some serious thought in to how I would like to improve myself and my spiritual life.
When I first heard Colgate had a snow day today, I was disappointed that I wasn't there for the first snow day in approximately 40 years. Almost a split-second later, I was slapped back into reality as I thought about how I went to the beach yesterday and swam in the ocean. Yes, I do miss Colgate.. but a beach in walking distance? warm weather daily? access to a different culture and attractions? I'll take Australia any day. Speaking of Colgate, I've been thinking a lot about the services Colgate provides, in relation to UOW (University of Wollongong). I've come up with a short list so far of pros and cons:
Pros: Colgate gives you everything for free (seemingly). Yes, we do pay $52,000 a year, which is the going rate for a private liberal arts institution. However, you're not reminded every single second of how much money you're spending, like here at UOW. Literally everything costs money. You want a gym membership? That's $58/month. You want to get a towel at the gym (which is required for entry)? That's $2.50 to hire (or rent as we say in the U.S.) You want Internet (which is a limited amount)? That's $150. You want to copy or print a sheet of paper? That's $0.11 a page. You go through a full day at uni feeling like you're spending your savings away! Thank God at Colgate you're not reminded all the time of how much money you're spending to go to school there.
Cons: Colgate babies its students, even the upperclassmen. At UOW, it's every man for himself. For example, you have to arrange your own class schedule so that classes don't overlap. At Colgate, the class registration system won't even let you register for two classes if it detects they overlap. At UOW, you have to find books teachers' assign yourself and copy them. At Colgate, professors scan the articles for you, transpose them as PDF's, and post them to a website. All you have to do is click print. At UOW, professors don't care if you're late because the bus didn't come on it's regularly scheduled time--everyone rides the bus to school. At Colgate, it literally takes no more than 15 minutes to walk to any building on campus.
This is the list I've generated so far, but I'm sure I'll think of more. I actually try not to think about Colgate because this is my time to grow as an individual outside the walls of Hamilton. I'm growing, as lame at that sounds, but it's more like the "real world" in Wollongong. I have to be sensible about the money I spend, I have to schedule my arrivals to school, I don't have three advisers holding my hand throughout my college years, and there's no one telling me what's right/wrong to do.
Wow that was a really long tangent... but all things I've been thinking about lately.
I'll be sure to update more soon!
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