Today I started my classes! After trying to find the right room and sitting down on my own, clearly being the only international student. I got my first taste of what it was going to be like to study in the USA for the next 16 weeks.
Each class as you would expect was different, however there are similarities between them. Bare in mind I only had three today so my other two could be completely different. They are all based on a sort of lecture/seminar mash-up. There are around 30 people in the class and in each class a syllabus was handed out.
What was inside this syllabus was different however, each one had the details of the professor, and a 'timeline' of each week and what we were studying the reading assignments and the such like. However one syllabus I got had a load of grammatical notes in the back, basic stuff that I would have thought would be taught a lot lower down the school system. The details on the books also differed, whether you were given the full details ISBN number and everything or just the surname and title of the book. Also some of the professors read through the syllabus and some just left us to read it on our own. It was very interesting to see the different ways the professors act and teach even. I could even tell this through meeting three different people today. Two were very question, engaging and discussion centered and based and one was very lecture but if you have a questions please ask. I noticed that when reading the week by week planner, three topics that were covered in me lecture at my home university were taking up almost a whole weeks worth of classes. How crazy is that?! Also almost every professor explained what a primary and secondary sources was. To me this seems like pretty basic stuff but I guess they may have some student who haven't done a lot of history before and need it explaining to them.
It is so interesting seeing how they teach, and how different it is to England's ways. For example, when standing in line to see whether some letters had the right postage on them, I heard a girl behind me saying she hadn't decided on her major! Can you imagine going to uni and not knowing what you want to study? I know it can be normal out here to wait until third year to decide fully what your major is. I also know that even in England some people change there degrees after the first year, but it just seems crazy to go to college and spend all this money and not know what you want to get out of it.
However I must say the assessment process seems a lot easier and geared towards continuous assessment. Again each module is different but it seems to be pretty standard to write and essay or two or three, do a midterm exam and a final exam all that are worth credit. Seems pretty straight right, what I didn't realize was that 10% of my grade comes from class participation and attendance! Seems crazy and they have rules on attendance! Tardiness is counted as absence, we cannot use laptop computers in class - has to be old style pen and paper, we cannot leave the classroom for any reason. Alice's professor said if you leave do not bother coming back. It's crazy to think something like that! I mean if you need the loo or whatever, for example I have on a monday, Wednesday and Friday, three classes one after the other. Admittedly I do not have to go far for them but still what if one runs late. It seems so different to uni in England, it feels more like school than uni! Although I think some of the information and topics may be hard to digest and I can already one modules being hard.
After eating lunch, getting organized relatively, I skyped my parents whilst being sat on the grove. I signed up for a few trips as well, off to new Orleans, Memphis and Beale street. So looking forward to them. Picked myself up a planner which I know will really help get at least my student life and timetable sorted. My afternoon was quite relaxing, my sunburn is not helping matters it is really sore and slanting on chairs etc can be painful if I get the wrong spot.
Once back at Trails I chilled with Hannah, I ordered one of the books I need and emailed my other professors about textbooks and explained about being a foreign exchange student etc, and most of them were extremely understanding and helpful. Either offering alternatives or suggesting routes to getting books etc. it was really useful and I am glad Molly told me to get to know the professors, I will definitely be visiting some of them in their office hours if not making an appointment to see them. I think got the opportunity to Skype Matt as well and update him about my day and tell him about all the weird and wonderful things that are going on over here. The time difference makes it hard but to be honest I am managing to power through and make it work to talk to most of my friends. There are a few I wish I could talk to more but I am sure that will come with time.
My evening consisted of doing a little bit of research and work towards an assignment - I wanted a little head start in my reading before studying hard tomorrow. I then went over the Alice's apartment and Doumhall and Gill were there so, we watching ridiculousness it is a crazy programme basically showing people's silly stunts or funny videos from YouTube! It is brilliant for a bit but we came into a marathon - and these in America last for the whole day. So it got a little boring. I left just as the American Inbetweeners started. I have watched the film but I can not stand the programme. This one was just bad acting and from the reactions of people around me it was a lot worse than the English version.
Anyway back home and chilling getting my head straight for tomorrow. Tomorrow is another adventure.
Each class as you would expect was different, however there are similarities between them. Bare in mind I only had three today so my other two could be completely different. They are all based on a sort of lecture/seminar mash-up. There are around 30 people in the class and in each class a syllabus was handed out.
What was inside this syllabus was different however, each one had the details of the professor, and a 'timeline' of each week and what we were studying the reading assignments and the such like. However one syllabus I got had a load of grammatical notes in the back, basic stuff that I would have thought would be taught a lot lower down the school system. The details on the books also differed, whether you were given the full details ISBN number and everything or just the surname and title of the book. Also some of the professors read through the syllabus and some just left us to read it on our own. It was very interesting to see the different ways the professors act and teach even. I could even tell this through meeting three different people today. Two were very question, engaging and discussion centered and based and one was very lecture but if you have a questions please ask. I noticed that when reading the week by week planner, three topics that were covered in me lecture at my home university were taking up almost a whole weeks worth of classes. How crazy is that?! Also almost every professor explained what a primary and secondary sources was. To me this seems like pretty basic stuff but I guess they may have some student who haven't done a lot of history before and need it explaining to them.
It is so interesting seeing how they teach, and how different it is to England's ways. For example, when standing in line to see whether some letters had the right postage on them, I heard a girl behind me saying she hadn't decided on her major! Can you imagine going to uni and not knowing what you want to study? I know it can be normal out here to wait until third year to decide fully what your major is. I also know that even in England some people change there degrees after the first year, but it just seems crazy to go to college and spend all this money and not know what you want to get out of it.
However I must say the assessment process seems a lot easier and geared towards continuous assessment. Again each module is different but it seems to be pretty standard to write and essay or two or three, do a midterm exam and a final exam all that are worth credit. Seems pretty straight right, what I didn't realize was that 10% of my grade comes from class participation and attendance! Seems crazy and they have rules on attendance! Tardiness is counted as absence, we cannot use laptop computers in class - has to be old style pen and paper, we cannot leave the classroom for any reason. Alice's professor said if you leave do not bother coming back. It's crazy to think something like that! I mean if you need the loo or whatever, for example I have on a monday, Wednesday and Friday, three classes one after the other. Admittedly I do not have to go far for them but still what if one runs late. It seems so different to uni in England, it feels more like school than uni! Although I think some of the information and topics may be hard to digest and I can already one modules being hard.
After eating lunch, getting organized relatively, I skyped my parents whilst being sat on the grove. I signed up for a few trips as well, off to new Orleans, Memphis and Beale street. So looking forward to them. Picked myself up a planner which I know will really help get at least my student life and timetable sorted. My afternoon was quite relaxing, my sunburn is not helping matters it is really sore and slanting on chairs etc can be painful if I get the wrong spot.
Once back at Trails I chilled with Hannah, I ordered one of the books I need and emailed my other professors about textbooks and explained about being a foreign exchange student etc, and most of them were extremely understanding and helpful. Either offering alternatives or suggesting routes to getting books etc. it was really useful and I am glad Molly told me to get to know the professors, I will definitely be visiting some of them in their office hours if not making an appointment to see them. I think got the opportunity to Skype Matt as well and update him about my day and tell him about all the weird and wonderful things that are going on over here. The time difference makes it hard but to be honest I am managing to power through and make it work to talk to most of my friends. There are a few I wish I could talk to more but I am sure that will come with time.
My evening consisted of doing a little bit of research and work towards an assignment - I wanted a little head start in my reading before studying hard tomorrow. I then went over the Alice's apartment and Doumhall and Gill were there so, we watching ridiculousness it is a crazy programme basically showing people's silly stunts or funny videos from YouTube! It is brilliant for a bit but we came into a marathon - and these in America last for the whole day. So it got a little boring. I left just as the American Inbetweeners started. I have watched the film but I can not stand the programme. This one was just bad acting and from the reactions of people around me it was a lot worse than the English version.
Anyway back home and chilling getting my head straight for tomorrow. Tomorrow is another adventure.
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