I cannot believe I have only been on these foreign shores for a month. It literally feels like an age has past, I have changed and my outlook on life has been altered dramatically. I know this sounds completely over dramatic but seriously if you ever need an eye-opening experience on just how big the world actually is, go and live in a different country for a while...it changes everything.
I am two and a half weeks into classes now and I am currently typing this blog instead of doing much needed reading! Mid-terms are just around the corner, a concept I was not exactly prepared for. I mean the tasks set aren't impossible but they just crept up suddenly! After being used to having a couple of essays due in week 7 with that amount of time to prepare, these assignments seem to hit you in the face out of nowhere! The structure of these assignments also came as a surprise to me. From day one at UEA I was expected to gather sources from the library independently, use correct citations and compile a decent bibliography. Here, all of my assignments only want the use of reading set in class and one off them doesn't even require formal citations or a bibliography. I am not complaining, my reason for being here is definitely not purely academic!
I also feel that I have been very lucky with my professors. Each one has an obvious passion and dedication to their subject which is inspiring and I can happily say that I have enjoyed all of my lectures so far. Even the American way of delivering lectures has an interactive element which makes the experience less formal than UEA whilst retaining a high standard of knowledge. Some of them even throw in humour occasionally! To keep this blog on the subject that it what intended to report on, I have noticed a few slight differences between classes here and in the UK. Firstly, people here still go to 'school' and have 'homework'. I think if I said that at home I would get some very funny looks....haven't we moved on from the restrictions of school?? Are we not now academic scholars? Perhaps, but in the US restrictions that applied in high school I suspect have remained somewhat unchanged at college level. Class attendance is sometimes far more strict than at home and the professors put more emphasis on turning up to every lecture. Also, I don't think I will ever get used to the concept of mixed classes. In most cases, a class can be filled with students from every year group which impacts the level at which the Professor can teach as they need to consider students who have maybe never taken a class like theirs before. To add to that, because students do not have to stick to one subject, the professors may find a biology major in their history class who has never written a college level history paper before. I quite like the freedom this system offers, although I am not sure if there are long term benefits.
OK, enough of the boring stuff, the weekends are most certainly the light at the end of a very long week and it feels so good to be able to enjoy them again. Last academic year I gave up every weekend for a job. I enjoyed it, and the money was great, but wow it feels good to just be able to lie in a bed without a care or an agenda. So far my weekends have been wonderful; parties on Friday with possibly some drinking involved (I swear now it is illegal I have a dire need to consume as much as possible), pass out until sometime into Saturday and then start it all over again Saturday night. I cannot say how glad I am that I picked the West Coast....so chilled out. Watching American football on a Saturday night with a group is also very entertaining. I am still trying to pick up the rules and I am always startled by shouts and sudden jumps of celebration when I don't even have a clue where the ball is on the field. But it is great fun. I guess my adopted house, as I called them in my last entry, still like me because I seem to find myself over there for practically the whole weekend and I am sure it has nothing to do with my awesome knowledge of Skyrim, insane PS3 skills or mutual love for Dr. Who! I have learnt so many new words and phrases too although they sound just awful when I try to use them! This will sound so naive but I also get too overexcited about visiting classic American chain restaurants...Taco Bell was so goooooood.
Right now, days consist of class, laying on the lawn, reading in the sun, meeting with friends, drinking at the weekend and watching American football and some awesome American programs (yes they do exist, thanks for showing them to me).....sounds pretty perfect to me.
Have an awesome day
Sarah
