In Which John Starts Classes

The first day of classes was great. I didn't have my first class until 6 in the evening so I had time to do other things during the day (such as do laundry and drop a class).

I ate in the student area for the first time. Oh, just so you guys back home get an idea for the campus, the bookstore, travel agency, study abroad office, post office, dentist, "In-Con," cafeteria, library, and student union are all in the exact same location (often in the same building). This makes running errands very simple. The cafeteria definitely beats the Diners at UMD. There's a sandwich place, and a vegetarian place, and a cafe place, and a Mexican place, and a Thai place, among others. Australians are big on Thai. It's like the way we Americans love Mexican food. Asia is to Australia as Mexico is to America.

I booked my Spring Break trip to New Zealand (I still need to arrange flights, but at least I have one part of the process taken care of). I'll be spending 9 days there and will get to do many things. Hopefully I'll run into Jemaine or Bret.

This week is when all the organizations on campus come out to recruit the new students (by the way, Australia starts their school year in Spring, not in Fall like us, so there are new freshmen everywhere). After gathering many bibles from the 40 Christian groups, I finally found what I was looking for: the theater group. There are two, one for musicals and one for other. I joined the other (they charge a fee to join since there is no actual dept on campus, nor classes, so they have to get money somehow). It was $10, but it bought me a ticket for their upcoming show, and gives me discounts for future shows (although hopefully I'll just be in those). The first auditions are coming up next week, and the students seemed very nice and personable. I'm so glad I found them. (I also joined a film group, but they just watch films and discuss them, rather than make them. I'll still give them a chance.)

My first class was LING120: Exploring English. It's all about grammar. Several students in the class thought "how" was a verb (the correct answer was "is"). Some weren't even sure of what nouns were. This class may end up being very easy.

The second day of classes were a little less fun. My first class was Introduction to Indigenous Studies. The professor talked to us as if we were Australians with knowledge of Aboriginal Studies. Most of us were Americans, since I recognized many from the airport or the Village. We have to do one of those "finding an article a week" assignments. (In Australia, assignments are called "assessments.")

My second class was Australian Media, and it was by far the biggest class I've ever taken. In this one, we're required to watch a lot of Australian TV. That might sound like fun at first, but I think it could get tedious.

I finally signed up for all my discussion sections, so I am officially set for all of my classes. I have nothing on Wednesdays or Fridays, so I guess I can make it to the Inc Show.