FIRST DAY OF CLASS!

So yesterday (Monday) was the first day of classes! I definitely felt like it was my first day of college all over again, I had no idea where I was going, I didn't know what to expect in classes, etc. All in all, it went pretty well. I had my Australian Legends class for 2 hours in the morning and that looks like it is going to be pretty interesting! Then I had to practically run (and I didn't know where I was going) to my next class which was Animal Behaviour. Its strange, like according to your schedule there is no time between classes because they start and end on the hour. But supposedly they are supposed to end 5 minutes early and then start 5 minutes late giving people 10 minutes to move. Well, mine ended on the hour and the next one started on the hour so needless to say I was late. Oops! That one also ended on the hour so I had to run to my next one (which did start late so that was good!). That was the tutorial for my Australian Legends class. It's a group of about 25 students where you have discussions etc. so that will get interesting. I look forward to that. The animal behaviour class wasn't anything too exciting... she pretty much just read off slides of a powerpoint but oh well. Classes are different in the sense that there aren't as many tests as we have in the states. They do a lot more projects (some group, some individual), and write a lot more papers. It was also interesting because the students are a lot more involved in lectures. When the professor asks a question (that in the states would probably be rhetorical) like 10 people will put their hand up with an idea for the answer and a discussion will start. It's crazy! That was hard to get used to, I just kind of sat back and took it all in but hopefully I will start to become involved more.

I went and visited one of my friends who is living in the dorms and that was pretty cool. I kind of felt like I was in a castle (very Harry Potter like again!) and there were a lot of people around. I wish I lived in the dorms for the sole reason of having so many people to meet and so much to do, but I am also very happy with my decision to live off-campus because I get out a lot more and have more of my own space, and I am enjoying the quiet for once! It was a beautiful day so I walked both to and from school. It is a little over 1 mile to get there. It is uphill on the way TO school and downhill on the WAY BACK. I then went for a run along the boardwalk which was nice because the weather was BEAUTIFUL! It was probably the warmest it has been here yet. I just hung out, relaxed, and caught up with everything last night and it was super relaxing. Off to another day of classes and this one includes LAB! Yikes! I'll let you know how it goes :/ haha I just don't have any clue what to expect!

Wish me luck!

Val :)