University

I've totally dropped the ball. This I know. So much for a daily update on my thoughts of Australia. I'll do what I can for the next ten days, perhaps beyond. I've been saying goodbye to friends every now and again which had proved to be an emotionally draining exercise. It's different now than leaving JMU because I knew that I would see those friends again. Or at least the ones I wanted to. These friends I hope to see again, but don't know when or where that'll be. Talk has emerged of a reunion in some country at a uncertain time, but we'll have to see what goes down.

Today I'll be looking at the experience I've had with University in Australia. After completing a four year degree at JMU, I wasn't really sure what to expect from a Graduate level course. I knew straight away that it would be a bit easier simply because the subjects I was set to study fell into what I was interested in - namely books and sport.

The outlook of Uni here is quite different. First of all, there are far fewer Universities throughout all of Australia. Which makes sense, considering the population boasts a bit more than 20 million people. So the need for more Universities isn't close to the same as it is in the US. The whole college experience is quite different, with many students commuting to a campus in or around the Sydney area, and far less people coming from afar.

The year I took classes I learned how frustrating and slow the whole processes can be here. Lecturers have some of the "no worries" attitude that you see in the rest of the country. They'll turn in grades and hand back assignments whenever they feel like it, leaving you with little time to know what your academic standing is. The hours I spent in class each week was also much shorter, with just two hours of work per week per class. That meant a grand total of eight hours a week for four classes, a full course load for just 14 weeks. Not too shabby. I spent perhaps twenty hours a week between doing my readings and time in class all together. This, on top of working twenty hours a week made me pretty busy.

There were definite shortcomings in the experience I had. One of the biggest issues was the lack of fluent English speakers. This affected me during the first semester more than the second - and while it isn't necessarily a negative, it brings down the quality of education when not everyone can contribute on the same fashion. At the same time, it was impressive to have so many Chinese students in class who could more than hold their own with a second language. As I have said before, I wish I could do that.

On the whole, the experience was worth it - but mostly because of the extra things I did on the side, the friends I made, and the country I lived in. The education alone wouldn't have cut it, but because of the extracurriculars that I've picked up along the way, it's been an enlightening time.