Nerd at Heart
Here's what I learned on my first day of school:
(1) No one, and I mean no one here types lecture notes on a laptop. I brought mine with today and ended up making a trip home just to drop it off. Not only is it heavy and annoying, people here warn you about theft every time you take your wallet out.
(2) Classes are self-monitering- most don't have quizes or biweekly tests to make sure you are keeping up. Environment and Society has an essay worth 25% and an exam worth 75% in its grades breakdown accompanied by a recommended reading list 2 pages long.... gulp...
(3) The British are tremendously fashionable (not that I just noticed this today, but I can't help myself). So many people wear nice shoes. I know that's a shallow comment, but being British is all about wearing tight pants (yes, guys included), having a styled mane, and of course, stripes. An alinternation friend of mine even had a "British Party" to make fun of them (maybe I'll snap you pictures tomorrow)
(4) After riding the bus today, it's hard to get used to driving on the other side of the road. Every time the bus makes a right turn I feel my heart drop. But I've gotten better at knowing which way to look before crossing the road (don't worry, I always look both ways anyway)
(5) I am such a nerd. I think I actually missed learning. My Environment and Society class is soo interesting and is such an artsci course. The professor describes it as examining the middle ground between the the science and politics/sociological issues concerning the environment. Prof seems nice and very engaging, class is interesting, and interdisciplinary.
(6) Chemistry here is nuts. If I choose to remain in this course, I will have FIVE, yes FIVE hours of chemistry lectures a week in addition to some form of a tutorial. I just signed out 3 giant textbooks from the library for chem (yes, you can do that for most classes here) and they resemble a telephone book. oy. I am still thinking of dropping it- it's not as inspiring as my other classes and I can still get into some med schools without it... hmm
(7) Plan, plan, plan. Organization is key (okay so I didn't exactly just stumble up on this lesson today). I need to organize better. I need a job (I had an interview today, the guy wants me to canvass door to door and work 25 hours a week- I told him I'm only legally allowed to work 20 hours a week because I'm here on a student visa, but I'll likely be turning down this job- no more door to door for me.)THe saga continues.
posted by Rachel @ 11:09 AM
2 Comments:
When I bought a laptop before coming to Leeds, I thought I'd bring it to lectures all the time, but I haven't done it once yet (in two years)! I took it in once when the department's computers weren't working but I didn't use it in lectures, there's just no point. Anyway, I'm often drawing diagrams in lectures and that's much easier by hand.
About "self-monitoring" lectures, that applies to pretty much every module I've ever taken. Sometimes the department does a roll call on the way out, but that's rare. I had one lecturer who made everyone sign next to their name on a sheet he passed round, but he's a one-off. The university's attitude is: if you don't go to any lectures, you'll fail; if you miss a few, that's probably ok; either way, you've paid to come here, so if you don't make the most of it, you're just fooling yourself. So don't worry about missing things, just make sure you work out what you missed and things will work out - especially if you've got a few phone-book-sized textbooks handy :)
Wow Rach! Sounds like your classes (except Chem) are amazing! I am fully loving your blog entries, especially the one about entropy. i know exactly what you mean! Anyway, gotta go to a Grammar tutorial. Keep being fabulous Rach in England!
Post a Comment
<< Home