Classes started Monday. I had one class on Monday: Australian Popular Culture. It was a 3 hour lecture, and we were all worried. We arrived and there were about 200 kids in a large auditorium. The teacher asked who in the room was from the United States, and 98% of the class raised their hands... typical. We soon found out that the class is 3 hours because she lectures for 1 hour, and then we watch either a movie or a TV show from Australia. Nice... Class 1, Australian Popular Culture, no problem.
Tuesday was a bit more full of classes. I started off the day with Australia: Dreamtime to Dust. Sounds easy right? Maybe a class about napping? Not quite. I find out that this class will be more about the geological and sociological history of Australia. Our first lesson was about how the country physically came about and how life first originated on the continent. Later in the semester we will follow the unique species of animals and how that inhabited the country, as well as the history of the Aboriginal culture. Not quite the nap time I was expecting, but it should still be a very interesting course.
Later I had Australian History. Our professor was the fastest talking Australian I have ever witnessed. My hand was incredibly tired after I was finished taking notes in the 2 hour lecture. (I know, poor me right?). Wednesday morning I had Database Management. There was about 30 people in the class. 29 of which were dudes. Gotta love IT. That will be my toughest class (Shocker right?). Every class is usually paired up with a tutorial for a more intimate setting, but those don't occur Week 1. So far, I have a perfect attendance record.
I don't have any classes on Thursday so I met up with some guys from the golf team to play a round this morning. I was really intimidated as I assumed they would all be incredible golfers. My legs were shaking on the first tee I'm pretty sure, but I managed to hit it down the middle. After I finally relaxed a little bit, I got to know the guys and began to get very excited for our trip to Perth.
(For those of you that don't know, I paid to go on a trip to Perth in Western Australia for a week for what is called the Australia University Games or Uni Games. Bond University is sending teams in soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf, rugby, basketball and swimming. We will compete all week against teams from other universities across Australia. Bond finished 3rd overall in golf last year, and we're looking for an even better finish this year. Last year, in terms of points per player, Bond had the most in the University Games. Other, larger schools send many more teams, and thus get more overall points, so the points are also divided up per competitor per school. There is also an entire list of social activities for the week. We get VIP access in all the clubs and have themed parties every night: team colours, retro sports, beauty and the geek, emergency services, gender bender, and go for the gold. It should be a fun week. If that wasn't enough, we get a package of Bond attire which includes a track suit, shirt, golf uniform, cap, water bottle, shorts, and a few other novelties. One of the guys today said it was the highlight of his college experience. Needless to say, it will be the highlight of my time in Australia)
Anyway, the 4 of us got to know each other well enough to start cracking jokes at each other by the end of the round. My brain still hurts from converting meters into yards all day, but it was a great experience nonetheless. I should fit right in with the golf team. Some better, some worse. But we'll all have a great time in Perth together. That trip is in 2 weeks.
After golf we were going to go to the beach, but it was a little cold and we missed the original bus. So we just decided to play sand volleyball on campus instead. We played for a while, met some people, then relaxed in the hot tub by the pool. Just another typical day in paradise...
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