Sydney Uni

 

The Great Hall

First week of Uni complete.  Only 12 more for semester 1.  I'm pretty happy to be a student again, though I forgot how many undergrad students there are.  One major difference between Oz grad school and US undergrad is that my schedule is different every week.  I'm not sure if its a grad school thing, or an Oz thing, or a Sydney Uni thing.  I have three classes that meet weekly for lectures and tutorials, though one of those classes didn't meet last week.  I also have 3 classes that meet only 1 week, have a few online discussions, write a paper, and be done with it.  I had one of those this week.  It met friday 9-530 and saturday 9-330, I have to participate on online discussion, write a 1500 word essay, and thats it.  Its strange, though I may like it once I get used to it.  it does eat a lot of my Saturdays (week 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8) and might make it difficult to hold a job (though I only just started looking today, and not very intently). 

So this week I had:

• Epidemiology- I still don't really know what it is, lol
• Bio-stats- This class will most likely make me cry
• Public Health Achievements and Challenges- This was one of those meet once, write a paper and be done with it classes.  It met Friday and Saturday all day, but I don't have this class again.

Another difference is that every class has an online component.  I think most schools are going this route, I just don't prefer it.  I get overwhelmed dealing with one class online, let alone 6.  There are online discussions, assignments, emails (yet another email to check), announcements, etc.  It just gets overwhelming.  But I'll adjust. 

I get all giddy and excited when they are lecturing on something I care about (like health disparities, or comparing the US to AU) and have a hard time staying awake when they lecture on things I don't care about (chronic disease, health promotion).  So I guess its a good thing that I'm back in school then.  I can hone in on things I care about, and narrow my field a bit.