 A walk through the Curtin campus reveals beautiful flower gardens and large expanses of lawn. It'll be awhile before MTU's campus sees green, with 45 inches of snow on the ground and 227.6 inches of snow to date. (Click on photos for larger images.)
First week at the uni
Since classes started today, I originally planned for this entry to be informing you of my first day of classes including the campus, professors, and general atmosphere of uni (Australian slang for a college or university). However, after receiving my class schedule, I discovered that much to my surprise I had no class on Monday and only one or two classes per day for the rest of the week. This is one of the initial differences that I noticed between the class structure of Curtin and MTU. Attending Michigan Tech, I grew accustomed to classes either meeting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or on Tuesday and Thursday, usually at the same time each day. Down under, all of my classes meet once a week for roughly two hours and are followed at a completely different day and time with what is called a tutorial, which sounds similar to a recitation back at MTU. Therefore, my schedule is not the same any day of the week, which I think may make it more difficult to adjust.
Another difference I noticed when attending orientation is the fact that when students enter uni, they almost immediately begin courses in their program of study. While this is also the case back in the States, there are usually a number of general courses which are also completed in the first two years of college. Due to the way this is done in Australia, students seem to mainly associate with others of similar major. Although this may be more helpful in forming study groups, I enjoyed Michigan Tech’s efforts to allow us to meet students of other majors and interests.
 One of the most significant differences that I have noticed and am continuing to notice is the difference in the use of technology here in Australia. While the wireless network is relatively new to Michigan Tech, Curtin University has none to speak of, at least that is publicized to students. For a school of 26,000 students on the Bentley Campus alone, I would have thought that the use of technology would be much more prevalent and most likely more advanced. I found out from Penny and Larissa (the two advisors to Michigan Tech students here at Curtin) that the timetable for classes is only finalized during the last week before classes start, making it incredibly difficult to plan your schedule ahead of time. This came as quite a shock to me, knowing that I will schedule my classes for the fall semester back at MTU sometime during the month of March. The scheduling system at Curtin also is not completely electronic, as during one of my orientation sessions I was forced to sign up for one of the tutorials on a piece of paper sitting at the front of the classroom. I sure am glad I’m not one of the employees whose job it is to enter this information into the computer!
I wish I could write more about the atmosphere and general structure of the campus, but I’m sure that as I become more accustomed, this will come. Watch for that later in the semester!
Well, I think that’s it for this week, I am planning on going on a surfing weekend in a couple of days, so watch for more about that next week! As always, let me know if you have any comments or questions!
Until next week,
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