Microbiology – I have two lectures a week and a 3 hour “practical” every Wednesday. The lectures are pretty basic standard microbiology and it’s all stuff that I’ve gone over before in other science classes. The practical, on the other hand, is a little different. It’s held in a huge intimidating lab and every student is required to buy an actual lab coat. While these coats make me feel almost like a real scientist, the material they’re made of doesn’t actually breathe and it can get stifling hot. The coordinator who runs the lab is also pretty intimidating so this should make for an interesting time. 

Oceans, Coasts, and Climate Change – also consists of 2 lectures and then a 2 hour practical that takes place entirely in a computer lab on a complicated program called  ARCGIS, which I’ve never used before. Again, this should be pretty interesting. The course itself seems like it should be interesting, but the lecturer is just extremely boring and I find it really hard to stay awake. 

Outdoor Education – This is one of those classes that are made specifically for exchange and abroad students. Everyone is an international student, mostly hailing from the United States or Canada, and it’s only 6 weeks long. We have a field trip next weekend to the Royal National Park and a few weeks after that we spend 3 days hiking and camping in the Blue Mountains. The class honestly feels like a self-improvement workshop and I’m not quite sure how the elements of the outdoors really fit into it but it’s easy so I’m not complaining. 

Sport and Culture – This is another one of the classes geared towards international students. We have one lecture a week and a TON of field trips we have to go on that all involve sports events and the sporting culture in Australia. The professor doesn’t want us to take notes and i quote, “no getting wasted at the rugby games, that’s my job.” We actually had a field trip today for this class to Maroubra Beach where we watched the Nippers, which is basically just a community-run program for little kids that are in almost every town on the coast in Australia. It trains them to be strong swimmers and future lifeguards. 

I have to say that the culture of uni is very different from the US, as well. Everyone dressed up really nice and the clubs have tons of events that you can go to. For instance, this week I attended the Jewish Org’s “Beers and Bagels” where they basically just gave out free beers and bagels. It was held in the bar that is ON CAMPUS (which would never fly at Penn State). Every Wednesday night there are also really big themed parties in the “colleges” on campus which is the same thing as a glorified fraternity. All of the houses look like castles and everyone is extremely nice and friendly (and good looking). This week we went to a “work out” themed party and a luau and it was probably one of my favorite nights here.  

Getting involved in clubs and taking classes with field trips was definitely a wise choice because they let you meet new people and they take you to totally different parts of Sydney that I honestly would have never ventured out to see on my own. Example: I went to Rose Bay which is this gorgeous area by Bondi Beach with the Sailing Club and i saw some of the nicest houses I’ve ever seen. Maroubra was also really gorgeous. I’m excited for Royal National Park, too.

But for now, I have to start getting ready and doing some work for this week. It’s honestly really hard to start when I feel like I’m living in paradise.