First Week of School!

Last week was the start of term, and I must say I was quite apprehensive going into it. I was told many things about the units here, not two of them being the same. I was told they were extremely difficult, I was told they were super easy, I was told there was no homework and I was told there was a ton of homework. The one thing that was a common factor was that there were only 1 or 2 tests and they were the majority of your grade. As it turns out some of my fears were confirmed, while others now seem ridiculous.

Monday 14 February

I just want to make note quick that Valentine's day is not a big deal here at all. I was extremely surprised there were no decorations, there wasn't even a special dessert at dinner. My teacher did say Happy Valentine's day but only remember because he heard it on the radio driving in. 

(Happy Valentine's Day!... Now get to class.)

I started off my Valentine's by getting up at 6 am. Yes 6 AM! I had to get ready and put on my suit, since it is business attire between 8 and 5:30. 

Traditional first day of school picture for mom! 

I went to breakfast and then went to Student Services because I checked my timetable, and everything had disappeared. I found out they weren't opening until 9 so I went back then, and got my it all worked out, and got all my classes 25 minutes before my first one was to start. I got to my first lecture (distribution decisions) at 10am and went until 12n then had a quick lunch and was back for my 12n- 2pm tutorial (distribution decisions).  My week pretty much continued in this fashion. 

Tuesday 15 February

Event management project lecture 8am-12pm

Wednesday 16 February

Strategic management lecture 10am-12n 

Went to talk to my counselor and dropped my tuesday class. Added a class (Intro to event management ) for Monday 8am-10am and Tuesday 2pm-4pm. 

Event promotion and sponsorship lecture 3pm-7pm

Thursday 17 February

No class. I slept in late and spent the day at the beach! 

Friday 18 February

Strategic Management Tutorial 1pm-3pm

I talked to the teacher after and switched this one to Wednesday morning 8am-10am. My weekends start Wednesday night! =]

So after all of the changes I made here is my timetable:

Monday: 8am-2pm

Tuesday: 2pm-4pm

Wednesday: 8am- 12n and 3pm-7pm

There are also a few things I want to share about my first experience with australian schooling. 

1.  They call high school, college. And college (where I am now) is called uni.  
2.  The classes here are all in blocks of 2 hours. However, the classes don't actually start until 15 past and end at the 45. So really they're an hour and a half. 
3. There are usually 2 parts to each class; a lecture and tutorial. The tutorial is usually small group work and case studies to better understand the material.
4. Their paper is skinnier and longer. It doesn't fit all the way in my folders, and its becoming an issue. 
5. Their grades are wacky! They don't use the standard A-F scale. Here is their grading scale:

      HD- High Distinction        85-100%     4.0

         D- Distinction               70-  84%     4.0

         C- Credit                      65-  74%     3.0

         P- Pass                       50- 64%      2.0

--------------------------------------------Passing Grades Above Line-------------------------------------------

      PC- Conceded Pass        45- 49%      0.0

        F-  Fail                          0-  44%      0.0

So remember if I say I got a D that is a GOOD THING! If I say I got and HD I expect a party when I get home, because this is nearly impossible, especially for foreign students!!!  I'm told if I get this then I should be able to teach the class. 

Yeeeew!

Friday 11 February
This was the beginning of the surf trip. We were told to meet at the front gate at 4:45 for the bus to pick us up. However the bus didn't show up until at least an hour later. We were all really mad because we didn't get a real dinner. However a few of us ran back and got in line right at 5:30 and so were able to bring stuff back to the bus stop. When the bus finally did show up it was a huge pink and black coach bus! We were told it would be about a 6 hour ride (once we got out of Manly) plus a stop for dinner. So we started off. Once we finally got on the Pacific Highway we played a get-to-know-you game, and then we watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall. After about 2 1/2 hours we stopped for dinner. It was just a basic side of the road truck stop. There was Maccers and a little cafe. We weren't allowed to bring any hot foods or milk based products i.e. milkshakes on the bus, so we basically had to scarf down our food. Then we got back on the bus and watched Blue Crush. Now let me just say this was a poor choice to show right before we're all about the learn to surf. I mean the movie is pretty much all about a girl getting over her fear of surfing after she smacked her head on rock and almost drowned. Anyways we watched that then had about 30 minutes left until we got to the camp.

This is our bus

Saturday 12 February
We finally arrived at the camp at 1 am. We split off into different groups for cabins. There were 12 people per cabin, with 6 sets of bunk beds. Once we got in the cabin we were told we would be woken up at 7 am for brekkie. I feel safe speaking for everyone that we were not happy when we heard that. So we went to bed, and were woken up soon after as promised. Brekkie consisted of bread and cereal... go figure, and also some fruit. After about 15 minutes we were all sunscreening up and given our wetsuits!
We walked down to beach, which wasn't that far, but then we had to walk waaaay down the beach, and back through the woods to the road to get the surf boards. Finally we got to the beach and started our lesson. This is what I learned during my lesson:
1. The fin goes into the water.
2. When laying down, your feet should touch the back end of the board. If you are too far forward you will nose dive. (I learned this from experience)
3. When pushing up your hands should be by your chest! If your hands are up farther you won't be stable and so will fall. (I learned this from experience as well)
4. You have to paddle hard and fast so you catch the wave, otherwise it will just wash by. (Unless its huge in which case it will clobber you.)
5. When standing up you have to make sure your back foot is completely flat and stable before standing up the rest of the way.
6. Take your time! There is no rush to stand up.
7. The hardest part of surfing is getting out far enough to catch a wave.
8. The waves will constantly dominate you! Over and over and over again!
9. Yeeeew! = Wow, way to catch that great wave mate!

I'm going surfing!

After our lesson we went in the water without boards to get used to the water and wetsuits. We umped waves and this was a ton of fun! After that we finally got our boards, and spread out so we wouldn't run into each other. The instructors helped by pushing you onto the wave, and I was up on my knees on the first wave! After practicing a while I had been close to getting up a few times, but my hand kept slipping and I kept getting the wind knocked out of me when I hit the board, and I kept being overtaken by waves. So when the other group showed up after a few hours I got out and just relaxed on the beach for a bit. I was really tired so I went back about 15 minutes early to relax in the hammocks before lunch.
Lunch was sandwiches, and a variety of salads. Right after lunch we were back on the beach for our second session. I was so tired and sick of being completely pounded by waves that I wasn't really looking forward to it. But one of the instructors basically dragged me out and then I had a blast! I stood up a few times on my own! (Pictures to come soon hopefully!) And I didn't get overtaken by one wave the entire session. Once the other group showed up I got out and relaxed for a little bit, and realized I was getting sunburnt on my face, so I made a unique headwrap out of my towel!

After resting I decided to go back in. First wave I was completely taken under, swung around, upside down and everything. I inhaled a ton of salt water, and so I was done for the day. After this session we went back and got showered and cleaned up for dinner. Dinner was a BBQ and so I had 2 sausages which were amazing and a steak and then an assortment of salads. That night we went down the beach and had a bonfire. I went back pretty early with some other girls because we were so beat and sore from the days sessions.

Sunday 13 February
We were awoken again at 7 am for our third and final session. We had breakfast and went down to the beach. I was way to sore that I didn't even go in the water. The surfboard had actually beaten me up the day before, I had 4 bruises on my inside thighs, 3 big ones on the outside of my left, 1 on my hip from carrying the board, and 1 right under my chin to my throat in a straight line down the center. So I just laid out for the morning and enjoyed the sun and sand. After a couple hours we went back to the camp to get ready to go. We had lunch and then loaded up the bus to go home.
We were going for about an hour, all watching Knocked Up and having a good time, when suddenly the bus driver pulls over into the parking lot of a gas station. I thought it was just a bathroom break. But after 20 minutes I realized something was wrong. Well our bus broke down. We were all told to get off the bus with our stuff because a new bus was coming, and she didn't want us to get too hot. Well 15 minutes later it started raining, so we got back on the bus. We waited for well over an hour, and then she takes off and goes about a mile to meet our new bus. We switch buses and finally everything is worked out, except that we are now 4 hours behind schedule. We watched a movie and an australian comedian on the way home, and stopped at the same Maccers as before. Finally we made it home at 10:30 pm! Everyone was exhausted and classes started the next day so we went straight to bed!
Altogether it was a super fun weekend! But we all decided we have horrible luck. No matter where we go we get stuck! First in Brisbane, then at at random gas station. We're going to be really prepared for all our other trips this semester!

This is Cresent Head beach. We surfed almost all the way down at the end. 

This is the other half of the beach. We had our bonfire down here.