After not being in class since the first week of December, I'm finding it very difficult to actually sit down and read or complete assignments. But I did make some headway yesterday and today by finishing a tutorial assignment. That's another thing I am trying to get used to: the way classes are set up in AUS. Rather than having lecture 2 or 3 days a week (M,W,F and T, Th), I will have a 2 hour lecture one day a week and then a 2 hour tutorial one day a week; the point of the lecture is to just sit and absorb information while the tutorials are made up of smaller groups of students and learned material is discussed and applied. It's a different way of doing things, not a bad way, just different, but I haven't quite made up my mind on whether or not I like it. We'll see.
All of my classes have an environmental science focus:
- Cradle to Grave: Population, Economy, and Environment
- Tourism and the Environment
- Earth Resources, Exploration, and Environment
- Australian Landscape Processes and Evolution
So far, Earth Resources, Exploration, and Environment is my favorite because the professor is hilarious; let me just preface what I'm going to tell you with a bit of info on Australian pronunciation: the word aluminum is pronounced with an extra "i" at the end so the word becomes aluminium. In lecture on Friday, the professor was talking about different minerals and when he got to aluminum, he stopped and enquired as to how many Americans were in the class, two other students and I raised our hands and then he stated "it's pronounced aaaaluuuuminIum" at which point the whole class burst into laughter. (I just thought you'd want to know that when aluminum is typed aluminium, spell check comes up, and states the correct spelling is aluminum....). But he really is a funny guy.
I recently found a Christian student group on campus, JCU Christian Union, and was able to attend one of their Bible studies which led me to meet another study abroad student, Natalie, who has been here from Norway since July. She invited me to the young adult service at Sun City Christian Church last night and I can't tell you how good it felt to worship with other Christians. I haven't been to church since I left the states the first week of February, and it was something I have definitely been missing. I was thinking about how I've been through so much transition in the past 2 years between leaving for college and coming to AUS, this has meant finding new churches and bouncing back and forth between them, but I've come to really realize one thing: church is people; no matter how many different meeting places I go to, or how many towns I visit, church is all about Christians coming together as one body to worship an amazing Creator.
My job is going really well; the chef told me the other day "You're a good worker, mate" and I responded "Well I'm very glad to hear that :)". It can be difficult sometimes working with this particular chef and deep breathing is often required, but I'm encouraged knowing it pays well, and I won't be doing it forever!
I'll leave you with a picture from Australia and a song from Owl City (you'll have to check the song out on my Twitter link to the left):
No comments:
Post a Comment