“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

I’ve made it out of my first week of Uni alive and am now knee deep in my second week. Almost everything about the way this University runs is different from Appalachian. Not that this is necessarily bad, but definitely different and hard to get used to.

The noted differences so far:
- Every subject (class) is made up of 1 two-hour lecture and 1 one-hour tutorial. Because of this it is possible to only have a couple hours of class a day or a full day of class. Take me for example- see class schedule in last post.
- Almost nobody has class on Fridays (!), so instead of Thursday night as college night at the pub, it's Wednesday. The saying is no longer “Thursday is the new Friday," it’s “Wednesday is the new Thursday.” Too bad I have class at 10am on Thursday. No Wednesday pub nights for me!
- All classes have a Minimum of 2 hours of reading due before each meeting. I need to stress word MINIMUM in this statement.
- Teachers hardly mention homework, they just expect you to figure it out by looking at their WebCt or Blackboard site.
- There is no such thing as a rental system at their bookstore- just really expensive books and no options for used books. Their bookstore needs to take some serious notes from ASU’s University Bookstore.
- You have to wait in a queue (line) for everything on campus. Everything.
- Classes don’t have quizzes or midterms or homework assignments. Final grades are made up of one final exam plus a project and/or research paper.
- Grades are given on a bell curve, and not the good kind. There are no A’s, B’s, etc… only High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, and Pass. These are given out on a quota basis, so only 2ish people get the HD, 10ish Distinction, and so on. Personally I am only looking for a big fat P, which is not as easy as it sounds.
- They looove to talk about America in classes. In most cases this is not a good thing. For example- my Media Globalization class should be renamed “American Media And All The Ways It Is Messing With The World.” I sit rather low in my seat during that class because the facts are undeniable.

These differences mixed with not having a firm friendship base have showed me many things about myself that I otherwise might never have learned. For starters, I’ve discovered that I am both more independent and dependent than I ever previously thought. I am more independent in the respect that I have made my way through a month (Can you believe it’s already been a month?) of uncertainties practically alone and have come out stronger and happier than I thought I could ever be. My sense of self and independence in this foreign land is empowering and liberating. I frequently find myself envisioning trips to other cities with my bookbag as my only companion. Time spent alone is becoming less and less painful. This brings me to my next point…. My previous dependency on friends has become a lot more obvious. Being without my closest friends or anyone that knows more about me than what I put on the surface has put me on edge. It’s not that I rely on them for my happiness, I just miss having someone to express my true self with instead of the usual “Where are you from? What do you study?” small talk conversation. Sometimes I just want to wear a sign or hand out a business card with this worthless information on it because I am so sick of answering the same few questions. Before this trip I might have claimed that I could do just fine without the company of many others, but I really miss having heaps (look at me with my Oz lingo) of people to merely sit and converse with. I was having a conversation with an Aussie girl about this because she had just returned from living in Denver for a year. She was able to identify very closely with this and she brought up a good point. She reminded me that my struggle with not having friends in Australia will be carried onto the US because when I return no one will be able to truly grasp this new person that I’ve become during my travels. This of course was upsetting and although I know this is reality, I am positive that the friends that matter most to me will more than likely embrace this change and encourage its process. I’m so blessed to have a number of really wonderful people in my life who are hopefully awaiting my return as much as I miss their presence. The plus side to my loneliness is that I am open to nearly anyone who is open to me. I’ve met some great people with good hearts and I hope that we can get closer or that I might find someone with whom I feel comfortable showing the real me.