When I started my college search process junior year of high school, I had no clue what type of school I wanted to go to; however, I knew I didn't want to be a small fish in a large pond. Fast forward an extensive search and many road trips later, and I ended up at Susquehanna University in the (very) small, rural town of Selinsgrove, PA, home to just under 2,200 undergrads. Fast forward a little more time to the present, and I am attending La Trobe University right outside the city of Melbourne, VIC, home to around 36,000 undergrads and grads. To be quite honest, I was always against going to a big school for the fear of dissipating into being just a number. And yes, my fears came true when I realized I really am just a number at this school (like literally, my email address is my student ID number, and my main identifier is my student number, rather than my actual name), but I'm also so much more. I could honestly go on and on about the differences between my two schools, but I won't bore you with the nitty gritty. However, there are some major changes I've undergone to adjust from going to a small, rural school in the US to a big, urban/suburban school in AUS. Whether these differences are dependent on the size of the school or the culture of the country is where the lines get blurry, but they are still worth noting nonetheless: 1) I am a number. My student ID number is everything to me. It's how I sign my name on attendance lists, fill out paperwork, and headline my papers. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Yes, going to a big school makes it a bit harder to have personal relationships with faculty, but it's not impossible. I feel as though the same amount of help is offered here as it is back home, it's just really up to you to seek it out. 2) Everyone commutes. I think this may just be an Australian thing, but only a very small portion of students actually live on campus at any university here. This makes meeting for group work an absolute nightmare. 3) Teach yourself or fail. Independent learning is a major component to education here. Most classes have one lecture and one tutorial per week, and neither class is mandatory. All lectures are recorded to watch online at any time, and tutorials just reiterate what was said in the lecture. Personally, I only have four physical classes to attend throughout Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of my classes are blended, meaning I teach myself the course material online and only attend a tutorial to ask questions. I have absolutely no exams, rather, just a few online quizzes here and there. I have way too many research papers to write. This is the biggest change for me so far. At first I didn't know what I was going to do with my four day weekend, but recently those "free" days have been consumed by writing paper after paper. I've never been exposed to such independent learning practices before, so it has been a big wake up call for me to realize that I really need to get myself together and organized to do well this semester. 4) There's actually stuff to do off campus. Another big change for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the quaint town of Selinsgrove, but I can't help but get frustrated on certain days when I want to do something new and have exhausted all options because I have no car/everything is too far away. Here I can just hop on the tram or a bus and travel throughout the city/suburbs so easily. It's a blessing for those days when I can't look at another paper anymore and just need to get out to explore. However, definitely not a blessing for my wallet... 5) It takes more than 15 minutes to walk across campus. This didn't bode well for me when I almost missed my first class of the semester resulting from not leaving enough time to walk to class, while also not accounting for the fact that I could get lost. And I got very lost. La Trobe University's Bundoora campus, the one I'm on, is the largest campus in the Southern Hemisphere. Definitely not the quaint Susquehanna I'm used to. The size helps with getting a nice workout in walking to and from class everyday, but it sucks when the weather is rough (which has been happening almost every day so far, got to love Melbourne winters). I've been learning recently that different is not always a bad thing. This change of pace at La Trobe is quite refreshing in contrast to my Susquehanna experiences. Despite seeming like a number at times, I have embraced this change with open arms. Approaching new situations with an open mind is so important, and I'm glad that this mindset has made adapting to this new life all the more easy.
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AuthorHi, I'm Sam. Welcome to my blog! Archives
September 2018
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