How They Do Things

So I'll break down everything by class.

Monday: I will have Photography (read the post before this, for my breakdown of the day) and they have hands on labs like normal. They have projects with cameras and that's all put into their portfolio. That's what their grade is based on. This is all what I've heard, so I'm not sure how accurate it is. We meet once a week for a few hours.

Tuesday: Theological Foundations in the morning. It's a lot like a class I took at home. We meet once a week and have a 3 hour lecture. We are given a required reading list and have to read it by the end of the semester. Chapters are assigned per week, that's it. We are doing one major essay due in October of 2500 words. We have suggested topics, but that's it. People have already started working on theirs. I will start mine...soon. I hope. We have 2 exams and the 2nd is not cumulative, so that's good.

Wednesday: Not sure, I haven't started class yet. I go from 1-3 every week.

Thursday: Rise of Early Christianity in the afternoon. It lasts a few hours and we meet once a week. She has given us a lot of typed up notes to use. That is a huge change from home, where we are usually constantly cramping our wrists up to get all of it down (depending on the class of course). We got a whole binder with a bunch of stuff she put together. She's a hyper-organized person. Our big tasks are a 6 page paper and a 7-8 page paper at the end. I should get started on that too...We have one required book to read, but no pages assigned, so I'll get to that whenever...

Friday: nothing...I like that!

They have so much freedom. That is how the entire nation is, though. I will be so thankful for US systems when I get back. I like boundaries on rigid assignments and freedom on creative assignments. I hope that makes sense. If I'm writing a paper, I like instruction. If I'm writing a story, I like freedom. They have no cafeteria. Not even the bigger schools do. At UTS, they go out and get it from shops nearby, or cafes in the school, or bring their own. At Wesley there is a little cantina but I haven't seen it open yet. I just pack my own lunch in the morning. They don't even restrict themselves in food. I do enjoy not really taking notes, but America has raised me to feel guilty about doing that. I feel like I'm not learning if I'm not writing it down. I hope this isn't true, but we'll find out.

Their grading system is different too: (I don't know why a D- doesn't exist or why it's an N instead of an F)

H+ (High Distinction)
H
H-
D+ (Distinction)
D
C+ (Credit)
C
P+ (Pass)
P
P-
N (Fail)
S (Satisfactory)
I (Incomplete)
X (Extra Work Required)
E (Extension)
U (Result Unavailable)
NC (Not Complete)
IP (In Progress)

Also, apparently H's are nigh impossible. I don't understand why they have a grade when you can barely even achieve it. Supposedly it's if you do better work than the teacher thinks they could do.

--Don't forget to read the post below this, which is my actual daily update entry.