I just completed my second week of classes at the University of Melbourne. To my surprise, the workload for all my classes are not as much as my college in the states. I don't have class on Mondays or Wednesdays, so I sometimes feel like I don't go to school. My Australian Art and Contemporary Arts is one lecture and a tutorial once my week. In my lecture classes there are literally two graded assignments for the whole semester: a research paper and final paper. If you do really bad on your midterm, your grades will drop significantly as there are only two assignments.The grading system is different as well. For example, if you receive an 80-100, it is equal to an +A. At Holy Cross, an 80 is a solid -B, which is quite different. On another note, my contemporary arts class actually kind of scares me. I learned so much information in a short amount of time. I think that class is going to be very intense, but I can take it! i am already thinking differently about art after my first class. It was very inspiring and I think I will love that class. I also really liked my Movies Making class. Unfortunately, this class is only lecture based, so we don't actually get to create films. Even if we don't I am still learning a lot. It is actually inspiring me to work in the film industry in the future. I love filmmaking and all the techniques associated with it. My drawing course is a lot of fun because we get to use different media to draw and perceive the body in a different way. For the first week, we had a life drawing where we practiced drawing a nude man. The following week, we were making collages of representations of our body. I can honestly say that I am enjoying every one of my classes !
Aside from some weekly readings, I have so much free time that I don't know what to do with it. At Holy Cross, I am usually always so busy and trying to figure out how to finish all my assignments in a timely matter. I decided to join a few clubs to take up some time. I joined an a cappella group, softball and soccer teams, flare dance team, a food group, and an animal protection club. I am having a blast and meeting really interesting people in all the clubs. For the flare dance team, we are creating a break dancing routine and its really cool because I always wanted to learn and enhance my break dancing skills. Everyone is very nice, supportive, and friendly :)
Additionally, I have been on a hunt to find a job. My friend and I went everywhere and literally no where is hiring. Melbourne is just so much more expensive then Boston that we both want to get jobs to have extra pocket cash. People said that it would be easy to find a job, but this hunt has proven that statement to be wrong. I hope I'm able to find a job soon, but its also okay if I don't as well.