The start of classes

Since it's been a few days, and still the first week of class, now's a good time to mention how they're going. They have us only attending lectures (not labs or small group classes), so it's really just been a taster. I definitely think I'm going to like them all, but they are really different than what I'm used to. They all operate really heavily on the end of the year exam, and some of them don't even have another test at all. Just like, lab and a final. It's weird to have sooooo much weight (60% in some cases) resting on the final. But really, I'm taking some classes that I think I can do well in. It's actually stuff I'm interested in, and since all the teachers have such strong accents, I need to pay them a lot of attention during class.

Only have half of our class load this week has also left us with quite a bit of downtime. I spent a good portion of that running around buying books, and getting things set up on campus. There is surprising a lot of errands to do. Otherwise, the group of friends that I have from the Arcadia program have been playing a lot of beach volleyball. They have a few different sand courts near our dorms, so we've played 3 different times this week. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm really glad that I invested in buying the volleyball this week. It's given us something free, fun and motile to do.

This weekend will definitely be action packed as well. We are going away to a different beach/ island about an hour north. We are suppose to be sea kayaking and scuba/ snorkeling on part of the reef, so that will be really cool too. I signed up to try Scuba, which was a bit extra, but it should be worth it. I also found a program that will get you certified over the course of 4 days, and it's actually really inexpensive. I guess they have much more competitive rates than in the US, and it's going to be amazing. I want to do it really bad, but since thats another chunk of money, I need to be careful. I just got an email that a spot opened up on the 10 day outback trip, and I jumped on it. I didn't hear if I got it yet, but if I did, it's going to be the most amazing thing ever. It's going to make this entire trip. I can't wait to hear if I got the spot or not.

I'll let you know how the weekend goes, and if I hear back about the outback! Don't forget, I turn 21 on Sunday!! What an anti-climatic 21st birthday...