Study Abroad Classes
It’s true, I go to class now.
The Photography Debochle
First, I couldn’t take photography because of scheduling. Then, they told me I could audit the class and skip half of them in order to accommodate a class I need for my major. Then, when I went to the first class, the professor told us we would only meet on Wednesdays, which is the day that I was going to skip. So, I ultimately had to drop photography. Now, I’m signed up to audit a Human Resources class called Bar and Restaurant Management. I think it will be interesting, and if I can, I plan on taking the International Bartender’s Certification. I’m not sure I’ll ever use it, but I wanted to learn a new skill, right? When in Rome…
Serious Business
I LOVE MY CLASSES!!
My professors are very knowledgable in their respective fields, and I’m taking 12 hours of business courses.
International Marketing will be awesome! There are three of us in the class, so she moved it to an independent study course. All of our assignments will be field work, and we will meet with her independently during her office hours. She is a new mother, and is just as excited to have the opportunity to not have to be up early twice a week as we are! As one of our studies, we may attend a Cypriot wedding!
European Cultures and Civilization will also be cool. I’m excited to learn about Gypsies, the Red Light District, foods, and other customs that we have not been exposed to Stateside.
International Business is going to be pretty fundamental from what I can tell. We’re learning about global economies right now, and will go through finance, marketing, management, and integration of our cultures class to effectively learn how to work with people from around the globe.
European Geography hasn’t actually started yet. It is an online course, which means that my Fridays are 100% open for travel.. you know, to explore the European Geography!
Each class relies heavily on a midterm and a final, each with one or two projects, and attendance is weighted strongly as well. My professors overall are funny, and are very welcoming to us as Americans.
Observations
My professors are always late, speak way too slowly, and ask a lot of questions. It’s very different from the ‘try and keep up’ culture of American classrooms.
They keep the blinds open and the lights off in the classrooms when it’s light out. How awesome is that? People are going green all the time, and it’s effortless!
They ask us a lot of questions. Classrooms are very engaged.
I’ve had two professors text in class. One was the mom, so you have to assume it was important, but it threw us all off guard.
We have 2.5 hour classes twice a week, so we get bathroom (cigarette) breaks, because that’s just something people do a lot here. The cigarettes, presumably not the bathroom.
There! Proof I am going to class! In my defense, they started Monday, and I didn’t have my first class until Tuesday evening. I signed up for a lot of evening classes so that I could take long weekends of travel when I want. Call it strategy. I had 10 hours of classes today, so that’s what i get for consolidating schedules!