Australian Academic Culture

Now that I've had all my classes, I've noticed a few things about the academic culture at Melbourne...

1. Everything starts after and ends before the advertised time.  This is so you can get to class on time, but it also results in a lack of consistency of class length.  Why not just schedule the classes for 50 minutes like they do in the States?
2. Very few students have laptops during class.  This is either because they are not taking very many notes, or because all the slides are posted online anyway.  Many students print out the lecture slides and write directly on them, which is also something people do back home.  Many students actually have the lecture slides on their iPads; I'm considering doing this with my Kindle.  The lack of laptops also means people are not on Facebook, Reddit, etc. during class, which is weird.
3. The tutors (a.k.a. preceptors) are very qualified.  In Princeton, you usually get a masters or PhD student.  In my Science and Society class, the tutor already has his masters and PhD and is already a recognized member of his academic community.  Pretty snazzy.
4. Professors are less formal than in the States; they don't dress fancy and you can address them by their first names.  However, just like back home, if you disrespect them, they will lash out.  My Controls professor ripped a kid a new one for making a snooty comment.  To be honest, I think I prefer the higher level of formality because it makes the student/professor relationship less confusing and shows a certain level of respect, but Australian academics obviously prefer their way.
5. Students seem to get up and leave in the middle of lecture.  I'm not sure if that's because it's still the first week and people are still "shopping" classes, but back home that would be a pretty ballsy move.  But the professors here either don't mind or don't notice.  It's interesting that my Controls professor berated a student for one comment he made, but paid no attention the the kid that simply walked out the front door in the middle of his lecture.  Strange.

P.S.: Keep checking up on this post; I notice new things every day.

First week of school update...

A lot has gone on in the past few days, but I'll try to condense it all into one post...

So Monday was the first day of classes, and since I supposedly came to Australia to study, I figured I'd update everyone on that front.  I've had three of my four so far, and the outlook is good; this is shaping up to be a pretty manageable semester.  I'll go by class...

• The Global Environment: in the first lecture, we learned about the planets in the solar system.  Pretty fundamental stuff.  The professor spent about five minutes explaining the logic behind craters and how you can tell which craters are older based on how they intersect.  Again, pretty fundamental: if a small crater is inside a big crater, the small crater must be younger.  Duh.  And he showed us a moon rock.  This should be a pretty easy class, but it will be informative.
• Control Theory: I was dreading this class initially, but I understood everything in the first lecture.  Granted, it was very basic conceptual stuff, and didn't get into any rigorous mathematics, which the professor promised there will be.  It was interesting, though, much to my surprise as I expected the subject to be pretty dry.  As it turns out, control/feedback systems are a part of virtually everything in this world, from automobiles and robots to biology and drug delivery.  It was a bit unnerving to hear that there was a 30% failure rate last year and that a 50% will be a passing grade on the exam.  The tough exams I'm used to, but a 30% failure rate would be absolutely unheard of at Princeton.  I'll probably need to study for this class...
• Australia and America: the professor asked the Australians to raise their hands.  About five.  Then the Americans.  About seventy.  This class is almost entirely American exchange students.  The professor wasn't thrilling, but he did properly illustrate that America and Australia have very subtle yet important differences.  Again, should be pretty easy.  Also, it's a paper-based class.  Cha-ching!
• Science and Society: First lecture tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.

Also, every lecture here is recorded and put online, so they are not actually mandatory--but practicals and tutorials are.  That might trim my schedule a bit....  My classes are all over campus in seemingly random places, but nothing starts on time so it's easy to make it where I need to go.  Anyway, the campus seems like it has exploded and there are people coming out of the woodwork.  There's lots to do and see.  It's pretty awesome.

Anyway, enough about school.  Here are some other things I'm up to:

Melbourne Uni Mountaineering Club

At Princeton this would be called the outdoors club.  The major difference is that this club actually does stuff--a lot of stuff.  There are multiple trips each weekend.  It seems like people sort of plan trips and then offer them to the group.  The prices are pretty decent.  I'm going to become a member and do some camping, bushwalking (a.k.a. hiking), kayaking, etc.  You shouldn't be surprised that I'm into this club.

Australian Union of Jewish Students

It's the closest thing to Hillel they have here.  I joined for $5, and that gets me lots of events (Purim party, etc.).  Also, they have bagels every Tuesday, although they don't really know how to do bagels here (too soft).

Paintball

I bought a bunch of tickets for paintball at the student union today at a huge discount (the guy was a tough sell), and I thought I would propose that MUSEX does a trip.  I got a huge response on the facebook group, so I'll be able to recover what I paid for the tickets and hopefully organize an awesome paintball adventure.  (Try not to worry, Mom, I know you're not so keen on the whole paintball thing.)

Great Ocean Road

At some point in the next couple weeks I'm going to rent a campervan with some friends and take a weekend trip along the Great Ocean Road.  The beaches are supposed to be incredible, and the scenery even better.  Details to come.

The Great Barrier Reef Holiday

Ben Rabinowitz (longtime friend from SSDS/Gann) and I are planning our spring break trip to the Great Barrier Reef.  Our plan is to fly to Cairnes (I already booked a flight), do a 4- or 5-day scuba diving expedition on the reef, and then road trip 1500 miles all the way back to Sydney in a campervan (a.k.a. RV).  Then I'm going to stay with Ben's apartment in Sydney for the rest of the week to check out what the city has to offer.  While I had thought Passover was going to be a big conflict with this break, Ben and I have already found a community Seder in Cairnes (a quick google search of "Passover Australia" was all it took).  It's likely to be the most interesting Passover I've ever had.

Australia goes green

One thing I've noticed repeatedly since arriving in Melbourne is that Australia is leagues ahead of the US in terms of being environmentally responsible.  I'm not sure exactly why, but being green seems to be much more ingrained in the culture here, and the government--at least in Melbourne--makes a significant effort in this area.  Most of you know this is hugely important to me and my family, and it just makes me love Australia even more.  A lot of things we consider almost revolutionary back home are routine here.  For instance:

• Recycling -- there are public recycling bins everywhere in Melbourne.  And people use them.  What a concept!
• Alternative energy -- from my 6th floor window, I can see more than one building with a PV array. A lot of people are also heating their water with solar-thermal, just like they do in Israel.  I can also see two vertical-axis wind turbines from my window (reminds me of MAE 321... not in a good way).
• Sustainability -- MSC and FSC are labeled on a lot of things (my paper towels, for instance).  A ton of the food here is produced domestically in Australia.  At the supermarket I shop at, you have to bring your own bags or pay for them.  Queen's College (from Melbourne Welcome) and the YMCA camp this weekend both compost.
• Smaller cars -- on average, people drive smaller cars here.  Of course, its an added incentive that gasoline is $1.50 per liter (that translates to around $6 per gallon).

It shouldn't be impressive that Australians are so green, because it should be an everyday thing, but I think it's very commendable.  We should strive to be more like Australia in this regard back in the US.

MUSEX Surf Party Weekend

The MUSEX Surf Party Weekend was downright awesome, but a bit of a misnomer; it really should have been called 'Party weekend with some surfing.'  In short, two nights of epic shenanigans.  (Disclaimer: there's a bit of drinking in this episode--this counts as an exception to my previous post re alcohol.)

We left midday on friday, about 80 of us with five MUSEX Australian host/leaders (we affectionately call ourselves MUSEXuals) about an hour or so to the west side of the bay.  We had the YMCA Camp Wyuna to ourselves, which is good because we probably would have driven out any other guests.  The camp had a path right to the beach.  It was about a 15 minute drive from Ocean Grove, the beach where we did the surfing (the same one from Melbourne Welcome).

We were split up into four teams (go green!) for all the games and mishugas, and for surf groups.  We got our green warpaint and sunscreen on and spent most of Friday afternoon on the beach.  The water was perfect, and I remember us all saying we had no complaints whatsoever.  The real fun started after dinner.  It was clear the camp knew what we had in store because they served us a ton of carbs as preparation--potatoes, pasta, and bread.  I'll spare the details to keep this all PG-ish, but let's just say my liver got a bit of a workout this weekend and we finished a disgusting (or impressive, depending on your take) amount of cheap beer and wine.

The beach.  Tough life.

Friday night was a toga-themed party, including some games and dancing.  We definitely did not adhere to the 10:30 quiet-hour rule.  Most of us ended up on the beach afterwards.  Night swimming is a ton of fun.  Also there was no light pollution so we could see a million stars.  Pretty pretty.

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

Anyway, the green team had to wake up at 8:30 Saturday morning for our surf slot, which would have been painful even without an absurd party the night before.  The waves were bigger this time, but less frequent, which is a great combo for the second time around.  I didn't get up as many times as I'd hoped, and had more wipeouts this time (the headache didn't help), but it was still a ton of fun.  Like last time, it felt like we were in the water for a really long time.  There is photographic evidence that I surfed this time (to come).

Well, there's no picture of me actually getting up on the board--I swear I did, though--but at least here's a board and a wetsuit.

When we got back from surfing I contemplated going back to sleep, but there was way too much to do.  I did take a quick nap on the beach, but then came back for some more games (I went like 7-2 on the table).  It was cool to learn everyone's versions of the rules for each game, and learn/teach new ones.  That showed how diverse our group really is.  We also had a four legged race (green came in first) and had to pass an orange down the line using only our chins/chests (green came in last).  Then more beach/games, dinner, and on to the next crazy night.

Saturday night was a pyjamas (a.k.a. pajamas) party.  After a boat race and more games ('Cheers to the Governor,' 'Kings,' etc.) we kicked the dancing into gear again.  There were a lot of throwback songs--ones that would have been considered throwbacks as long ago as my Bar Mitzvah party--that gave the pajama theme a retro feel.  Then, surprise, the night ended up in the ocean.  As you might expect, not all of us had proper swimming attire, but we quickly realized we were all born in perfectly good bathing suits (what the hell, it was dark out).  People told me there were phosphorescent algae in the water, but I couldn't see them.  Oh well.  Again, the stars were incredible.

There wasn't a ton going on Sunday morning (the red team surfed, so they got to find out how green felt Saturday morning), but we had to neaten up the camp because we managed to make quite a mess in only two days. Most people (including me) were asleep on the bus ride back.

In all, this was such a fun weekend and I'm glad I decided to go.  I have a pretty nice (if a bit uneven) tan at this point.  The sand on the beach was pretty tenacious, so I'll probably still be finding it on me in a week.  I met a bunch of awesome new people from all over the States, Canada, and Europe.  There's a repeat Surf Party this weekend... should I go again?

More photos to come...

Not much to report on today, but a quick update...

I stopped by the orientation carnival, but it was very freshman-y so I didn't stay long (the word "carnival" should have tipped me off).  Tomorrow might be more useful, though, as the orientation activities are geared toward specific majors.  I'll check it out regardless, because there will be free food.

Tonight I did a bit of wandering, as usual, to meet up with a couple friends.  Before I found them at the bar (surprise, I was at a bar), I played a game of pool with a guy from England who also spent time living in Florida and Canada.  This meant he was a hockey fan (because of Canada), but a TB Lightning fan (because of Florida).  Interesting.  I lost spectacularly.  Not much else to report, really--an routinely enjoyable night.

One thing I noticed (and took advantage of) tonight in Melbourne is a public toilet.  I know it doesn't seem that exciting, but this is an absolutely brilliant idea, so city planners back home take note.  The bathroom was a very futuristic metal box right off the main street; you push a button to open the door, at which point the door closes again (very sci-fi) and tells you in a computerized voice that you have 10 minutes to do your business.  I didn't stick around long enough to find out what happens after 10 minutes.  (Does the door open while you're still on the john?)  Everything inside, even the toilet seat, was electric, so you didn't have to touch anything.  It was very useful.  It's something we tend to overlook in the States, but a couple of these here and there would really be an improvement in any city (especially Boston).  Kudos, Melbourne, for realizing that humans need to use the bathroom.

Getting pumped for MUSEX surf weekend!  Stay tuned.

A note on alcohol...

I realized from reading through my blog that some of the posts give the impression that I've been drinking a lot, and I thought it might be worth touching briefly on this issue to alleviate any concerns among family and friends...

I need to point out, first of all, that Melbourne--and Australia in general--is a drinking culture.  This doesn't mean everybody is out getting smashed all the time; what it means is that social gatherings, more often than not, happen over drinks or in the presence of alcohol.  That being said, there is no pressure to get really drunk like there is at college back home.  Instead, drinking here is a very social activity, as it focuses on relaxing and enjoying the company of friends.  If it seems like my posts talk about a lot of bars, that's because I'm at a lot of bars; that's just where people hang out at night.  But that doesn't mean I'm drinking that much.  (Considering how expensive it all is here, I couldn't afford to anyway.)  Rest assured, there are other things to do, and I do them, too.

Sure, I'll admit it was exciting to finally be of-age to drink when I got here.  And yes, let's not kid ourselves that now and then I'm going to get drunk--hey, I'm a college student.  But it's a very safe culture, and I want to ensure everyone that I am imbibing in moderation and being responsible.  If any of you were, in fact, worried at all about the drinking, I (and my liver) want to sincerely thank you, because I know it's because you care about me and want to know I'm safe and healthy.

I'm officially enrolled, everyone.  Today was a complete scramble, and I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken getting approval forms signed, registering for subjects, and setting up my timetable (otherwise known as a schedule).  Considering 70,000 other people also were also trying to do these things this week, you might imagine this chaos is universal--and you'd be right.  It's looking to be a great semester time-wise: no Fridays, and nothing on Monday until 4 PM, a careful decision I made to allow for some pretty epic long weekends.

I'm taking four subjects (a.k.a. classes--everything is called something different here):

1. Control Theory -- some boring engineering course that's required for my major that deals with electronics signals, feedback, and controls from a mathematical perspective (I'm sure it's just as confusing as it sounds).  I went to see the professor for an approval, and I had almost no idea what he was talking about when he told me the things we're supposed to already know, but the first couple weeks are review so I'll have time to get up to speed.  I might do some reading beforehand (haha).  This will most likely be my hardest class, and I'm not expecting to do great, but I hear its pretty brutal back home, too, so I might as well bomb it here so it won't count towards my GPA.
2. The Global Environment -- an introductory earth sciences class that's supposed to teach a basic understanding of topics like geology, paleontology, meteorology, etc., and it's counting as an elective for my Sustainable Energy certificate at Princeton.  It sounds pretty interesting, especially since it will use Australian examples to support the material, and that's something I can't get anywhere else.
3. Science and Society -- a History of Science-type course that looks at how the relationship between technology and society has evolved.  I've always wanted to take a course like this, but there is only one at Princeton and it's a graduate-level class, so now seems like a great opportunity.
4. Australia and America -- pretty much what it sounds like.  This class compares the history, politics, cultures, etc. of Australia and America.  It should give me a chance to really explore contemporary and historic Australian issues in a more formal setting, while my everyday life here does the same in a less formal setting.

Oh, and on a different note, when I said I wanted to try surfing again I wasn't kidding.  I bought tickets to the MUSEX surf party weekend that starts on Friday.  It's three days of all inclusive surfing, partying, eating, partying, drinking, and partying.  Can't wait!  Updates to come.