Another stressful day. I’m not sure what it is about being a different country but everything even the simplest things before complicated. But actually maybe most of it should be blamed on Arcadia. All of us received an email saying that the core course is still on and that they literally just hired someone for the job which came as a complete surprise and relief to me. But then I got a txt from Andrea asking us to still look for a class just in case the core class fell through. Most kids decided not to borrow but I would much rather be safe than sorry so I set out to find the Xhosa department and the history department. The campus isn’t that big right? Yeah it took me a while and even when I found the Xhosa department they didn’t seem to have the classes I wanted so fail on that end. History turned out much better though it did take me a while to find the class. If I have to add a class which is still up in the air even though I just got another email reassuring us that the core class was still on, I will take “gender and African history.” It just sounds interesting. Let’s hope I’m right. Plus I still can have Fridays off though really I’m planning on using Fridays to volunteer at Hillcrest Primary school once I get my schedule down pat. So yeah, hopefully it’ll all work out find. I really do hope that the core class is still going to happen but if I’ve learned anything in my time in South Africa so far it’s that things often don’t go through as you planned. But hopefully I’m wrong and the core class will continue and it’ll be great. I’m just not sure how they’re going to replace Kevin who has all these great contacts.
So besides the whole class problem today was alright. I got to sleep in which was like heaven. I did have three classes in a row though which was not fun. The first class was fine: sociology of health. Learned some interesting stuff like 7 ways to stay healthy
1. sleep seven hours
2. don’t smoke cigrattees
3. drink moderately
4. eat breakfast
5. don’t snack between meals
6. exercise daily
7. keep weight down by advoiding fatty foods
I have most of this list down. But it’s #5 I have a problem. I always eat between meals. I’m not sure I could survive not eating between meals. Plus I’ve heard that it’s better to eat several small meals than a few big meals but who knows?
So first class good. Second class was a tutorial and amazingly boring. It was the sociology of health tut and since we have a paper due in a couple weeks, we went to library and learned how to use the database, the electronic journals, the catalogues which was a real waste of time. I already know that stuff. But I made the most of it and was able to find a couple of the class readings at the library and learned how to use the databases off-campus which is definitely useful and I made a friend kinda. Her name is Crystal and she sat next to me in the computer basically we shared my computer and I let her make a copy of our assignment since she haven’t gotten it yet and I learned I wasn’t the only one not being able to get the assignment and readings online which was comforting.
Third class was another gigantic waste of my time but more so because we met for five minutes because we were supposed to watch a short movie or something but we were in a classroom with a chalk board and an overhead projector. Not exactly the things necessary for watching a dvd so the tutor postponed the dvd watching and its paper about it (one paged summary no biggie) until next week. But of course next week we’re supposed to watch another dvd and have a multiple choice test on that the following week. Basically everything: the one page summary, the test and an essay fall on the same day. Oh joy. And all the other classes seem to have things due during that week too. So I’m trying to be proactive like I found out I have an assignment due during that week but it’s for a class that I have all the readings too so I can pretty much do it this weekend. That’s my goal. We’ll see if it actually happens. But one thing I’m not sure of is if it’s double spaced or not. Crystal said they usually aren’t which means four pages is really our eight which is a lot. But I’ll be double checking with the professor just to make sure.
Oh and I should mention that I got to know the campus very well today because I didn’t know where my last tut was. Took me forever. What I learned: I’m really bad with maps and directions. I had a map and it still didn’t help me. But in my defence, the classroom was upstairs and there was no way I could have known that with the little information I had though I walked through the building where it was several times. Finally I asked for help and unlike yesterday and being sent all over campus, I found it easily. Another things I learned: ask the students they damn well should know what they’re talking about. I could write more but I’m spent. Good night all or actually it’s good afternoon back home…
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