Classes

My first week of classes is finally complete. It was one of the craziest first weeks I've ever experienced, and Monday thru Friday went by in some sort of blur. On Monday I went to my first class, Cell Biology, taught by a very funny frenchman named Jan Marc. The class itself seems pretty basic, and as I have taken more advanced classes it should not be too hard in general, although a lot of stuff I haven't done in a few years. I then had most of the afternoon off, so I went to get my student ID card, and to change some classes around. I sucessfully got into Brain and Behaviour and Global Transformations. That evening I had Brain and Behaviour, which has so far been taught by two lecturers, who both seem really good. The first half of the class is based on the 'behaviour' aspect, and we will be doing our own Skinner Box, and learning about conditioning, extinction, etc...Stuff I haven't done since AP Psych. The second half focuses more on Neuroscience, but again, I think I've studied at a more advanced level than they will be teaching, so that should be fairly easy too. Tuesday came along, and I had the tutorial for Global Transformations. A tutorial is a part of most classes, and is small, usually around 20 people, and involves more of a seminar type learning. After about 10 minutes into the hour, I knew I would be switching out of it immediately. I was under the impression that it would be more about human rights and nations workin together, but instead if focuses on economics, something I have little background knowledge of. I instead took up Bioethics, which is, as it sounds, a course on the ethics of biology and medicine. I really like debating ethical issues, especially since I have strong opinions on many things, so it should be great. Then there is my last class, Conservation Biology and Applied Ecology. This is by far, going to be my most challenging class. First of all, basically everyone in it is Environmental Science majors, and I have not so much as taken one class in the subject. And, as the name suggests, it is an applied class, where you use knowledge you already have, so I will be doing a lot of background studying. We go on several field trips, including an overnight weekend in just a few weeks, so that should be interesting, and definitely challenging.
My schedule overall looks pretty decent, except for Wednesdays, that are very filled up, but it is not unlike a typical day at Northeastern for me...I think I have just gotten used to the very laid back Aussie life style here! Since all my classes are basically science, I also have to do labs and practicals, which take up more time than most peoples classes normally would. It is as follows:
Monday
10-11: Bioethics Lecture
11-12: Cell Bio Lecture
6-7: Brain and Behaviour Lecture
Tuesday
10-11: Bioethics Lecture
1-2: Enviro Lecture
4-5 Brain Lecture
Wednesday
9-10: Brain Tutorial
10-11: Bioethics Lecture
12-1: Cell Bio Lecture
1-2: Bioethics Tutorial
2-6: Cell Bio Practical Lab
6-7: Brain Lecture
Thursday
1-2: Enviro Lecture
2-5: Enviro Practical Lab
Friday
11-12: Cell Bio Lecture

So that is my week! There are now only 12 more weeks of classes though, which is crazy. I already have some homework to catch up on, and books to buy, so this week will also likely pass by in a blur!