First Day of Class

On Monday I had my first two classes. Since each class only meets once a week, they were both three hours long which I wasn't exactly prepared for, but I made it through.

1:00pm- Accounting for Managerial Decisions
When I arrived there were only about ten of us in the lecture hall. I thought this was very strange especially coming from UT where classes had anywhere from 100-500 students. But I am a graduate student now and I guess classes are going to be smaller.

The professor ended up being late and around 1:30 someone decided to call the student office to see what was up. Apparently the class had changed rooms at the last minute and now I was late to my first class.

So we move to our actual class and this one has about 40 total students- much more like it! But the professor is one of those guys who is a loud and wants to make sure everyone is "on their toes" by randomly calling names from the roster. (He reminds me of Prof. Wilkinson from London- Catherine that one is just for you!)

Now this class, let me remind you, is accounting. And all the accounting I have is an intro course I took at UT five years ago! So now I'm really nervous and trying to pay very close attention in case I get called on. And to make it even more interesting he is Australian and speaks very quickly, plus the overhead is messing up, all of this is making it hard for me to take fast notes.

Of course he did call my name! And immediately my hand started shaking- I didn't know what he was about to ask me, but I was still trying to take notes and now my hand was unusable. He asked me something fairly simple so it didn't turn out to be a big deal, but still...

Now I am going to be spending three hours a week constantly nervous. Surrounded by smart MBA students, who think this class is a cake-walk. But that also probably means I will do good in this class because I will actually have to study and be prepared.

6:00pm: Applied Research Methods
When I walked in I was pleased to see that the class was about twice the size of my last, which probably meant that I was in the correct room. But just to be sure I asked the girl next to me. This girl, Laura, was from Milan and she was studying Tourism Management. We talked for awhile before class started and she was cool... and I realized how much I was looking forward to making friends.

The class was okay. My professor seems nice and easy-going, but the class seems like it will probably be boring.

After class another girl came up to me and asked if I was in the events faculty. She was studying event management too and apparently she was also in my first (accounting) class. So I definitely need to make friends with her!

All in all, my first day of class went okay. I already have tons of homework and readings, but what was I expecting right?

Sydney Tip #4: This one is less a tip and more just good knowledge to have. I learned today in class that the Australian prime minister is named Kevin Rudd.