However, Monday was probably my busiest day. I headed down to school for a 10 am class, which didn't involve a lot of teaching but more an introduction to the 3 lecturers and the program. As it was a first year class, it was quite full and started off slow. I only have the lectures twice for an hour on Monday and Friday. There is a tutorial of 3 hours once a week, which I chose to have later on in the afternoon. It's a chance to have some one on one time with another set of instructors who reiterate what the lectures have been about.
An hour after my first lecture was completed and I had a chance to check out my email on the library computers, I went to my second year class. This class was quite a bit smaller, around 20 people, with 3 lectures a week and a 1 hour tutorial which is not necessary to attend as it is a chance to ask question or go over marked assignments but not put anything into practice. These lectures are quite interesting as one is a one on one class, the next is done over the internet as a video conference from the other campus and the third is also a video conference but this time done live from our end. The lecturer came a little late the first day as he had driven down from the other campus in Launceston that morning. He tried to get into the subject but once again very little material was actually covered.
An hour after that class had finished, I attended the tutorial which was a bit more interesting. We did some odd activity involving tacking your picture up to a map where you felt you associated most. Then string was used to connect yourself to other locations you associated with. In a small room with maps posted all along the inside, quite a mess of criss-crossing was made. Later we drew some sketch maps and then formed groups to nominate areas that fit in with world tours. This probably makes no sense...but it is rather hard to describe unless you take part. Anyway, it was a good way for me to meet some of the others in my class.
After this class, I headed to the student union area as an even involving cheap beer and "free pizza" was underway. I headed there but other than getting lost in a mess of students and tripping over pizza boxes on the ground...I didn't actually see any "free pizza" and didn't feel like drinking on an empty stomach not really recognizing or knowing anyone around either. So I headed home for the day.
Tuesday I had my earliest class at 9 am. It consisted of a two hour lecture held once a week. The class wasn't as big as my other first year class, but the aboriginal history class did seem to interest many female students and I noted a couple international students as well. We lightly touched on some actual class work but finished up by watching part of an aboriginal documentary. I also signed up for a tutorial to follow my Thursday class...however it doesn't start until next week.
Two hours after that lecture had finished, I went to my video conference lecture. The lecturer had informed us the day before that it would start automatically two minutes before the class started and the only thing we may need to do would be to un-mute it. Normally he would be with us and watch another lecturer in Launceston..but today he was going to help out on the other end. We all arrived in time, and found our seats..talking to one another before the video would start.... At the time the lecture should have begun, I looked up at the clock, made a comment to those next to me, and like many others continued talking and waiting. Ten minutes after with still no sign and no phone calls, we began to get a bit anxious..joking someone should fiddle around a bit. About 5 minutes after that, a couple people sitting closest to the projector and computer started pushing buttons and trying to dial into Launceston. Finally success as we managed to connect with the other class who had been able to see and hear us from two minutes before the lecture should have started! However as the lecture drew close to the end, our projector shut off without warning and promptly ended the class for the day.
The O week activity of the day was the "Lifestyle Expo" where one could pick up their yearly planner and see some local businesses to check out offers or freebies. I picked up my planner and a couple bags of mostly junk, along with some Blockbuster rental deals, a wall calendar, and some other mildly useful information.
As my day had ended early, I went grocery shopping for the umpteenth time. There always seems to be a couple items that would be useful to pick up and making lots of small trips seems to be the only way to do it with a steep climb in between.
A large vessel thats been anchored here for the past couple days
So Wednesday I had a bit of a sleep-in, and then caught the bus to downtown Hobart. For $1.80 Uni student price, you are allowed to cross any zone, so virtually take any bus for 90 minutes from the time of ticket purchase. I headed to the Reject shop, a short walk from the final bus stop, and picked up some tuna and laundry detergent (a reject deal at only $2) and then went to Target for the cheaper bottle of body lotion. I headed back to the Uni stop with time on my ticket to spare. Since it was still early for the next O week activity, I watched some of the sad New Zealand news, made a lunch from left-overs and cooked up some rhubarb sauce for muffins I can make later this week.
Then it was off to the eventful "Clubs and Societies Day". I was smart this time and sent off a text to my two contacts, the Russian and Swedish girls. The Swedish girl replied shortly after saying she'd meet me there. I was very glad to have company as we shoved and pushed our way into the crowd. I wish I had pictures, the small area this is held in was soooo busy....because all the clubs use alcohol as part of signing up. The going deal seemed to be $10 gives a membership plus 6 beers or 4 UDL (United Distillers Limited with a range of drinks - either Vodka and passionfruit, lemon lime or orange). That being said, the later of these drinks seemed to be coming from the Engineering club so that was were we signed up. It didn't seem to matter which club you signed up for, and as there wan't a Chemistry or real science club around, Engineering was good enough. We then "donated" to the BBQ being run by the Student Union and received a "sausage" on a piece of bread!
As 6 pm drew near (the closing time for the clubs) we parted ways for the night. A message from my Russian friend who had missed out, had me leave home around 7pm and head toward Salamanca Place. We found a relatively cheap Italian eatery and shared a chicken and pesto pizza. Its definitely nice not needing to tip! I would guess that around 90% of the Uni population seemed to be out and about across down. Many of the bars and live music locations were completely full with lines out the door. As well, walking home we passed many Uni students still heading out for the night out. Tomorrow is a free breakfast brunch, aptly named "The Morning After Brunch" that I'm going to attend before heading to my 11 am class.
The controversial casino, looking pretty all lit up at night
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