Incipit Vita Nova - translation: a new life begins
The past week and half has been pretty full on. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week was international student orientation. So pretty much you just turn up to a bunch of things and they tell you what you can and can't do to maintain your immigration status, in a nutshell anyway. I've met some pretty amazing international students and I'm really looking forward to spending the semester with them. We had a trivia night during the week and let's just say that my group needs to become familiar with some things to do with UVM and Vermont! We didn't do very well but we had a hell of a lot of fun trying to guess answers! And I am very disappointed to say that I got a question about Australia wrong... I mean I did have it right but second guessed myself. That question was on me. I also found out, much to my disappointment, that UVM is actually a dry campus! I guess it serves me right for stereotyping American colleges!! The movies lied to me! I got so excited about the fact that I was 21 and I wouldn't be breaking any underage rules (not that I've ever done that before =P) and then, well doesn't matter anyway Tyarna because you can't drink on campus!
On Friday the freshman moved onto campus and that night there was 'Rally on the Green'. Kind of similar to an Australian uni market day in a way. There was food and activities like a mechanical shark (legit a mechanical bull but instead a shark), one of those inflatable things that spin and you have to jump over and duck under like you see on wipeout, a silent disco, face painting, and you could build your own 'study buddy'! Pretty much you chose an animal, well skin really, then you stuffed it with fluffy stuffing stuff and bam, study buddy.
 |
| This is Monty |
Monty looks a little funny with wonky arms and not quite properly filled feet, but he now lives on my desk and is my designated study buddy for the semester. My second favourite part of the night after Monty was trying a s'more! I felt so American. It was the first real American thing that I've done since being here, but definitely not the last!!
 |
| S'more!! |
Rec Fest happened on Saturday where there were different sports you could try out and generally have a look around the gym. I swear to god that broomball is the funniest thing I have seen in my life. I had absolutely no idea what it was when I got to Vermont but I can safely say Saturday will not be the last day I watch one of these games! Our group of internationals decided to put in a team to give it a go and they did not disappoint on the entertainment aspect of the game. Basically what it is is six people per team and you run (and fall) on the ice in normal sneakers while holding this stick thing that looks like a broom and you try and hit a ball (squishy, mini soccer ball looking thing) into the goal. It sounds simple enough but it does not look it! There were people sliding all over the ice and wobbling and losing their balance, and honestly all I could do was laugh! You can look it up on YouTube and they have videos, but it's not as funny when they're professional players who know what they're doing and can actually run on ice.
 |
| I present to you - Broomball |
The team then played a game of bubble soccer (claustrophobia much!), and while still funny, not as hilarious as broomball. The rest of us watched them and were there cheerleaders. We must have had an influence because they won that game!
The group decided to go down to the lake on Saturday night to chill out and have a few drinks. It seemed like a good idea at the time until we had to walk 3km back up the subtle, but most definitely there, slope back to campus at 12am. It was nice just sitting and hanging out while talking about our countries and how we think classes were going to go.
Sunday morning meant I could finally sleep in and it was the first time since getting to the US that I slept through the night. We really took advantage of not having anything on during the day and just relaxed. My roommate also moved in on Sunday, so yay! She's really nice and I'm looking forward to spending the semester living with her. Sunday night saw another American college tradition take place; convocation and the twilight induction ceremony. To begin with you squeeze 2500 freshman into the gym for the convocation speech and to welcome them as officially being part of the University of Vermont community. After the speech, they block off part of Main St (which runs straight through UVM) and all of the freshman walk as a massive group to the University Green. By the time you get to the green the sun is setting and everyone gets a candle that is lit while there are a couple more small speeches and then the pledge is said. It was quite windy on Sunday evening and trying to keep all of our candles lit was actually the very entertaining.
 |
| Convocation - Class of 2020 |
I find it quite funny that
even though I'm a nursing major (hold up... I gonna come back to that) that my
first class at UVM was in fact, German. Okay, going back to me saying
"nursing major", I think that is the first real American thing I have
said. At home, we say "what do you study?" but in the US you
ask "what's your major?" and I've just fallen into the habit of
saying it that way already! Why am I studying German you ask? Well
USQ only approved three courses for me but I needed four to be considered full
time and maintain my immigration status, so I could pretty much pick anything.
I really wanted to do some kind of history course or something really
like dance, but everything clashed with my nursing courses (which I have to
do), so in the end I went with German, basically just as a refresher because
it's been so long since I used German (and boy am I rusty!). Also on
Monday I have a class called Public Health Nursing and it's a senior class.
The sheer fact that it was a senior class freaked me out before I even
got there! As it turns out, the seniors have a class directly before this
class in the same room, so everyone is already in there and have their seats
and it's pretty much full, which makes trying to find a seat immensely
intimidating, especially when you don't know anyone! The seniors are also
in their fourth year now, so they pretty much all know each other and have
cemented friendships, so I really am just an outsider invading their class.
I'm also taking a sophomore (2nd year) class as well as another freshman
(1st year) class. In terms of having people to talk to in class and
feeling like I really belong, German is by far my favourite. That's also
a good thing because I have that class four days a week, whereas the others are
only twice a week. My favourite class of content so far is the Art and
Science of Nursing. I'm currently reading a chapter in my textbook about
the history and evolution of nursing, and I'm finding it super interesting!
I've never really thought about the history of nursing before, so I'm
glad I'm learning about it now.
Fun fact: pop quizzes are
actually a thing. The movies did not lie. College in the US is
structured a lot more like high school than uni is in Australia. You have
class a couple of times a week at the same time and you're expected to do
homework which counts towards your grade. In all honesty though, I'm
thinking I'm liking this system more than home. Let's take my psychology
class for example. In total, you can earn 585 points for the class, but
to receive an A+ you only need 493-500 points. And you can earn these in
a number of ways:
• submitting homework - 20 points
• completing concept checks - 20 points
• attendance / participation - 25 points
• online quizzes - 35 points
• three exams throughout the semester - 435 points
• final exam - 40 points
Another really great thing
is that if you do super well on the exams throughout the semester, you don't
even have to take the final exam if you don't want to. But if you do
average or not so well through the semester, the final exam is a repeat of the
semester exams, plus a new section which is worth 40 points, and only your highest
mark will be counted. So if you did pretty well during the semester on
the exams, but decide you'll do the final anyway but you do worse, they will
take your highest grade. It takes away the stress of having a final exam
worth 75% of your final grade and helps in developing time management skills
(and leaving everything to the last minute).
The highlight of my week
was on Wednesday night when roughly 25 international students went to one of
the houses on campus to celebrate one of the girls birthday. Somin spent
all afternoon cooking South Korean food for us as she wanted to share her
culture with us and celebrate her birthday such a short time after leaving
home. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was everything you'd hope
for when living in another country and trying to make friends. We sang
'happy birthday' in I don't even know how many languages and there was lots of
laughter. I looked around the table at everyone at one point and thought
'this is what exchange is about; meeting people, becoming friends, having fun,
and being happy with them'.
 |
| UVM |
This weekend is a long
weekend as Monday is labour day, so I'll let you know what I get up to!
Until next post.
Adios Amigos.
Tyarna xx
