First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. I woke up early, about 7am, and left for Uni with Oliver around 8:15.  Here is what my weekly timetable looks like:

Beauty: Pleasures & Principles is a philosophy course on aesthetics, Australia: Communities is an anthropology course, and Adaptation and Passions are my 2 literature courses (which I’m most excited for).

Since I got to Uni 2 hours early, I was able to get coffee and breakfast and then search out where exactly my classes were. Here’s a map of the North Terrace campus, where most of my classes will be:

After meeting up with my friend Mikel and getting some printing done, I headed to Hughes, where my first class was at 11. The room number was 723, so I went up to the 7^th floor. It was dead. The lights were off and the floor was completely deserted. I wandered through the empty hallway and found my “classroom”, which was boarded up and under construction apparently. I stood there for a second in a panic and then ended up going up to the 8^th floor where I was able to find an office and got some help from the staff there. They sent me to Napier to try and find this other office and ask for help. On my way I ran into a couple girls I knew and they told me to check the Uni website because some seminars didn’t start till week 2. Sure enough the class didn’t begin until Wednesday, so I had 4 hours to kill before my lecture at 3. I went to the computer lab and printed out the rest of my course info and bought a folder and stapler so I could get somewhat organized. I then went to grab some lunch at the cafeteria and ate a delicious salami, cheese, and tomato sandwich sitting down by the River Torrens, where a lot of students were sitting and eating lunch away from the crowded, chaotic campus.

I relaxed there for a while, having so much time to wait before my lecture at Napier at 3. It was peaceful and the sun was out, though it wasn’t quite warm enough take off my jacket and gloves unfortunately. I’m really looking forward to the weather warming up! 60 degrees isn’t bad, but still too cool to really enjoy being outside. After lunch I headed over to Aroma, a neat little coffee shop on campus, to join a club called ESN Adelaide. ESN is a group of about 8 students from University of Adelaide who have done exchange themselves other places. They organized this club for current exchange and study abroad students here at Uni to have events together and enjoy our study abroad experience fully in this city. Their first event is a pub night at the Crown and Anchor on Wednesday for all the students who joined to get together and mingle with other exchange students. It should be fun. Its also nice to get involved in an actual club. They have lots of clubs here at the Uni of Adelaide of every variety, and I am hoping to join a couple to meet other students and to get involved with the school. Considering joining the wine club. We’ll see.

My final class of the day, Adaptation, was a lecture from 3-4. It went well, though I’m a little overwhelmed by the workload… I believe it will be a pretty intense semester.

Starting back at school makes me miss home a lot. Indy in particular. IUPUI was definitely home for me… and I have many friends there. Here I am mostly wandering around campus alone, while it seems everyone else is with their groups of friends. Back home when we’d be at school I would wake up and meet all my friends at the Starbucks at the campus center. We’d all hang out there and have our coffee before going to class. In the middle of the day we’d all meet back up to get salads together in the food court. I would rarely be alone. Its strange to not be with all my friends here at school. They are such a part of my every day life back home, and now I’m across the planet from them, beginning the semester a whole month before they will. I hope as the weeks go by I find a good routine and a good group of friends as well, like back home at IUPUI. Right now I don’t really feel like I fit in. I feel like a stranger here… an outsider. I am so ready for a few weeks from now when I have the hang of things and feel more comfortable and at home here at Uni of Adelaide. Till then I’ll be the random American girl wandering around Adelaide looking completely lost and wandering through deserted, dark hallways in a panic.

After school I got some coffee with some of the other international students and we caught up about our first days. I then headed back to the Village with Karin for a free Welcome BBQ with the other students living at the Village. All in all, a pretty successful, yet tiring, first day of school.  I hope I’m able to find my niche here soon.