History is Falling for Science-This Day & Age

Freshman orientation strikes again. Actually, this is not nearly as bad as freshman orientation... I have not yet been forced to participate in any icebreakers or any sporting competitions with the other international students. And when I say international students, what I really mean is Americans. There are about 28 international students that are here studying for the coming semester (this doesn't include undergrad or post grad students who are studying for longer than a semester) and all are Americans except for three students from Muenster (in Germany). Orientation has been fine, and it has been nice to learn a little of the school history, as well as find out where things are in the library, and learn about this mysterious thing called a quota that tracks and limits internet usage. Not that I am super excited about the quota, which sounds a bit scary and restrictive, but all of the staff keep assuring us that it really isn't that bad and that we will get used to it just fine (I am not sure some of the other students have taken these assurances to heart). Everything has basically been pretty laid back; we go to some sessions, have a ton of free time and then spend half of our free time trying to figure out what to do with all of our free time. Exciting, yes? 

So far, my most exciting orientation-week adventures have been going out for tea and shopping. And you had best not scoff at either activity, because 1) I had never had such a strong urge to go out at night to drink tea before and 2) I was really proud of my solo shopping adventure. Tuesday night, after another dinner at the dining hall- I am starting to understand why other college students go out to eat so frequently when they don't have Gettysburg food- several of us decided that we really wanted some tea, and since there was a group of us (including 2 guys, which is a full 50% of the male international student population) we were safe to go out after dark. Woo! We went to this restaurant/bar, and the guys we brought with us conserved their manliness by ordering some kind of beer, rather than tea (although someone should have told them that to be "a real man", they needed to find a can to throw their bottle in...) Anyway, it was fun to get out and not end up dancing on tables at the Rat&Parrot, which is how some of my fellow internationals apparently amuse themselves.

Wednesday, I had vast amounts of free time again (we are working on registration, talking to department heads and signing up for classes, which is a pretty time-flexible process) so I decided to venture to High Street to get a few things that I forgot to pack, as well as envelopes in the event that I ever want to mail letters (I know it takes much longer than email, but there are cool stamps here) and some groceries. I didn't get lost exactly, since I generally knew where I was the whole time, but I did have a little trouble finding the pharmacy the first time around, and the success on my second go around the block was that much sweeter. I actually have the most fun in grocery stores here, where I can just wander around and see what food items I could technically buy. I got some dried mangoes when I first went shopping, which are quite tasty and are also much less dried than the ones that I usually get in the US. Since I have a bad habit of not getting up to go to breakfast (which is 7-8:15am, dreadfully early if you a)hate mornings b)are still on summer time and c)don't actually have anywhere to be till much later), I needed to replace all 4 of the Special K bars I brought with me and subsequently ate. I found some Jungle bars, which sound fun even though they have nothing in common with the juice, and I will update you on their tastiness when I break into them. I also got a box of crackers... what I really wanted most in the world was a pack of Saltines, but I couldn't find any. What I got instead look like Ritz crackers, except that they are not salty and are bacon-flavored instead. Now do you understand why grocery shopping is such an adventure? You never know what you are going to end up with. I was tempted to get a bottle of balsamic vinaigrette, but I will hold off on being the crazy American girl that brings her own dressing to the dining hall at least until I meet the people I will be living with permanently.

Course selection is going okay... I have just about nailed down my schedule, although I can't take everything that I wanted. I will definitely be taking Zoo302, which will be marine Zoology. Since I can't transfer any psych credits back for my major at home, and the Psych302 directly conflicts with the Zoo302 because there is little connection between the two departments (I had a nice chat with the department head about how psychology is considered to by a "soft" science here by the general scientific community and how that has something to do with the apartheid legacy and the tendency of psychologists here to approach things qualitatively instead of quantitatively) I won't be taking any psych. The department head told me I could sit in (they don't really use the term audit) on 202 lectures, but from our discussion, I think it will be a repeat of topics I have already covered. Its a shame, since the psych head has been by far my favorite professor encountered thus far. Anyway, Third Year courses are worth 8 credits, so I really only need two additional 4 credit classes to have a full schedule. I am going to take a Second Year course on South African history, an Introductory Philosophy course that I believe will cover ethics and free will, and an Ethnomusicology course. I really wanted to take this music course titled Music, Health and the Brain (doesn't that sound like a dream class?) but it conflicts with history and zoology, so I will be learning how to plan some african instrument from the International Library of African Music instead. I suppose that if I was ever going to take an ethnomusicology course-which I wasn't planning on-that I might as well take it here. If this all works out, I will be taking 20 credits, and can always cut back to three courses if the workload is too much.

I also talked to the department chair about volunteer opportunities through the psych department (I just missed a chance to work on a huge project they had that dealt with art and healing... so sad!) and he gave me a few professors to check with, so if there are any new projects going on, I will see if I can help out. Otherwise, there is a Centre for Community Engagement, so I can always volunteer with their reading program, if I can't do any psych. Soon I will probably lament fondly on the vast ammounts of free time I currently have, but for now, I am looking forward to everything starting!