Driving

G'day mates!

Time is a flying and life is amazing. Life is SO GOOD, I can taste it in my spit. Finished my Chinese final and Epistemology essay yesterday and having said that, I am officially done for the semester. I have a nice long break until January 18th and in the meantime will be looking for a short term place to stay and then doing whatever traveling I can do before having to return to the grind of studying.

Because I was only here for 6 months in 2007, I opted out to getting a driver's license as I didn't feel the need to get one. I did however get my 18+ card which is basically a card that says you are old enough to buy alcohol and cigarettes. The 18+ card can also be used to gain entrance into bars and clubs. This is a far safer option than always carrying around a passport as well as cheaper too (passports are about $100, 18+ card is $20). This time around I figured I would go ahead and get an Australia driver's license just in case for whatever reason (good to always have it right?). What's amazing too is my 18+ card NEVER expires, so I am able to bust it out and continue using it from where I left off in 2007.

One of the great things about Australia is as long as you have an American driver's license, you can legally drive in Australia (as long as the license is not expired). However, because the Australian license can also be used for verification purposes in regards to age and address, I decided to get one.

The Australian system is a bit overwhelming. You start off on your learner's permit and then progress through 2 OTHER stages a provisional license before being awarded your open license. While under the provisional, you can only go a certain speed, cannot have passengers, cannot be driving at certain hours of the night, and the alcohol blood levels are .oo (.05 for open licenses). I was told applying for my license I would have to take the written and drivers test too. But, I spoke with someone else and they told me something different.

So I gathered my documents, headed to the Transportation office and in 15 mins was out of there with my open license! Easier said than done. I was looking towards getting a motorbike however, you must have an Aussie license for a year before you can apply for a motorbike license. So scratched that idea... Looking at cheap cars in the meantime!

Cheers and 再见！

-H

Classes

First week of classes are over and done with. And man has it flown by!

As an international student, I am required to be enrolled in 30 credits each semester, to be done at 120 credits (4 semesters). But to me, it seems like I can be done in 3 semesters if I really wanted too... ...but why rush it?

I have three classes: Chinese on Monday and Friday morning (10-12), Epistemology on Monday (4-6) and Wednesday (4-5) and Criminology Wednesday (11-1) and Thursday (11-12). It seems like a full load, but I am typically done early, the reading is light, and I feel I could squeeze in one more class. But in an effort to not overwhelm myself, I have told myself to just adhere to what I got. Not to mention my Chinese class is only 7 people and Criminology class on Thursday is only 4! So it’s very one on one training, far better than any Biology 101 class could have done at WSU (with what? 500 students?)

I love Chinese, not only because I am learning a new set language that I hope I can take with me when I visit China on holiday, but because it’s a whole new world to me. You’ve seen these characters all your life everywhere on buildings, in menus and even tattooed on people and now you can finally understand them (or at least hoping that it’s Chinese and not Japanese or Korean). The time goes by quick and I anxiously await class on Friday to come around.

Epistemology is a whole different story. Professor Chipman is a bit old and his teaching style is very dry and straightforward, I also find it odd that he never looks AT you, but more or less towards the ground or ABOVE you. Not only that, but this class closely resembles Philosophy 201 (Logic) that I took at WSU. The class teaches you to question knowledge as well as question skeptics. So you get these STUPID formulas that I ABSOLUTELY hate as follows:

1. All men are mortal 1. All a are b

2. Socrates is a man 2. c is a

3. Therefore, Socrates is mortal 3. Therefore, c is b

I hated these sort of questions and formulas because quite frankly, I could never understand them. It looks simple from the above example I posted, but anyone who took Logic can tell you it’s much harder than that. So I hope a 2^nd time around I do get it, ha. The class also has a tutorial session which is a smaller group size that Chipman meets with once a week to go over the lecture, quizzes and papers coming up to prepare us for them. Kind of like Biology 101, where you had this class of 500 people but labs of 20 or so, to go over what you learned, etc.

And lastly, criminology is about the same as it was at WSU. Our main class is comprised of about 50 or so people, both undergraduates and post-grads. Then the post-grads, consisting of 4 of us including myself and the professor, meet once a week to go over the lecture, and any other post-grad assignments. I enjoy Professor Lincoln because she formulates the class based upon how WE want to learn and take away from the class. Taking a more dynamic approach to teaching, we cut the final exam in place of doing weekly case studies to present to the others. That way, it’s not a “sit and timed” final exam where you are crunching from memory but instead a learning experience throughout the course. Not to mention, she made an excellent point saying “You pay $100 a day for your education here, might as well get the most out of it”.

So yea, three classes, all relatively easy I hope, and only one final exam. So I expect to graduate with honours here in no time! Suck it WSU!

Cheers!

-H