Hello again!
 I’m sorry that my posts haven’t been as frequent as I’ve said they’d be; I don’t yet have DSL in the apartment (it’ll be activated sometime this week, though), my computer been in for repair (but I decided to cancel that repair today, and should have the computer back by tomorrow evening); and the computer lab has short hours compared to the ones at LC.  As soon as these problems have been resolved, I will try to make more regular postings.Â
  Friday I had the official university orientation for international students, which was pretty cool and lively, because they said a lot of things you’d never expect a professor at an American college to say in a million years for fear of getting fired. Over the weekend I saw two movies: Music & Lyrics and The Good Shepherd; both were excellent and I highly recommend them. One thing about Music & Lyrics: I almost walked out in the first few minutes when it started with some random ’80s music video. Don’t. It gets much better.Â
 Today I had my first two lectures: GEOS111 (Geographies of Global Change) and POLS165 (Introduction to Australian Politics).  I’m a little concerned that GEOS111 may be a little not what I’m looking for, (too much emphasis on local geography and too little on international stuff), but for now I’ll take a “wait and see” approach — she did say that globalization would be a big part of the course, which might make it interesting; the thing is, I’m a little globalization-ed-out after taking Economic Development with Marty last semester.
  POLS165 turned out to be really good — it appears to be designed as an introductory national government class, kind of like our AP Government, but for Australian students. I get this feeling because the professor (actually, I think they’re called lecturers or convenors here) started off by giving us a brief 25-30 minute overview of terms such as hegemony, democracy, sovereignty, etc. Interestingly enough, while he spoke of James Madison in high regard, he glossed over the Federalist Papers, whereas that’s something that in the U.S. we would spend a great deal of time on.
  My class schedule is currently as follows: (all times are Sydney time.)
- Monday
- 11:00am-11:55am GEOS111 (Geographies of Global Change) Lecture 1
- 2:00pm-2:55pm POL165 (Introduction to Australian Politics) Lecture 1
- Tuesday
- 1:00pm-1:55pm POL165 Lecture 2
- 2:00pm-3:55pm ABST100 (Aboriginal Studies 100) Lecture
- Wednesday
- 10:00am-10:55am GEOS111 Tutorial
- 2:00pm-2:55pm POLS165 Tutorial
- Thursday
- 11:00am-11:55am GEOS111 Lecture 2
- 1:00pm-1:55pm ABST100 TutorialÂ
- Friday
- nothing
 I’m thinking about switching out of ABST100 and into the equivalent of a POLS101 (Poli-Sci 101) class, but that would mean I’d have one lecture on Friday mornings, which would probably conflict with weekend excursions that CEA has planned. The reason I’m thinking about switching is so I’d be taking another course that would count for my major.
Until next time,
Sam