I had a mini panic attack on Sunday night when I realized that classes at the University could be starting in a week and I still didn't know what classes I was taking, where they would be held, who my professors were, how much money I owed the school, what books I needed, and so on. So on Monday I went up to the school to try sorting some of these things on. In the approximately five hours I spent on campus, I managed to pay for my program for the entire year (I think), get an ID card, get the paperwork for my student visa application, set up my UWI email account, and learn my way around campus. To do these few things required waiting in line for over three hours. Seriously, almost ever single thing required waiting in a line like one would find at a swamped DMV in the States. For instance, to get an ID card you first had to wait in line to get a ticket, which they only handed out at certain times of the day, which would then allow you to wait in line to get an ID. Ultimately I'm happy I went to the campus on Monday because it made Orientation, which was yesterday, a lot less stressful.
The formal part of orientation only lasted from 5-6pm last night because it focused solely on introducing us to key people in the graduate studies program and having the registrar talk to us about some basic regulations. There was no mentioning of any of the things I had been worried about on Sunday night, so if I had waited for orientation to resolve those issues, I would have been sorely disappointed and very stressed out today.
I did learn some interesting things at orientation though. First, the grading system is very different from what we have in the states. Anything in the range of 70-100 is considered an A. 60-69 is a B+ and 50-59 a B. Anything less than a 50 is an F. For courses that consist of coursework (essays, presentations, etc) and final exams, students must pass both parts in order to pass the class. You can't get a 49 on your coursework an a 100 on the final and still pass.
I also met the program coordinator for my Masters program as well as another professor from the department. They informed the roughly eight of us who will be taking the Integration Studies Masters this year that Full Time students are expected to take 6 courses (!!!) this semester while Part Time should take 3. So, per their instructions I am registered for 6 courses. A normal class meets for two or three hours at night (usually 5-7 or 5-8) once a week for all twelve weeks in the semester. Two of the courses only last two weeks each though. However, they meet Monday through friday from 9-4. So this means that when I have one of these two week classes there will days when I am in class from 9-8! I don't know when they expect us to do our homework with a schedule like this, but I guess I am going to find out soon; classes start on Monday and for the first two weeks of school I have one of these two week marathon classes. What's really frustrating is that you only need to take 9 courses for the Masters program. So, since I am taking 6 this semester I only need to take 3 next semester. While this means I can look forward to next semester, I wish they had spread it out a bit more rather than frontloading the beginning of the year. The reason they gave for doing this is so that during next semester Full Time students can either begin their internship or start their thesis, all with the goal of having us done within 12 months.
So since the academic year looks like it is going to be more punishing than I originally thought, I am enjoying these last few days of freedom by sleeping late and trying to read for pleasure as much as possible. Right now I'm in the middle of Foundation by Isaac Asimov, which is one of the classics of science fiction. I read the Foundation trilogy years ago, but after watching the HBO show Rome earlier this month I decided to read it again since Asimov based the entire story off Edward Gibbon's classic "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." I hope to finish the first book before classes start and outside reading begins to invade my life.
Oh one other interesting thing happened to me the other day: a cock fight took place across from my apartment. It was really disturbing to hear the chickens screaming and to see a group of people huddled around, yelling at the birds as they pecked each other to death. I hope this isn't a frequent occurance.
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