Hold the Mayo!
It has been awhile since i last blogged...i know you're all waiting eagerly to hear about what kind of abuse I have put my liver/lungs through lately, but I am happy to report you'll be disappointed. I have made an effort to behave myself in the past few days.... at least a little (well, except for last night...and tonight...).
In my mission to change things around a little i joined the gym, and I have even gone once. I was going to go tonight, but raging hangover and impending dutch-hosted beer binge tonight will probably prevent that. apparently we are learning dutch drinking songs as part of the welcome week. that is my kind of education. anyway, back to the good stuff.
i joined the gym, i went once, i cooked a meal (omelette with peppers, mushrooms, onions, ham and cheese), and I stayed in One night. Also on the up and up, I picked up my bike and man can those dutch do a tune-up. It is running better than ever, from what I can tell, but I have only had the time to ride it to my new friend Mo's place where it will be stored during my time here. Of course, Mo lives on the third floor. On the bright side, his place is just around the corner from mine, and he is automatically a biking buddy too. After my efforts on Wednesday, Thursday came along and now I am off track again. but, school starts next week so things will calm down. i hope.
last night was the welcome week pub crawl. it was also the UCM welcome dinner/drinks too, which to my surprise was completely paid for. Including beer!! then i thought about it, and beer is actually cheaper than water which only comes bottled in restaurants: another pet peeve i forgot to mention. Once we'd finished drinking on the university's bill we joined the student union party but I never made it past the first bar. it overlapped with another student party and they were selling 2-4-1 drinks all night and somehow, i still didn't end up paying for anything. i love those nights. I got a ride home on the back of a bicycle (freaky-deaky-dutch!!!) and poured myself into bed at 4:30. orientation this morning started at 10:00. i have been punished for the entire day for all the excitement of last night. I expect to be recovered just in time for tonights previously mentioned dutch beer-tune adventures. orientation today was interesting as i certainly wasn't the only one.
I have now mentiond orientation a couple times and let me tell you, it has been a true test of patience. The other exchange students and I have been put in with the frosh who are just starting here at UCM so most of the lectures (which last two hours!) are directed to them and discuss stuff that doesn't apply to us. yet attendance is mandatory. UCM doesn't mess around with this attendance stuff either. if you miss more than 2 classes, you FAIL. it you are late, it counts as an absence and you will FAIL. they are so strict in Maastricht! i feel as though i am back in high school some of the time they hold your hand through so much.
besides the useless lectures, we also had training for the "PBL" which is their unique teaching method. It stands for Problem Based Learning and is extremely structured. almost too structured'. Each problem is solved in groups of no more than 12 following 7 steps. I won't get too much into it because i don't want anyone to get too bored. We had to do about 6 test problems to teach us how to deal with PBL. it isn't a tough concept or anything so I felt like the last 4 were a little overkill. I am happy about some aspects though... I participate a lot more than I ever did at home. In fact, I actually feel smart, which is not the case at u of t. I normally wonder if we've even done the same reading at home! Of course, everyone else is using their second language, so maybe i shouldn't get too excited.
I'll have to continue this later because it is time to eat. i am making my own dinner tonight. mayo free.
In my mission to change things around a little i joined the gym, and I have even gone once. I was going to go tonight, but raging hangover and impending dutch-hosted beer binge tonight will probably prevent that. apparently we are learning dutch drinking songs as part of the welcome week. that is my kind of education. anyway, back to the good stuff.
i joined the gym, i went once, i cooked a meal (omelette with peppers, mushrooms, onions, ham and cheese), and I stayed in One night. Also on the up and up, I picked up my bike and man can those dutch do a tune-up. It is running better than ever, from what I can tell, but I have only had the time to ride it to my new friend Mo's place where it will be stored during my time here. Of course, Mo lives on the third floor. On the bright side, his place is just around the corner from mine, and he is automatically a biking buddy too. After my efforts on Wednesday, Thursday came along and now I am off track again. but, school starts next week so things will calm down. i hope.
last night was the welcome week pub crawl. it was also the UCM welcome dinner/drinks too, which to my surprise was completely paid for. Including beer!! then i thought about it, and beer is actually cheaper than water which only comes bottled in restaurants: another pet peeve i forgot to mention. Once we'd finished drinking on the university's bill we joined the student union party but I never made it past the first bar. it overlapped with another student party and they were selling 2-4-1 drinks all night and somehow, i still didn't end up paying for anything. i love those nights. I got a ride home on the back of a bicycle (freaky-deaky-dutch!!!) and poured myself into bed at 4:30. orientation this morning started at 10:00. i have been punished for the entire day for all the excitement of last night. I expect to be recovered just in time for tonights previously mentioned dutch beer-tune adventures. orientation today was interesting as i certainly wasn't the only one.
I have now mentiond orientation a couple times and let me tell you, it has been a true test of patience. The other exchange students and I have been put in with the frosh who are just starting here at UCM so most of the lectures (which last two hours!) are directed to them and discuss stuff that doesn't apply to us. yet attendance is mandatory. UCM doesn't mess around with this attendance stuff either. if you miss more than 2 classes, you FAIL. it you are late, it counts as an absence and you will FAIL. they are so strict in Maastricht! i feel as though i am back in high school some of the time they hold your hand through so much.
besides the useless lectures, we also had training for the "PBL" which is their unique teaching method. It stands for Problem Based Learning and is extremely structured. almost too structured'. Each problem is solved in groups of no more than 12 following 7 steps. I won't get too much into it because i don't want anyone to get too bored. We had to do about 6 test problems to teach us how to deal with PBL. it isn't a tough concept or anything so I felt like the last 4 were a little overkill. I am happy about some aspects though... I participate a lot more than I ever did at home. In fact, I actually feel smart, which is not the case at u of t. I normally wonder if we've even done the same reading at home! Of course, everyone else is using their second language, so maybe i shouldn't get too excited.
I'll have to continue this later because it is time to eat. i am making my own dinner tonight. mayo free.
posted by Unknown at Friday, January 28, 2005
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