Unfortunately for me, Australia can't, by definition, be all about the beach and the sun and the koalas. There is also that little matter of my college education to consider. The University of New South Wales is located in Kensington, another suburb of Sydney, like Coogee. It's a little closer to the downtown Sydney, here's a map for your comprehension purposes, you can see downtown in the top left, Coogee on the bottom right, and UNSW due west of Coogee.
UNSW is a big university, even by American standards, with roughly 40,000 students in total. It takes me about 35 minutes to walk to campus in the mornings, so mostly I just take the bus. Going to college or "uni" in Australia is quite a bit different from going to college in the U.S. for example:
1. In Australia, you don't really go away to college, as you do in the States. Most students in Australia live at home with their parents while they're in college, and then just move into a place of their own. Most campuses don't have dorms either, another staple of the American college experience.
2. In Australia they don't have fraternities or sororities, however they do have toga parties...interesting, no?
3. In Australia they don't have a university sports team or mascot. Once a year they do have the "uni-games"
where students compete against each other in different athletic events, but nothing like it is back home. I wish UNSW had a mascot, maybe the wombat, that'd be awesome.
4. Most students here call their professors by their first name, rather than Dr. Soandso or even Professor Whatever.
5. In an interesting way, students in Australia take college less seriously than we do in the U.S., but at the same time their college seems more demanding. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I've heard no mention of a bell curve, nor extra credit or anything like that. At the same time, though, they don't have attendance quizzes or daily homework in any classes that I've heard of.
6. There's no dining hall at UNSW. Not a big thing, but it's kind of a staple, along with dorms, of the American college experience. Numerous cafes are scattered around campus but they're the same as you'd find in a mall, arranged in a food court kind of way.
7. Finally, the grading system here is nothing like the one back home. On an assignment, say a paper, you can receive a High Distinction (HD), Distinction (D), Credit (C), Pass (P), or Fail (F), which I've listed from best to worst. The HD and D transfer, at least at UNC, to an A back home, a C is a B, a P is a C and an F, well an F's an F, no matter where you are. Either way I can't be bothered, my grades won't count on my GPA back home...If you're keeping score at home that's, Alex:1 Higher Education: 0
