Assignmentfest #1

Alright well I figure its about time I complete a WU assignment in order to maximize my abroad experience.

2. How is the education system you are experiencing different from what you are accustomed to in the U.S.? From your perspective as a student in the U.S. how is it beneficial and disadvantageous?
Consider the perspective of your host-country’s students, how is it beneficial to them? Is it unfavorable to them in any way?

The system here is at once very similiar and completely different from the system at home. For obvious reasons it is different, for example the school year starts (and this makes sense to me) at the start of the year (that is to say: the school year starts in January and ends in December). From my own experience at Willamette things are INCREDIBLY different. Here, I had to go from department to department registering for classes with the secretaries at every department, and the registrar had nothing to do with it. At Willamette there is a secretary in every building but I have never had any reason so far to interact with him/her except for to once ask the Collins secretary if I could borrow her stapler.
As far as residential life goes it is closer to the commune system we are working towards at Willamette (which I can't say I'm a big fan of). Every res is single-sex, mine is one of the only dining halls which is co-ed (which I am VERY thankful for). Pretty much everyone lives in a single. Also, generally the library is used as a resource MUCH more than our library is. I don't have to buy a single book for any of my courses. Imagine that for a moment. Its nice.
My experience here at Rhodes so far has led me (and the other 2 Willamette girls) to the conclusion that Rhodes is the bureaucracy capital of the world. I've never had to wander from department to department as much as I've had to here. It seems like "the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing." And I mean NO idea. None. Absolutely none. The onus is TOTALLY on the student to bring the picture together and know what is going on, because heavens knows the administration won't.
Now this whole library thing I mentioned is sort of an issue because 1. there is not enough ample study space considering how reliant students have to be in the library. But I suppose the library-dependance is very helpful for many of the students here whose families can't afford to buy books at all, let alone every semester or term. I'm sure that there are advantages to the way school is set up, for example there are usually only 3 years, and then one goes on to specialize even more if s/he so desires. 3 years of tuition is much more tolerable than 4.
What do I miss most? Unlimited access to technology. I could download almost anything, skype for as long as I wanted, facebook as much as I wanted, spend days on YouTube, access almost any journal or book, print as much as my little heart desired...Here it has felt like a huge process just to get internet in my room (partly my fault), get wireless internet, get practically anything. I will be happy to go back to Willamette and simply click "yes, I want to take these classes. Boom, boom boom. Done. I didn't even have to stand up." I will be grateful to log online and watch endless movies on Netflix.com with no consequences (oh the perks of living off-campus).

So don't get the wrong impression: I like the classes so far (I actually really enjoy lectures, they make me happy), the students are VERY engaged which is a nice relief from most of my classes in the States. Anyway, some things (sometimes crucial things) are unexpectedly different, which makes life suddenly much more difficult. But its all a huge learning curve and, for the most part, I'm enjoying the ride. Now with that said, I have a 1200 word essay on 3 African tribes (excluding the Zulu) and why they kicked just as much ass as the Zulus did. As the kids here say "cheers!"