Emma in New Zealand: Maths Class at Vic

It's the start of the fifth week of classes here at 'uni' (as the Kiwis say) and the workload has really begun to pick up. I just finished one paper and have another one due next week as well as a presentation for one of my 'maths' (NOT math) classes. The structure of the classes here are similar to those back home, but there are still enough differences to constantly leave me slightly confused. One of the first things I learned when I started at 'Vic' (Victoria University) was that when someone asks 'What are you studying?' they want to know what your major is, not a detailed description of all the classes you signed up for! If they do want to know what classes you're taking they will ask, 'What papers are you taking?' Papers = Classes. Another thing that quickly became apparent - and that is true about New Zealand in general, not just university - is that the atmosphere is more laid-back than at A&M. Take the following course requirements for one of my maths papers as an example:

-Complete reasonable attempts to a majority of the weekly assignments.
-Participate in tutorial presentation group.
-Hand in a reasonable attempt at the project.
-Achieve a mark of at least 40% in the final examination.

Seriously? Okay, so those are just the requirements to pass the class, not necessarily to get an A, but still, a reasonable attempt to a majority of the assignments? I guess I can manage that.

Another thing that I've noticed is that there are very few maths majors at Vic. During the first couple of weeks I was here I met a lot of students in the dorm and at orientation and not one of them was even taking a maths paper. No kidding. The other night my friend Christina and I went to town to study in a coffee shop and a complete stranger came over and said he noticed I was studying maths and just wanted to wish me luck!

In addition to my maths papers (Mathematical Modelling and Coding and Cryptography) I'm also taking History of New Zealand and Introduction to Political Ideals. I'm really enjoying learning about the history of New Zealand. It's such a young country compared to America. It was officially established as a colony of Great Britain with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, became a dominion of Great Britain in 1907, and fully independent in 1947. One of the most surprising things I've learned so far is that, while in America we celebrate the day we gained our independence from Britain, in New Zealand, they celebrate Waitangi Day, which is the day they became a colony of Britain. In fact, most Kiwis don't even know the day they became an independent nation (November 25, 1947). I've only been here a short time but it seems to me that that sort of apathy is the norm. For example, swine flu was sweeping through the dorm a couple of weeks ago, which resulted in the infected individuals being quarantined, and the following sign being posted:

There were quite a few cases. In fact, it got to the point where they stopped testing people who displayed the symptoms and just quarantined them straight away. This happened to one of the girls on my floor and I tried to convince my floormates that quarantining her without even testing her for swine flu was a violation of her rights and that we shouldn't stand for that, but nobody else really seemed to care!

Winter Break is in a week and half. My friends and I have planned a trip to the south island which includes backpackers hostels, bungy jumping, glacier hiking, and Milford Sound - the 8th wonder of the world - so get excited for some more pictures and crazy stories. For now I leave you with some scenes of campus: