Week 1

And so begins the second semester of university in New Zealand. Classes have been interesting thus far, although later in the day then I'd prefer. This semester I'm enrolled (they spell it enrol and enroled here, it drives me nuts!): Pharmacy 111G, Philosophy 215, Psychology 108, and German 101.

Pharmacy 101, "Drugs in Society", is a general education course designed for students with a non-science background and since engineering is technically not sciene, I don't feel guilty for taking it. Before the first few lectures the course tutor (TA) warned us they would be confusing, but it's smooth sailing so far. We're learning basic terminology (affinity, efficacy, LD50, Emax, etc.) and how drugs enter the cell (although on a level rudimentary enough to be, effectively, useless). I am, however, relieved that we aren't learning the structure of an atom, which I've learned more times than I care to count. You know a course is promising when you talk about horse tranquilizers, caffeine, and ketamine on the first day, right? We have to do a portfolio of news articles pertaining to drugs in society which is ever so slightly irritating. I haven't done a portfolio since high school writing and the word reminds me of diorama which reminds me of annoying, useless grade school projects.

Philosophy 215, French philosophy of the 20th century. Luckily my flatmate, Christoph, is taking the course, too. The reading looks promising, lectures are looking not too engaging. The lecturer seems quite nice and accommodating of "artistic renderings", but is rather soft spoken and tricky to follow. Being in technical classes for so long I've really taken structured, straightforward lectures for granted. Topics we're covering haven't been very confusing, but a lot of the discussion has been quite vague. So much waffling. Not sure how the term paper will go, but there's plenty of time to sort that out before it's due.

Psych 108 is rather dry, but promises to be maximum grade with minimal effort, so no complaints.

German 101! Foreign language. So far it's going well and I'm picking up words faster than I expected, but it certainly isn't easy for me. German grammar is quite different from English and Latin, a bit elusive at times, but I have lots of great help at my finger tips, so no worries there.

Most of the people living in my residential complex (PSV) last semester have moved out. The new neighbors and flatmates are lovely! My flat is getting along beautifully and I'm so happy to live with them (Nathan from Tauranga, Megan from Wellington, Ash from Wellington, Christoph from Germany ... can't remember which region right now, and Eric from Mass). That's all for now, should get some actual work done!