Kicking it into Gear

These past few weeks in Leeds I have felt like I am still on break. It has been a blur, surreal and just completely weird that I am in England...living. It has not been until this week that I have realized that I actually have school work I need to complete and responsibilities to tend to. I still have to apply for internships for this summer, have essays to write and above all things ARTWORK to complete! I'm coming to this realization slowly but surely. For example, I went to the library for the first time today. I checked out books and started to do research.

I was originally under the impression that I would just jump into my school work, do work for classes everyday and be just as productive and motivated as I have been at home. However, it has been a slow process of getting to that point. Its weird because this is not like me at all. I have found that its not because I don't care, it is because it has just taken me that much longer to adjust. I never thought this would be the case, but I am still trying to figure out my routine here. Some differences between school at home and here:

1. At home I have classes everyday and we have class time for each subject at least twice a week, but here I have all my classes on one day out of the week, and then every once in a while I have class on monday or wednesday

2. At home we have assignments and projects throughout the whole term to monitor our progress, here most of my classes I only have 2 assessments (1000 word essays) throughout the whole semester each worth 50 percent

3. In GD we have intensive studio time throughout the whole week, here we only have a 1 hour lecture and the rest is up to us

4. In GD at home we are very product based and have many projects completed by the end of the semester, but here we work on the same project all the way through and are very much graded on our process

5. At home a lot of the lectures are mandatory to attend and your attendance is kept track of, here the lectures are so big and there is no affect on your grade based on your attendance (or at least not in the classes I'm taking)

6. At home, passing is a 70%, here a 40% is passing and it is hard to get above a 70%

There are many more things I have noticed, but as you can see there is a lot to try and get used to. I am just now really starting to get a handle on things and have started to realize that while we don't have class multiple times a week, there are expectations of us, we just need to make our own goals and deadlines. We need to structure ourselves, our professors aren't going to do it for us.

I am enjoying this type of learning system so far, mainly because I am an independent person, so I like the independent system. However, you could easily get lost here and forget to get things done. Furthermore, you could easily go out 7 days a week, and sleep all day (but don't worry I have not gotten into that pattern). Besides the school system, everything is really amazing here. I am starting to figure out what I need to do here, adjusting to the fact that I am actually here and am learning how to get around. I even have started to participate in more of campus life. I have attended a few film society meetings, gone to a Bell Ringing meeting, and a wine society meeting! There is so much to be offered to students here and I am starting to feel comfortable enough to take advantage of it. The adjustment period is still continuing, but each day I feel just a little more apart of life here.