Going to School in England.

Where I had my first class of the year. After spending my life being educated at the family kitchen table, a church basement, someone else's kitchen table, musty portables, and various buildings constructed in the 1970's, this feels like a pretty swanky step up. I need to savour things like this because all week I've been reminded not only how long it's been since I was a student, but how very different it is being a Masters student, in England.

The biggest shocker: We do not have exams. We have essays. For each class, we have one small essay due mid-term, which the feedback on will hopefully help us gauge how to write The BIG Essay, due at the end of term, which is worth 100% of our grade. One Hundred Percent. ONE Essay.
Another unexpected shock is having so much free time. Well, "free" time. Once introduction week was over and the smoke settled, I realized with one class Monday and Tuesday, and two on Friday, I basically have a mid-week weekend! Which is great until you realize that you're actually expected to be working -- studying, reading, writing drafts, peer editing, doing preliminary research, etc. And then you realize that there are 5 campus libraries for this very purpose, and one of them, apart from being open 24/7, has SHOWERS in it, and a WEB PAGE devoted to the most comfortable places in the library to take a quick nap between endless days of study. This is about when I start feeling like a 5-year old who just wants to be told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and when to give it to the teacher. Actually being expected to manage my time appropriately and responsibly is asking a bit too much. It's like the teachers think we're ADULTS or something.

Some very nice differences about the programme are that the professors all work together, between all the courses. For instance in one class, all of them will lecture over the course of the semester on their particular area of expertise within that class topic. And 3 of them will be going on the Field Class to Kenya, not just the one teacher who does most of the lectures. Seminars are also a big part of the courses, meaning you get to discuss what you're reading and hearing in lecture. There's one particularly intimidating class that is 'double-layered' -- our mark is based on how well we do writing a grant proposal for a hypothetical NGO, but just to pass the class, we need to complete 15 credits of work on other things. Fortunately you can streamline those credits to your area of interest, so mine will be volunteering at a refugee centre, writing book reviews, designing a website, and brushing up on French with a classmate from France who needs help with English. Can't complain about applicability.

While going over the syllabus for the class above, I found a section heading that made me laugh -- "Tender Writing Seminar". It turns out 'tender' is the term we use in the states for a grant, or grant proposal, but it's more fun to envision your whole class listening to sappy romantic music in a room full of roses while your teacher tries to lecture about how to write tenderly.