back to school

I had my first day of class today. The lecture for human resource economics was very confusing for me. I'm not sure if it is because I have no background in economics or if it is because I have no idea how the Australian economy works. Honestly, listening to the professor talk with an aussie accent was distracting enough, not to mention seeing labor spelled "labour". I am sure if I put my mind to it, I can master a new subject and learn to spell words differently. It's not like I am that great of a speller in the first place. What is most intimidating is that half of our grade is determined by the final exam. As a victim of test anxiety, I am already sweating exam day. We got off of lecture early, and I found myself blissfully free for the rest of the day. I walked and picked up some cheese to make dinner, and then went to the library like a good student should. What I was met with were my textbooks for this one class, full of tiny print and math problems. Needless to say, two hours later my brain was fried. The amount of out of class reading is at least twice what we have at Madison. I will have to be committed to my reading and try to avoid the non-stop party at my flat. I won't go into details, but let's just say Madison is a sober campus compared to Murdoch. My flatmates stayed out until 8:30 a.m. on Saturday night. I think that's just plain impressive. I joined them for a trip into Perth yesterday in the afternoon. We had a lovely time walking around and exploring the parks near the spotless metropolis. I can't get over how clean it is here. There is no litter, and trees abound on every spot of land. I told my friends if they ever came to Chicago, they should be ready for a different type of city! This picture is of the oriental garden on campus. It is my favorite place to sit and read so far.