I am officially enrolled! After a long week of orientation sessions and a lot of information about everything from library services to plagiarism to how not to get hit by a tram I am now officially a post-graduate student at the University of Melbourne. I now have at least four new passwords and user names, a student card, I am a member of UMPA (the Uni of Melbourne Post-graduate association) I am enrolled in 3 classes (so far) and yesterday I purchased my first piece of university swag – the pictured and necessary grey hoodie. I’m all set to go.
It’s quite incredible, the process you need to go through. I don’t know how they manage to keep things so relatively smooth. Last night I attended an opening address by the dean of the faculty (who happened to inform me there is actually a James Darling Award for excellence in teaching in Australia! No joke.) Anyway, he also had a few other interesting tid bits of information such as the fact that there are 240 full-time employees in the Faculty of Education alone supporting 4000 education students. And of the 42 000 students at the university, 10 800 are international students making it the biggest population of international students at any university in the world.
My classes are as follows: Human Resources in Education, Leading a Learning Community, and Creating the Learning Organisation. It was actually quite hard to choose in terms of what was being offered, the dates they were being offered, when we were hoping to travel, how they would apply to my new job next year, etc. I am happy with these – I think – and actually start my HR course tonight! One thing I had not taken into consideration is the fact that many of the courses are offered at night, on weekends, and over school holidays to accommodate the many Australians who will be studying part time. This affects our holiday plans a bit and may force us to take the kids out of school for a few weeks AND it will also mean that I am at home during the day more than Linton had planned! Uh-oh. I see a fight over the telly! Oprah versus Aussie Rules. Actually, I am hoping to be at the university every day reading and researching in the morning and then I am planning to join the sports complex and work out every other day. I need to find a set of washboard abs for the beach in Cairns!
On a more family note, Thursday nights have been dubbed “Movie Night” and we have been picking up a movie for the kids and one for mom and dad on the way home from school. Last night the kids watched Nacho Libre – primarily for a line about stretchy pants and then when they were in bed, Linton and I watched Charlie Wilson’s War. Not bad. I loved the writing and the relationship between Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was excellent.
Finally, my deep thought for this entry comes from a great book I am reading called Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. It was a going away gift from an old friend from Lakefield, Iain Hill. Thanks Iain. It is an amazing exploration of the Aboriginal people and their songlines that carpet the entire Australian continent. Basically, the concept is that when they go “walkabout” the sing their away across the landscape as a way of marking the territory and transferring the various stories the land holds from one tribe to the next. It is fascinating and like nothing I had ever known about. Ahh – the beauty of travel and reading. Anyway, Chatwin has all kinds of things to say about about the human need to walk, move, and in essence travel. One quote in particular I liked was taken from J. G. Hamman and says, “When I rest my feet my mind also ceases to function.”
I think all four us would agree that our minds are functioning furiously as we embrace and explore and walk throughout this new world.
It’s quite incredible, the process you need to go through. I don’t know how they manage to keep things so relatively smooth. Last night I attended an opening address by the dean of the faculty (who happened to inform me there is actually a James Darling Award for excellence in teaching in Australia! No joke.) Anyway, he also had a few other interesting tid bits of information such as the fact that there are 240 full-time employees in the Faculty of Education alone supporting 4000 education students. And of the 42 000 students at the university, 10 800 are international students making it the biggest population of international students at any university in the world.
My classes are as follows: Human Resources in Education, Leading a Learning Community, and Creating the Learning Organisation. It was actually quite hard to choose in terms of what was being offered, the dates they were being offered, when we were hoping to travel, how they would apply to my new job next year, etc. I am happy with these – I think – and actually start my HR course tonight! One thing I had not taken into consideration is the fact that many of the courses are offered at night, on weekends, and over school holidays to accommodate the many Australians who will be studying part time. This affects our holiday plans a bit and may force us to take the kids out of school for a few weeks AND it will also mean that I am at home during the day more than Linton had planned! Uh-oh. I see a fight over the telly! Oprah versus Aussie Rules. Actually, I am hoping to be at the university every day reading and researching in the morning and then I am planning to join the sports complex and work out every other day. I need to find a set of washboard abs for the beach in Cairns!
On a more family note, Thursday nights have been dubbed “Movie Night” and we have been picking up a movie for the kids and one for mom and dad on the way home from school. Last night the kids watched Nacho Libre – primarily for a line about stretchy pants and then when they were in bed, Linton and I watched Charlie Wilson’s War. Not bad. I loved the writing and the relationship between Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman was excellent.
Finally, my deep thought for this entry comes from a great book I am reading called Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. It was a going away gift from an old friend from Lakefield, Iain Hill. Thanks Iain. It is an amazing exploration of the Aboriginal people and their songlines that carpet the entire Australian continent. Basically, the concept is that when they go “walkabout” the sing their away across the landscape as a way of marking the territory and transferring the various stories the land holds from one tribe to the next. It is fascinating and like nothing I had ever known about. Ahh – the beauty of travel and reading. Anyway, Chatwin has all kinds of things to say about about the human need to walk, move, and in essence travel. One quote in particular I liked was taken from J. G. Hamman and says, “When I rest my feet my mind also ceases to function.”
I think all four us would agree that our minds are functioning furiously as we embrace and explore and walk throughout this new world.
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