Study Abroad at Bond University in Australia

 

Study Abroad at Bond University in Australia

Kana Otani

          Hi, this is Kana! I am currently studying abroad in Australia Fall 2013. I would like to share my amazing study abroad experience at Bond University, especially with the students who are thinking to take advantage of the study abroad program, while you are attending at Hawaii Pacific University.

          I do not know where to start since I found so many great things about Bond University. Well, the first of all, I would like to let you know that the campus of Bond University is incredibly beautiful! Take a look at the picture below.

When I first arrived at the campus, the glorious water fountains, the architecture of school facilities and clean and tidy garden took my breath away. Secondly, I love that the university offers the students training room and many kind of group exercise classes at no cost. I enjoy going to yoga and salsa dance class every week. It always makes me feel refreshed in mind and body. Thirdly, I like that the students at Bond University study hard but party hard! In my opinion, since the bachelor degree program is designed for 2 years, unlike 4 years in the United States, more efforts are likely to be required to pass the subjects. In fact, there are many assignments. Also, I found that quiz and exam are more challenging. I would say the quiz here is almost equal to mid-term and final exam at Hawaii Pacific University. In spite of the intensive course of study, the students at Bond University strike a good balance between study and play. Bond University Student Association always organizes fun events, such as BBQ, live music shows and parties, for the students, so there are always activities going on around the campus. Also, there are on-campus bar called “Don’s” where all the Bond University students gather on every Thursday night. You will have a great opportunity to meet new people and built friend-networks around the world.

          I have been having amazing time in Australia! I strongly believe choosing to study abroad at Bond University was the best decision I could have ever made in my life! For the people who now interested in studying abroad at Bond University, I recommend you to go to http://www.youtube.com/user/BondUniversity/videos to check out the videos. These videos will give you better understanding of university culture at Bond University.

          Finally, I want to end my article with the one important tip to living in Australia: Australians call chips crisps and call French fries chips.

Thank you for reading my article. See you in JanuaryJ

Big hug from Australia!

Kana Otani

                                   

               

Classes in Osaka

Unlike most university students, I did not start school until last week on the 24th of September. Even then, it wasn’t actually mandatory to attend the classes. My school actually allows their students (well, at least the int’l students) a week to try out the classes that interest them before registering for them. So far, it wasn’t that bad. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the scheduling, but I think it will be fine. 

At the start of orientation, when I received a packet for classes, the whole process confused me. Unlike HPU, Momoyama lets the international students try out classes as stated in the previous paragraph. Also, there is a difference between courses and classes at Momoyama. A ‘course’ is just the subject (ie Comparing Cultures, English V), while a ‘class’ corresponds to how many times you have a specific course within a week. Confusing? Well, let’s take the course Comparing Cultures and say that every week you meet twice, back-to-back during two periods. So, in total, you would have four classes just for the one course. 

Now, as for the periods, there are 5 periods each day of the week. Each has a different time slot, corresponding to the course subject. First period is from 9:20-10:50, second is from 11:00-12:30, third is from 13:20-14:50, fourth is from 15:00-16:30, and fifth is from 16:40-18:10. The good part about this is that everyone has the same breaks in between classes and friends can have lunch at the same time. The bad part would probably have to be that some classes are held in two periods, making it very tiring and hard to concentrate. 

All in all, I find this to be a very interesting experience. Instead of having to battle with other students trying to get my most desired courses, I can freely take whatever course I think suits my interests. No more waiting until midnight to register for classes at the time I want. Now I can just take my time and just have fun with it. 

Hospitals Abroad

So I got some fluke injury the other day. I'm not a fan of hospitals, and am generally way more interested in just "walking it off" than actually heading to a medical professional, but eventually my friends coerced me into getting checked out.
So I got to the ER, filled out some very basic paper work, (my name, address, and emergency contact) and then sat down. They did not ask to see my insurance card or drivers license or anything. Since I did not have a life threatening issue, I than sat down and hung out for the next 2 hours or so. Eventually, I got called in, checked out, and was sent home. Just like I had assumed, everything was ok.
The biggest advantage about hospitals in London is that everything is free. The disadvantage is the wait time. I have had a few other friends have to visit the hospital in London so far and all of them have complained about the wait. So in the end, hospitals in London will provide similar care to the ones in the USA, with a longer wait, but absolutely no bill.

The Intensity of Ordinary Things

I was just eating breakfast when I had to hold myself back from crying. This minor fact can be interpreted in a number of ways. One, I can be seen as overly emotional, bordering on reckless. Two, is someone back home hurt? Three, is someone back home hurting me?
I'm lucky enough that none of those are it, with the exception that number one has been true in moments preceding self-discovery. So, why did I nearly cry like a little wimp at breakfast time?
It was the two types of jelly on my bread. Yes. That.
But let's word it differently. On my long slice of bread sat four "glop's" of jelly. Two were strawberry red, the other two a pear green. These colors. The way they sat beside each other. The way they bounced off each other over the duller shades of wheat. They were so vibrant! At this point, my breakfast had overcome me completely.
With two shaky fingers I picked up the bread and held it close to my eyes. Even from a "profile" view the colors were illuminating. They were powerful; they were shelving, rearranging the chaos in my daily mind to one simplified center- the beauty, the intensity that lives and stirs in the humble silence of ordinary things.
So, you might be wondering what this has to do with studying abroad in Spain.
I'll start with this- Madrid is a startling place at times. It vibrates with the commotion that only long living cultures can do. Sometimes, it can be easy to get lost in it. Sometimes, we even get afraid of it. All the people on the streets, all of it so different from the still island at home? Sometimes, we might find it easier to stay in bed and stare at the familiarity of Facebook all day. (Or if you're like me, read poetry, Nabakov and Salinger.)
In these moments, though, it's important to learn to keep still. Stop in your tracks. Literally. If you're walking to class, cease those footsteps! Take a moment and look up at the sky. Look at your hands, your fingertips, the way details in your skin make patterns that resemble valleys as great as the grand canyon. If you have the time, take a seat at a coffee shop. Sit outside. Focus on the old man with his granddaughter. He's wearing a long coat the color of the black coffee you're drinking. (I like my coffee black.) His granddaughter is riding a bicycle with a tall flag at the end. You can't help but think how much of a cliche this is. But you realize that this is life and sometimes it can be a series of cliches.
Life. It is happening. It is intense; it is passionate; it is everything that both startles you when studying - in the shape of Spanish cars honking outside your balcony - and sways you into a sweet slumber - in the form of humming Spanish air.
Keep still, my fellow traveler. Be transparent for a small moment and let it all swim through you. Breathe it in and accept it. Life's beauty, whether you're in Madrid or Honolulu, comes in surprising forms.
Sometimes, it comes in the form of your breakfast, the vibrancy of strawberry red against pear green. From there it grows into the crumbs left on the plate, seated in perfect disarray. Eventually, the beauty of it all wraps the entire table, the entire room and apartment, finally becoming you.
In this you become the intensity that might frighten you. And when you become the intensity, you are more than able to handle the intensity.

Into España

It seems all great events in life never go as planned. This is something I've been coming to terms with for the past couple of years, only it has truly become apparent as of this stay in Madrid, Spain.
Let me begin with the little tale of my arrival with some backdrop...
I've been around Europe before. I spent a month in 2011 traveling around Europe at the age of 17. Because of this, I grew pretty accustomed to the subway systems they have (and the horrid smell of the metro in Paris). This made me feel confident that upon arriving in Madrid, I could just take the metro from the airport to my place, nice and cheap. Well...
I was wrong.
Metro lines go in two directions. I remembered this and thought I could just figure it out. The problem is- when you have a huge suitcase, two huge bags and a purse in a Spanish Metro it's hard to navigate, especially when Spain is the pick-pocketing capital of the world and you have your whole life with you. Before coming to Spain, the metro was the least of my worries. Upon arriving it became the precise opposite.
I kept going in the wrong direction. It was ridiculous. I wanted so badly to ask someone for directions. And I could have! I speak Spanish at my house in Honolulu all the time! I'm Spanish and Mexican for crying out loud! But in the 15 minutes it took me to get off and on several metro lines, looking for the right direction, I became a horrid wreck of nerves.
Eventually, I gave up and took a taxi.

Now, let me tell you this- I decided to stay with a host family. In other words, instead of getting my own apartment, I am staying with a lady of roughly 60 years of age, her dog named Luna and her speaking-parrot-type-of-bird named Cuko (spelling?). In addition, I am staying with two other girls in the same position as me. Fresh off the boat in Spain, studying at my same University for the same duration.
So...
One: I imagined finding the apartment extremely difficult and meeting my host Senora choppy and awkward.
Two: I imagined myself starting out with no friends and going out at night by myself, looking for people to hang out with in the weird, "Hi, my name is Bianca! Who are you?" fashion.
Like the theme of this blog-entry, though, I was all wrong- only this time, it was of a positive nature.
As I stepped out of the Taxi with all my 4-month-belongings, I trudged up the Spanish Street in search of apartment #18. After roughly 3 miniscule seconds, a lady in front of a small shop clutching a cigarette called out to me: "Estas buscando Maria?" Maria, ladies and gents, is the name of my host mother.
Instantly I became filled with elation from the roots of my curly hair to my boots. "Si! Si!" I called back.
The smoking lady pointed me in the direction of #18 and I ran after it like the panicked girl I was. Literally upon reaching the door, Maria, my house mother, came bursting out all smiles and all Spanish! She was waiting for me to arrive!
The relief that poured through me was spectacular. We kissed on the cheeks like the locals do and she helped me up (all three flights of long, long stairs/no elevators!) to our apartment.
It all came flooding at me in waves of gifts- a balcony in my room, a precious beagle to lessen the missing of my puppy back home, handsome local guys, a street filled with shops and bars all neighboring me- everything!
A day later, I came to know my two roommates. Let me just say that they are my sisters now. One is from New Hampshire. Her name is Molly and she is an absolute classic sweet and funny girl majoring in Business and into sports. The other girl is Patricia from Austria. She is motherly and great with maps, which helps tremendously because I can always count on her while traveling around in Spain.


I've been here for over a month now and haven't missed an inch of Hawai'i. Although it would be nice to have some of the foods here and the people, homesickness hasn't struck me once. In fact- I literally have nightmares that I am back in Hawai'i for the weekends and completely confused and sad that I am not in Spain. These nightmares come almost every night. So if you're someone looking for tips on how to get over homesickness, well, I can't say I can help. Or perhaps I can, given I am not homesick at all? It depends on how you look at it.
I'm a person currently striving for independence so getting as far away from Hawai'i as possible is exactly what I needed.
And I wasn't expecting this, but given that I have Spanish in my blood and have the tongue for it, I have found that I almost fit in more in Madrid than I do in Hawai'i. Moral of the story is, you can go ahead and gather hills of expectations, just don't be surprised when they unravel and not unfold, because sometimes, lost expectations bounce back in the form of sweet, Spanish surprises.

Hasta Luego!

--Bianca Marina Flores

ps: here is a photo of my roommates and I with our host mother/Senora!
(I'm the one on the far right in black.)

Spain

So one of the great things about studying abroad in London, is the fact that London is the base for the airline EasyJet. EasyJet lets one fly all over Europe for extremely cheap. If you book your flight a month or so in advance, and don't take much luggage, you can fly roundtrip to virtually anywhere in Europe for under $200.

I took advantage of this a few days ago as I flew out to Oviedo, Spain for the weekend. One of my good friends has lived in Oviedo for most of his life, so I was lucky enough to be able to stay at his house and explore the city with a local.

This was my first time in Spain but it definitely will not be my last. The weather was amazing, the people are incredible, the food is delicious, and the general atmosphere is so much more relaxed than here in London. As far as the nightlife is concerned, everything in Oviedo is dramatically cheaper, and all of the places are open much later. While many bars in London are closed by midnight, some of the places in Oviedo do not start to get busy until 5 or so.

One thing to note may be that people are a little more hesitant to speak in english than in other parts of Europe. I was in Germany a couple months ago and people instantly realized I was American, and started speaking to me in English. While I'm sure everyone in Spain realized pretty quickly I was an American, most of the conversations I had with the people I met there were in Spanish. While my Spanish is not very good, it was a great opportunity to practice, and showed me the things I need to work on.

Overall, I had an amazing experience in Spain. While London is a great city, I love traveling and experiencing new places. Hopefully I get the chance to jump on another EasyJet flight in the near future.

That's all for now.

-Sam

The city of Oviedo.

Walking through the city.

El Cristo, on the mountains overlooking Oviedo

Mi amigo Alejandro, y su novia Alexia.

Classes

Classes in London are much different than classes in the United States. Almost every class I have taken in the United States has one's final grade broken down into 5 or 6 categories. One can get points for attendance, participation, homework, quizzes, group projects, midterms, maybe a term paper, and then a final. Although the final is important, I have never had one worth more than 40% or so of my final grade, and most seem to be worth closer to 10 or 20% of ones final grade. In addition, the final is normally at least partially multiple choice, so even if you hypothetically did not know any of the material, you can still get some points.

My classes in London are not like this at all. In general, I have a term paper worth roughly 50% of the grade, and a final worth another 50%. Some courses may have two smaller assignments worth 25% each instead of a term paper, but it seems that my grade is never comprised of more than 3 or 4 assignments for the entire semester. The final is also much different as my professors claim they will be entirely made up of essay questions.

Some students may get excited by seeing that your attendance is not graded, however, for Americans studying abroad in England, we run the risk of being deported if we miss too many classes.

So right now I'm on my way to my last class of the day. This class has a final, a midterm and 2 quizzes that make up the entire grade, so I don't have any homework to worry about. Just have to make sure I keep up with the reading.

Later
-Sam