Mood:
happyOrientation week is over (even for the Aussies) and school has officially begun! As of Friday, we have started on our first module, called Foundation Studies, in a unit called Critical Thinking and Communication.
Our first paper was due on Friday, which was a 1,500 word essay on the major lessons learned in our career, our career aspirations (both near- and far-term), and our goals while attending the course. The assignment was mostly to introduce ourselves to the school staff, but it was also the first chance that the staff had to evaluation our abilty to write.
This is pretty important, because the rules are significantly different between writing in the US and writing in Australia, particularly when dealing with military writing. Not just the spelling, but also the grammer rules are different in several cases, and even the "structural rules" are different. For example, the Aussies only put one space after a full-stop (period). I find it difficult to write in a manner that I KNOW is wrong in my country in order not to lose points in theirs...
We also had an Introduction to Speed Reading class this week which I found interesting. There is a more in-depth class coming up on the weekend that would be optional for me to take. I think I'll let that one pass. - Not that I don't need it, I just feel like an old dog trying to learn a new trick.
Orientation week (most of last week) went well, and all of the Overseas Course Members (OCMs) mingled with the Aussies. We are now one big, happy class, waiting for school to kick in in earnest.
- Ryan -
