Knowledge is Power

So my first day of classes here in Australia was yesterday and it was eye opening and exciting. For most of my life I have enjoyed school and learning, every now and then there are classes that are not my favorite subject but overall I have really enjoyed school. I had a great time during my years at the Elk Rapids Schools and I have loved my experiences academic and non at Albion College and now here at the International College of Management I have a brand new opportunity.

Yesterday my first Australian College class was Introduction to Events Industry and my professor was great. A nice older man who is extremely enthusiastic about his job and events. He opened up with telling us a little about himself and talking about the course. He continued on informing us about how fun events can be and how balloons are great at events. He passed out balloons to everyone in the class, had us blow them up, write our names on the balloons, and then tape them to our desk so that he could easily see our names and start to get to know us. It was a very exciting and interesting first task in my new school.

My second class was Sports Management, which was the class I was most looking forward to since I am really hoping to go into Sports Advertising and Marketing someday. My professor was extremely outgoing, enthusiastic, and got me so excited about the sports field. She talked more about the class and all of the things that we will be covering and how it will be benefiting you in the future.

My third and last class of yesterday was Contemporary Health Issues and again an enthusiastic and very cool professor. She is a nutritionist, educated women, and a mother of three. She is not here at the castle too much during the week but she sounds extremely knowledgeable and explained the class in a way that sounds extremely appealing and exciting. The grading scale here in Australia is quite different then at home and so is the way the grading is split up. Also, each class only meets two times a week; one for lecture and one for tutorial. My 'timetable' has worked out quite nicely so that I have three classes on Monday, one on Tuesday, two on Wednesday, two on Thursday, and no class Friday. The differences make it very intriguing and exciting for a new challenge in this new school.

Today I had my fourth and final class which was Business Communications. My professor was yet again so nice, enthusiastic, and intrigued my interest in the field. I am majoring in Communications back at Albion, as many of you know, and this class especially made me so excited to attend classes for the next twelve weeks. I felt as though my professor was speaking almost directly to me, she started the lecture today with talking about what communication is and what it means. She specifically emphasized and addressed the fact that communication is simple in some ways but should also be extremely valued at the same time. For my close friends and my family who know me well, and maybe too well will especially appreciate this... My professor also talked about how miscommunications occur because people make assumptions (which reminded me of the four agreements that I am reading right now) and she also said that people, women especially, have a tendency to overthink things. For those of you who do not know me as well, I tend to be an overthinker, so as my professor explained this specific point, I smiled to myself and felt quite at home in my new school.

ICMS is not only an extremely beautiful castle but also an extremely prestigious and honorable institute. I am proud to be a new member at this school and have the opportunity to get to know my fellow students and learn under such great professors. At this point in time I am very excited that my time here is really getting into the "study" part of my "study abroad" experience because ultimately that is one of the key reasons I am here. I am well aware that I will learn much more outside the classroom but I am also very anxious and curious to the knowledge that I will be gaining as a new student here at ICMS. G'night readers! Thanks for keeping up with the long posts :)