Many times during my study abroad experience, I’ve asked myself, “Why aren’t you able to have this much fun when back at MoHo?” The answer- academics.
At my home institution, I barely find time for friends, for Hulu, for going off campus, and for relaxing in general. The combination of going to class, completing homework assignments, reading books, writing essays, studying for exams and the rest drains me like none other. And this goes one for weeks. In this way, I like to think of my academic experience in the States as a full-time job. In the time that I’ve spent in jolly ol’ England, however, I’ve discovered that many universities here, including my university, like to treat academic as a part-time job.
Firstly, the British academic system doesn’t really believe in weekly homework assignments. Your entire grade is dependant on either one final exam, or one final exam and one essay. Other than that, you have no other tasks to complete for your course grade. Second, the British system puts more emphasis on choosing your own readings for your courses, rather than having a professor tell you exactly which books to read or how many pages to read. While professors stress the large number of books you should read, many students can easily pass their courses without glancing at a single book. Lastly, most classes meet only for one hour a week for a lecture, and one hour a week for a seminar. So, since I took four classes this term, I only had eight hours of actual classroom time. In short, I ended up having very few essays/exams, and a lot of free time on my hands. Subsequently, my social life exploded along with my daily levels of fun.
Since my academic life here in England has been essentially a vacation, I’m now starting to dread my return to the rigorous academics of MHC. While I’m saddened to know that my social life back home will essentially disappear, I take comfort in knowing that the academics of my home university will greatly prepared me for my future in the sometimes ruthless working world.