End of Week 13 what's left in Semester 1?

Yaaaay I'm almost there!!! Week 13 finished and that means one week of holidays! 

It is exam break next week. 

After 13 Weeks of content USC introduced one week of break before exam block starts (2 weeks).

What does it mean?

Studying in Australia means not only having exams at the end of the semester. It means you might have an exam but not necessarily. 

So what if I don't have an exam?

It means that you are done with your semester! So goooood! Congratulations!

But it also means that you did hard work in your assignments! 

- roughly 3 task in each subject means 12 assessments for a full-time student at USC in 13 weeks.

What does it mean in my case?

- I had 11 assessments so I will have 1 exam. I had an online quizz, 1 group presentation, 1 group assignment, 2 individual presentations and 6 individual assignments.

- The assessments count differently, so the last weeks (week 11-13) were quit stressful with 3 big assignments compared to the first block of small assessments (week 5-7).

Here is an example of one of my courses (Managing Human Resources):

So I will have an exam in the exam period on 11th of June. My last assessment for my Bachelor degrees!!
Content this time for this exam is only week 10 to 13. Not the whole semester. Less studying but different studying here at USC. It is more about applying theory to practice. My task now is to understand the contents with theories, frameworks and concepts and then to find examples in 'real life'. 

My semester Finishs with the completion ceremony on 22nd of June 2020! 

This is super exciting!

Cultural differences part 2

Straya is a bit different to Germany. Would be strange if a country on the other side of the world is completely the same.

But compared to asian countries Australia is similar to european countries.

Food & Drinks:
Healthy multi-culture diet
- Asian food (Japanese, chinese) e.g. Sushi, bubble tea
- European food (Pizza, Pasta, Salad, Sausages)
- American food (Burgers, Fries
- Australian food (Vegemite, Tim Tam, Cadburry chocolate, baked beans)

- Beer, Wine
- less consumption of alcohol and cigaretts


Shopping:

- stock up on tin food (Tomato paste, beans)
- big weekend shopping tour

- Shopping malls (all have a big supermarket)
- less music played in the malls than in europe


Infrastructure:

- Driving on the left side of the road
- limitted public transport (last bus around 8pm)
- a lot of school buses
- less trafficthan in europe
- a lot of roundabouts 

- Pubs close around 10pm, Cubs around 3 am
  

Teaching:
- practical orientated
- less social distance between student and teacher but still act with the same respect
School:
- private schools more common than in Germany
- focus on assignments in all subjects
- school times: 9 am-2 pm or 4pm
- school kids start at the age of 5 with prep and finish with 17 in grade 12
- different timetables each week
- school uniform very common

Recruiting:
- almost the same but the application looks different (more descriptive CV  not in table format)

Behavior:
- VERY thankful and nice, happy and magnetic personality
-  Australians look sometimes a bit unreliable to us but it's just the manner, they take things not as serios s we take it. They are not disappointed if a catch up is not happening, we rely on once word a week ago. 
- Spontaneous and relaxed society, life is going in slow motion some times
-  Motto: 'I'll get there, when I get there'


- awake with the sunrise and 'disappear' after sunset 

Freetime activities:

Sports, sports, sports. Nature pure

Australia is a really active society. The footpath is like a pedestrian highway in the early morning around 6 am and in the evening around 5 pm. 
Nationalparks or local walking paths are popular for a short catch up with friends.

If you meet with an Aussi they say: 'Let's get a take-away coffee and go for a walk to catch up.'



So overall the culture in Australia is similar but less rushed, more quite and more relaxed. 
The nature and its sounds (lovely birds) support the behavior I think. Sometimes I have the feeling that they are less concerned about their finances. But living is not cheaper here. 
Priorities are set different.

Australians prior happy and relaxed lifestyle to luxurious life and status symbols.

Goal: high Quality of life and count one's blessings