Today has been my second day of proper university life at UC. Lectures started yesterday, and I am very pleased to be back in the game again. Lecturers seems to be nice, down-to-earth people, and my courses look doable, even though anatomy, physiology and pathology might require some late evenings or early mornings to get hold off. I am expecting a slight change in my study routines, since my courses here seems less focused on equations than my undergraduate courses in Aarhus were, but I am confident that I will find a good way of absorbing knowledge here as well. This semester I will be taking the following courses:
- MDPH401 – Anatomy and Physiology
- MDPH403 – Radiation Physics
- MDPH404 – Radiation Biology and Radiation Protection
- PHYS407 – Research Tools (covering scientific writing in LaTeX and some programming in MATLAB and possibly another programme as well)
- PHYS411 – Advanced Quantum Mechanics
So far I have had introductory lectures in all courses but PHYS411 which won’t commence until 15 March, and they do a lot of mid-term tests, which will count a certain percentage of the total grade if we pass the exams. This means that there is no slacking off during term-time, but hopefully, this also allows for breaks to be spent as breaks and not as extra study time.
The director of the medical physics programme is a really nice guy, who is very helpful when it comes to very basic questions about how exams and everything works here, as well as with more specialised questions regarding the courses he is teaching. Today, he almost offered me a PhD-position if I do well at my coursework (at least he encouraged me to keep the option in mind when doing my coursework and planning the years ahead), and the whole atmosphere at the physics department is nice and relaxed, and a bit more personal than in Aarhus I must say. This might have something to do with there being quite few postgraduate students at the department, but nevertheless it is nice to feel welcome and appreciated in the corridors. I am hoping to get a desk within a few weeks, but nobody seems to be quite sure on what the department policy is on the matter, so I will just have to cross my fingers and be patient.
Another part of the university life is all the different clubs organised under the University of Canterbury Student Association (UCSA). They have such vast a variety that it is some task to choose between all the different clubs. So far, I have signed up for the UC Climbing Club, Canterbury University Tramping Club and Canterbury University Snow Sports Club, and there is a few more I would love to join, but I seriously doubt how much time I have left to dedicate to these clubs. Maybe I will just sign up for the whole lot, memberships are around $20, and then choose to put my time and effort into whichever is more fun and with the right people involved. I don’t have to make up my mind by tomorrow, but since a lot of clubs start their activities by next week, it would be a lot easier to get involved if I have decided during this week and can show up to the first meetings where there will be lots of others as new and as confused as myself.
On Friday I will donate my house-building-skills to a project called Habitat for Humanity, that is building a house on university grounds to house a family that needs housing due to economic trouble. Everything is build by volunteers, supervised by professionals, and I am certain that it will be good fun, and maybe a place to meet some cool people. Friday evening I am attending a welcome diner at “Operation Friendship”, an initiative aimed at getting international students to meet and have diner with local kiwis who have chosen to open their homes and welcome a bunch of foreign students into their house. The initiative appears to have started within local churches, but it appears to be a non-religious project that I look forward to taking part in.
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