Classes and living at CUHK A.K.A. Boring stuff.

First week of classes just wrapped up and I still don’t know my finalized class schedule. There’s been a whole lot of drama about classes here with all the exchange kids, and I’m no exception. So before coming here, USC Annenberg gave me a list of approved COMM courses for transfer. It was fairly long so it didn’t seem like there’d be any problem with taking 12 units here (which is what I need to take in order to be able to do my film minor and graduate on time). However, once we all get here, CUHK is literally only offering one of the courses on the list. So me and the other 2 USC Annenberg kids have been scrambling to submit alternatives that USC would accept. So far, I only have 6 approved units. If I can’t get one more COMM class, then I will have to drop my minor AND take 20 units in my last semester. Or stick around for a summer or fall course. This is definitely not ideal. If I can get just one more course, then I’ll be able to take 16 COMM units and just have to drop my film minor. I think that’s the best option because I don’t care too much about having the official minor or not. I took classes I enjoyed and that’s really all I need from that.

So yeah, cutting through this red tape has been shit.

Now on to the classes themselves: I’m taking International Communication, Psychology of Interpersonal Communication, and Mandarin 1. That’s 12 units here since each course is 3 units and Mandarin is two courses – one oral, one written. And man, the classes seem like a LOT of work. COMM and Psych each have 10-page research papers and 3 group presentations! In addition to the Midterms and Finals! Mandarin is all exchange kids so it seems a bit more chill, but it still has 6 quizzes and 8 dictations on top of the Oral and Written Midterms and Finals! This is going to be one crazy busy semester between all the work and all the traveling.

Also, it’s really weird how the classes seem so disrespectful. In COMM and Psych, there are only about 5 exchange kids in each and the rest is all locals. While the professor is lecturing and teaching, the kids just keep on talking at their normal voice level as if nothing is going on. Some exchange guys even told me how in one class, people were answering their phones in the middle of lecture and one guy was sitting on his desk with his back towards the professor so he could carry on a conversation with his friends better. I thought the conversation would die down after a while, once the professor got into the swing of things and they had caught up on each other’s summers, but they kept talking throughout the whole 2 hour lecture. And the professors don’t acknowledge it at all. They will just talk louder over the class roar without once asking them to quiet down. I don’t understand it.

That’s it for now. I’m off to Macau tomorrow – the Vegas of the East! – and just booked my flight ticket to Taiwan for next weekend, so this should be an exciting fortnight.