the truth about school.
random friend on msn: so, how's school?
me: erm erm... that's a good question.
well, i dont know why but lately people have been asking me how's school, so let me just properly explain things here. i'll be taking 3 modules each semester that i'm here because each module is worth 10 credits and 3 mods x 10 credits per module works out to 30 credits which is a full work load thats required by the university. law students can do math.
i'm taking international environmental law, media law and the law of armed conflicts and these are international law subjects, so it doesnt matter that copenhagen and singapore do not share the same legal system, because international law is, well, international. prior to leaving singapore, ive had also alot of people asking why i didnt choose to go to the US or the UK where systems are similar. why, cannot ah?
moving on, total class time amounts to something like 10hrs a week, all of which are seminar/lectures, (ie one does not have to do any tutorials whatsoever) which is a far cry from the amount of work needed to be done back in nus. and we dont have midterms and other irritating time-wasting such-like. our only exams are oral, and they last 15mins each. :) cue to look horrified and in disdain.
and the lecturers, who are all danes, save for my belgian media law prof (who comes all the way from ghent to teach us 3 hr media law classes on friday afternoons) may or may not speak english very well, and hand out lecture notes (if you are lucky, that is) which have spelling errors, cause lessons to be pretty boring. i try to entertain myself by correcting the speelling ellors. but the thing is, they are so nice. even though my env law prof is one boring fella, he's really quite lovable and apologises alot for the spelling errors when he knows its a spelling error. the media law prof grouped us into pairs to do a 'sweet surprise' where each week when we have break time (we all live for break times) the sweet surprise pair will provide the necessary tidbits. the french have brought wine before. how cool right. and we dont have snazzy powerpoint presentations. only have OHP. btw, classes also do not have wireless connection, so sam takes to playing either hearts or some pool game with exploding balls when he's bored. i just doodle like crazy. i got caught doodling once on my name card for my first env law class (first class already bored), and i was doodling stuff on environmental degradation (there was no other inspiration), then my prof came along and complimented me! he was like "im so glad that you're inspired by the class!". told you i love him. as for the armed conflicts class, both lecturers (yes, there is a system of 2 lecturers per class) are judge advocates, ie they work in the military courts and have military experience. how pro is that? the one that i like is a pretty arty guy and he knows how to use powerpoint to go measure. he's always showing us art pieces in between the slides and gives us nuggest of war art history as we go through syllabus. i doodle less in his class. and in cph, the tradition is that classes start only 15mins past the hour and we have a 15 min break in between if we have a 2 hr class. so effectively we have 1h3omins of class time for a 2hr class. thats really not bad at all. the media law class is rather xiong because the prof makes us go through 2 hrs of solid teaching before he hands out the break. you can imagine the sigh of relief that passes through the class at the 2hr mark.
so as you can see, syllabus is interesting... BUT not the classes. and im not the only one complaining! the rest of the internationals have been cutting classes too! and the lecturers usually just look resigned and hope for a better tomorrow. :) my greek friends usually go for the first half, and if they get disatisfied with the level of interestingness, zao off for coffee during the break and dont come back.
so this is why i travel. and read my lonely planet books rather than read my law textbooks, catch trains to countries rather than buses to school. anyway, the last time i ponned school was for oktoberfest and the next time im ponning is for russia. i think that's fully justified and its just part and parcel of life on exchange. there was once my mom actually forgot i was here to study! that was nice. until lately she reminded me to hit my books. -___-"
oh well, fall break is ending tomorrow, so i guess ive to start revving the mugging engine before the last big trip before exams.
might i add that i really like fall, esp when the wind blows and rustles up the yellow leaves in little whirlwinds and its a sunny day like today.
me: erm erm... that's a good question.
well, i dont know why but lately people have been asking me how's school, so let me just properly explain things here. i'll be taking 3 modules each semester that i'm here because each module is worth 10 credits and 3 mods x 10 credits per module works out to 30 credits which is a full work load thats required by the university. law students can do math.
i'm taking international environmental law, media law and the law of armed conflicts and these are international law subjects, so it doesnt matter that copenhagen and singapore do not share the same legal system, because international law is, well, international. prior to leaving singapore, ive had also alot of people asking why i didnt choose to go to the US or the UK where systems are similar. why, cannot ah?
moving on, total class time amounts to something like 10hrs a week, all of which are seminar/lectures, (ie one does not have to do any tutorials whatsoever) which is a far cry from the amount of work needed to be done back in nus. and we dont have midterms and other irritating time-wasting such-like. our only exams are oral, and they last 15mins each. :) cue to look horrified and in disdain.
and the lecturers, who are all danes, save for my belgian media law prof (who comes all the way from ghent to teach us 3 hr media law classes on friday afternoons) may or may not speak english very well, and hand out lecture notes (if you are lucky, that is) which have spelling errors, cause lessons to be pretty boring. i try to entertain myself by correcting the speelling ellors. but the thing is, they are so nice. even though my env law prof is one boring fella, he's really quite lovable and apologises alot for the spelling errors when he knows its a spelling error. the media law prof grouped us into pairs to do a 'sweet surprise' where each week when we have break time (we all live for break times) the sweet surprise pair will provide the necessary tidbits. the french have brought wine before. how cool right. and we dont have snazzy powerpoint presentations. only have OHP. btw, classes also do not have wireless connection, so sam takes to playing either hearts or some pool game with exploding balls when he's bored. i just doodle like crazy. i got caught doodling once on my name card for my first env law class (first class already bored), and i was doodling stuff on environmental degradation (there was no other inspiration), then my prof came along and complimented me! he was like "im so glad that you're inspired by the class!". told you i love him. as for the armed conflicts class, both lecturers (yes, there is a system of 2 lecturers per class) are judge advocates, ie they work in the military courts and have military experience. how pro is that? the one that i like is a pretty arty guy and he knows how to use powerpoint to go measure. he's always showing us art pieces in between the slides and gives us nuggest of war art history as we go through syllabus. i doodle less in his class. and in cph, the tradition is that classes start only 15mins past the hour and we have a 15 min break in between if we have a 2 hr class. so effectively we have 1h3omins of class time for a 2hr class. thats really not bad at all. the media law class is rather xiong because the prof makes us go through 2 hrs of solid teaching before he hands out the break. you can imagine the sigh of relief that passes through the class at the 2hr mark.
so as you can see, syllabus is interesting... BUT not the classes. and im not the only one complaining! the rest of the internationals have been cutting classes too! and the lecturers usually just look resigned and hope for a better tomorrow. :) my greek friends usually go for the first half, and if they get disatisfied with the level of interestingness, zao off for coffee during the break and dont come back.
so this is why i travel. and read my lonely planet books rather than read my law textbooks, catch trains to countries rather than buses to school. anyway, the last time i ponned school was for oktoberfest and the next time im ponning is for russia. i think that's fully justified and its just part and parcel of life on exchange. there was once my mom actually forgot i was here to study! that was nice. until lately she reminded me to hit my books. -___-"
oh well, fall break is ending tomorrow, so i guess ive to start revving the mugging engine before the last big trip before exams.
might i add that i really like fall, esp when the wind blows and rustles up the yellow leaves in little whirlwinds and its a sunny day like today.
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