First Class

On Thursday, I had my first class lecture for bioinformatics. Before class started I introduced myself to a few of the students and had quick conversations. Then, right at 8:15am when the class was supposed to start the professor walked in and started setting up his equipment. He began talking to the class in Norwegian and I sat there with glazed eyes. Right as I was about to raise my hand to let him know that I didn’t speak Norwegian, a student I had talked with before class raised her hand and informed him that I couldn’t understand Norwegian. For the rest of the time he spoke in English, thank goodness.

The class was only an introduction to the course and what to expect throughout the semester. We will only meet two times a week until October 4 and then we will have weekly labs until the final exam. My grade is only based on the final exam which makes me very nervous. At Concordia, your final grade is for the most part based on homework, exams throughout the semester, presentations, other work, and a final exam. It’s scary to think that I have only exam that will determine my final grade. I better study hard throughout the semester so that I can master the one shot I have on the final.

After class I headed to Café Bodega to hang out with other international students. At the café we talked about the events of the week. For the first two weeks of school, a student group Debut UKA puts on a bunch of events and parties for students. Most of the events are free, but the ones during the night at the Driv usually cost money. The one on Thursday night didn’t sound too exciting so a few people came over to my place to watch Shrek 2. That night I met Callie’s flatmate Madelen. Madelen is in her second year at the university and she is studying political science. She is from Norway so it was fun chatting with her.

Picture while walking to class

On Friday, Callie and I went to campus for the student expo. At the expo there were tons of student organizations with representatives from each flagging down whomever they could. Each time a representative came up to us, we had to politely ask them to speak in English. I felt guilty not knowing Norwegian, but they were more than happy to talk in English. At the expo I signed up for variety of student organizations. I am looking forward to becoming involved on campus.

Later that night, Madelen prepared tacos for Callie and I! It was such a delight to have a home cooked meal after sandwhiches all week. After supper, we had planned on going to the party at Driv, but had decided to watch the movie Madagascar at my place. We definitely enjoy watching animated films. The meal and night of relaxing were much needed after a busy week. 

Today I was going to go hiking with a group of international students, but the weather was really cloudy. Hiking will have to be postponed until tomorrow.