I have finished classes for this semester. 10 weeks, that was all I had for classes. I am finishing up two papers this weekend and have an exam next Wednesday but I am basically done. My papers are both almost finished. I just have a little bit more editing but for the most part they are done and I will be able to pass them in soon. I plan to finish my Market research one today. My exam is going to be dumb. We got the prompt last week and spent our last class discussing the answer. All I need to do is memorize the answer and then write it in essay form during the exam time. So basically pointless.
I am sorry to report that class out here never got any better. I still dislike the British School system. There is no structure to it. I took 4 classes. My theater class was more of a fun class. That one was easy and more like a gen ed back home. I loved going to all the theater. I went to much more than what was required for class as well. Marketing research is the one class I actually felt like I learned something in but their was still not much guidance from the tutors. I had to figure out a lot of it on my own or rely on my group work to help me understand. Marketing research is my most important module over here. The credits I will receive will count for my Market Research class at Plymouth. So I guess it's a good thing I learned something in this module. My group and I rocked both our paper and our presentation which we did this morning. we were already told that we got the highest grade in the class! Global markets was alright. The class was not what I was expecting. It was very heavily based with economic theories that I have already learned. The seminar was better than the lecture. We did get more direction with assignments though which was helpful. Role of a Manager was my last class. This is the worst class I have ever taken. The only reason I took it was because I was told it was a good class and that many students choose to take it. I did not learn one thing in this module. We did the same thing every seminar which I understood by week 2. She would expect us to pass in a paper every week basically saying the same thing as the week before. This paper, she would look at but we would not get any points for participation or class work so to me it was pointless to do the work. Lectures were worse. Now I am not one to skip class but that lecture I could not sit through every week. The module leader would read from the slide show basically word for word and not give us any extra information. I can do that on my own in my room. Why am I going to waste time in London sitting in class that is not giving me any extra information.
I am excited go home and go back to school somewhere I will actually be learning and that challenges me. I know I will hate it when I actually have to do work all semester but at least I will get something out of the class and am being challenged. I learned much more living in London and traveling than I did sitting in a classroom. I am so happy I only had classes 2 days a week. It gave me much more time to do cultural things, travel, and see London. As far as work this semester, I have had very little. It wasn't until about a week ago when I was assigned my alternative assessments that I began to have a lot of work. I had some group projects over the semester but they were not bad since it was group work. I could do my part and be done with it. Again this is not ow I normally work. I am happy I didn't have much work. I would not have seen as much of London if I did have a lot of work. I know some study abroad people have a ton of work right now. I am not sure If i just picked good modules that didn't load me with work or if I just planned my time well but I am not stressed out about the things I have left to do.
The British school system as a whole is not good. Teachers were not as receptive or helpful as I would have hoped. They also did not care that I was adjusting to a new way of writing papers and a new school system which was frustrating. The British school system also grades assignments differently. I always would practically have a heart attack when I got a grade back and then would remember the conversions for grades. It helped when I got group assignments back because my group would be excited about the grade. Its so weird that a 60 is a good grade and is like a B at home. It will be nice to go back to a good school system that has structure to it. It is hard to concentrate on work when their are so many other things I would rather be doing in the city. Usually I picked doing fun things and stayed up late to do work but I was not going to waste my time abroad. As important as the "study" part of the "study abroad" experience is, I found that the "abroad" part was much more important and where I actually gain knowledge, not sitting in a classroom.
Cheers,
Allie
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