A well-mannered fire alarm

Take a listen to the video attached. You can hear how polite Australia is just by listening to their fire alarm. Where the U.S. has a blaring high-pitched squeal that fluctuates up and down amidst the highest frequencies humans can hear, this alarm casually alerts you that there's an emergency in the building in a pleasant accent, and that you should proceed to take precaution. How elegant.

Another funny story before I begin here. I was at the gym, and doing the elliptical as I always do to raise my heartrate before I start my workout. I wasn't paying much attention to my pace, just the BPM monitor and % of maximum heart rate. But before I knew it, I was racing at a half mile in two minutes! I was positively EXPLODING on this thing! And I sure as heck was moving, why shouldn't I be covering such ground so quickly? So I buckled down and kept driving, I was on pace for a four-minute mile after all - that's unbelievable, I've never been that fast!!... Nope. Four-minute kilometer, not mile. But it is a great butt workout.

So far classes have been great. I find the university system easier here, and I think I've narrowed it down to a few possible reasons. Perhaps the professors are more relaxed (which is certainly true), therefore there isn't such a competitive nature about learning and it thus comes more easily. I don't think this is the case, however. Another theory is my classes are simply easier, and it's not the education system as a whole. Again, this can't be true, as I'm taking fluid and particle mechanics (known to be one of the toughest classes in the mechanic engineer's lineup), along with statistics, electric circuits analysis, and philosophy - nothing at an intro level and nothing that quite qualifies as easy, from what I can tell. What I do think, however, is Australian professors don't give "busy" work. In every math or science class I have back home, I'm assigned a problem set (a set of 5+ questions, based on difficulty) that's due one week later. The problem set is designed so that you cannot do it on your own, and you must consult the lecturer or a tutor if you wish to complete it. It is also designed to incorporate material from the lectures in the coming week; in other words, it covers topics that you have not seen yet. And of course, the problem sets are graded. This means it's entirely frustrating and feels more like you're pulling together resources than learning. Now here in Australia, on the other hand, there are "optional" sets (suggested problems that you go over in tutorial sessions, with no graded component, but which strengthen your understanding of the material for the exams which are usually 40-60% of your grade). These tutorial problem sets are challenging, but draw completely from material you've already covered, and perhaps from past courses (assumed pre-requisite knowledge). Thus, you can complete all of the problems on your own, with appropriate difficulty and enough time put in.

I think this is an entirely better system, and a great solution to what I've been frustrated with for years. It's nice to be able to learn at a university that operates this way, even for one semester.

One of the Resident Fellows (holds the function of an RA) has started a Tuesday morning yoga class, and so my Tuesdays begin with 7am yoga. My flexibility isn't quite there yet, and so "reach for your toes" (for Chris) means "touch your bent knees gently," but my balance is really good. It's been a nice way to wake up.

One thing I've noticed, specifically between Americans and Australians, is the contrast in how we ask, "How are you?" The difference lies in:

Australian: "How are you?"

American: "How are you?"

Now it's not that interesting in essence how we say those things, but it does in some manner seem to reflect our respective societies, I think. It seems Australians are relational and place value on things besides success. They're interested in others because they're simply interested in others, not because they're building their network for their own advantage, for instance. Americans it seems, on the other hand, are still in fact interested, but only because they're interested in something, and it's not always you. Of course, this is a vastly gross generalization, and there are many people who lie on both sides of this half-truth. But while I do find that a bit of a bummer about Americans, there is one thing that I'm very proud of, and that's how welcoming we are as a country. Contrasted to the general ideas and customs of those from various other countries around the world I've spoken with here, I think Americans are really open to and accepting of people from all backgrounds. And while we (as Americans) might set our own standards that we haven't quite achieved yet, it's nice to see on an international level how we fare.

#video