Last week I decided to write on the difference between American and British orientation weeks, and while that was all fun and games, a lot of my concerns before studying abroad related to the school aspect of going abroad. Unfortunately, I never found as much information about the difference in universities as I would've liked, so this week I am going to focus on the universal syllabus week, aka the first week of classes.

Just like the start of every new semester, I was a little nervous going into my classes. I am taking three classes here, which is a light load compared to my typical four to five classes back home. For my first day, I only had one lecture and my professor decided to take the jump right into the course approach. I definitely felt lost the entire two hours, but this could have just been because I felt like I was a freshman all over again.

Luckily, my second class of the week spent a bit more time going over expectations, course assignments and how to use Blackboard. The latter part of class was spent on a very brief introduction to studying Shakespeare, but my teacher knew we all really couldn't be bothered with an in depth lecture on the first day of class. My third and final class of the week took the entire 50 minutes explaining the course schedule, introductions from the professors and explanations of the course assignments. I was glad to have a variety of introductions to the beginning of my studies at Swansea University.

While there weren't any extremely shocking differences during the week between here and my home university, there were a few things I found odd. First, I never actually received a syllabus from my professors. In America, a syllabus is basically a contract your teacher has with you that explains essentials for the course. The closest thing I received was a schedule of lecture topics for one class. Second, none of my professors introduced themselves. I have found that at my home university, a professor will usually introduce themselves based on how they prefer to be addressed, some like to be called doctor, while others are fine with a first name bases. Finally, all of my courses have seminars once a week. At my home university, most classes are both lecture and discussion based, especially my major courses. Here, however, there are two hours of pure lecture per week and one hour of discussion. Personally, I prefer to have a class that is more of a conversation between the teacher and students, rather than save discussion for the seminars at the end of the week.

Overall, my classes here seem to be about the same level of rigor as my classes back home. I am hoping for a smooth semester and some different perspectives on English literature and language to take back to the states.