The Scottish School System

Hello everyone! Today was orientation.  I pretty much had it all day long.  I went in to town tonight for dinner at a place called Papa Joe's.  It pretty much has any type of food you can imagine.  It was really good.  But, unfortunately my day was pretty uneventful, (other than this little kid (like 10 years old) making an inappropriate gesture at the bus driver.  Oh, Scottish public transportation is never dull.)  So, as the time for my classes to start draws nearer, I thought that I would give a rundown on exactly how the UK's University systems works. (So, whenever I talk about my lectures and seminars everyone will understand what I'm talking about.)  Here's how this works.  At the University of Stirling I am taking 3 classes.  Each of this classes counts for 5 credits back at Butler.  So, while I'm used to taking 17 or 18 credit hours and 5 or 6 classes, here I am taking 15 credit hours and 3 classes. (This is the maximum number of credit hours that undergrads can take here.)

Each class has lecture times and seminar times.  Lectures are with the entire class, probably about 200 students, with a "tutor" or "lecturer" (the name for professors here) talking about a topic.  These usually last about an hour or 2 and aren't interactive.  Basically the lecturer talks, and I take notes.  Seminar times are separate from lecture times.  These have about 10 to 20 students in them and it's all discussion, attendance is mandatory and everything is very interactive.  They are led by teaching assistants or lecturers just depending on who signs up to teach what.

Also, I don't have text books.  I have a list of about 100 books (no this isn't an exaggeration) for each class and I'm supposed to choose what relates to lecture, my paper's, or my interests and read those books.  Pretty much everybody lives at the library.  Honestly, I probably have been in Butler's library to look at books, maybe 3 times.  Here, I will be at the library daily.  Everything is very independent.  I also already have the topics for all of my papers and I'm expected to start writing those ASAP. (Scottish people do not procrastinate.)

Another difference from the American system, is that one lecturer won't teach every class.  There is one lecturer who oversees the class, but other lecturers will teach things that are their specialties.  So, for example, I have one class where a different lecturer teaches pretty much every day.

I also added a picture of my campus below.  I thought this would be interesting.

The building below the number 1 is my flat.  My room is on the inner right side.  Number 2 is the bridge that I cross to get to pretty much everything on campus. Number 3 is the building where the library, student union, eating places, Starbucks (Did you really think I would go to a campus that didn't have a Starbucks?), and shops are.  Number 4 is the Cottrell building.  I have most of my classes in that building.  Number 5 is the Pathfoot building.  I have one class in there.  (Also, there is a building that has a movie theater in it.  So, Stirling's money doesn't go into the dorms; it goes into the facilities.)

Tomorrow I'm going to go to the castle finally! I only have one session of orientation tomorrow. Finally all of this orientation is almost over!