Blake Tyra's South Africa Study Abroad Blog: Birthdays

Wednesday, May 13th, 2015

1:00pm South African Standard Time

Weather 75° F Sunny

I guess May turned out to be the birthday month in our study abroad group. Angela’s birthday was on the 3^rd, Erin’s on the 5^th and mine was on the 8^th. It was quite the week with all the celebrations. For my 20^th we just went out for dinner as a group to a local seafood restaurant and then hung out at the hotel for the evening. I was lucky because mine was on a Friday, so we didn’t have to worry about class the next day. The group of people I am here with is like one big family to each other. Although we don’t always hang out or go everywhere as a big group, we get along and are there for each other when we need to be. Oh yeah, and my crazy-awesome girlfriend Emily got people to make me feel loved by hugging me all day and meow “happy birthday” to me because she loves me soooooo so so much. I love you too babe!!!

These last few weeks have been a bit tough for many of us as the arc of our trip is on the decline. School is getting out at home and we still have 3 weeks of class and a month of finals to go before we can be done, so there is a longing for the summer plans my friends are already making that I will miss. There is no doubt that I am still having an amazing time here, but I know I will be more than ready to come home and be with my family and friends again.

To be perfectly honest, these past few weeks haven’t been very exciting. School is coming to a close and that means lots of studying, final projects, and essays as my courses wrap up. Two of my courses have already ended and now I have to wait over a month to take the final exams; this is much different from St. Cloud’s final exams which all occur the week after our last class. From talking with other international students, we’ve figured out the main difference between USA universities and those here. The classes here are way easier, but the tests are exceedingly difficult. When grades transfer back, a 75% on an exam is an A here, whereas in the US a 75% is a C. That just goes to show how much more difficult the exams are here and the caliber of studying that we must put in to prepare for each one compared to home.

Now, I’m not saying that the classes back home are any easier; the vast majority of classes are continuous assessment, meaning there are weekly assignments and quizzes to access our knowledge of that week’s or unit’s material. At the end of the class there is often a comprehensive final exam on the entire content of the course, but its grade weight isn’t as much because the other assignments balance it out. Here, most of the classes are not continuous assessment. Instead they typically have 2 tests during the class and if you achieve 40% or more on them you are eligible to take the final—in which you must get 50% to pass the class. There are no other assignments or assessments that factor into your grade, making for a very unbalanced approach to grading. Both methods require that you learn the same amount of content, but the grading style in the US is 1) what I’m used to and 2) a much more balanced system to grading our understanding of a course’s content.

Sorry for the boring school talk, but that is really all I’ve been up to. Every day is still a new adventure and the people I meet are fantastic and very interesting. They really look up to America here and I can’t count the number of times a local resident has asked for me to take them back with me to the US. Their comments and this entire experience have helped me gain a deeper appreciation for having the privilege to live where I do and not face issues to the same extent as those here. I know that my experiences, knowledge and memories made here will forever be a part of my life; they have provided me with a much bigger view of how I see the world—from its struggles to its beauty. I recently discovered the quotation below, which sums up what it really means to travel. It was a realization I had before coming here of what it really means to have an experience versus a “trip”.

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might as well stay at home.”

-James Michener

Kenna and Blake