I just submitted my last exam and my first three courses are
finished. I figured it was time to talk a little bit about my experience in
courses here at Radboud University.
The Break-down
This University set up differently than the majority of
universities in the United States. They have a fall and spring semester like we
do but they look a little different. Usually, my fall semester begins in the
middle of August and ends in the middle of December. Radboud’s semester begins
in September and goes through until the end of January. Additionally, that
semester is split into two blocks. The first block ends at the end of October
and you have final exams for those courses. Then you begin a new set of courses
that span from November until January with another set of exams at the end.
Currently I have finished up exams for my first three courses and just began
the next three this week. Since I will begin my semester back home in January,
I will have to take the exams for those courses at Missouri State and have them
sent back to Radboud. I will also be missing about two weeks of lectures in
January but the professors say I will be able to keep up online just fine.
Easy-going professors
I was told at the beginning of the semester that professors
in the Netherlands are different than those in the United States. They claim
that it is completely normal to address them by their first name and in a causal
manner. No Dr. Davis, you just call her Tine. For me though, their names were
usually so complicated I don’t know if I could even begin to pronounce them.
Although this was the case, it was still really hard for me to get comfortable
titling an e-mail with just their first name. That is just the way they do it
here. Also, all of the courses have multiple professors. Sometimes both will be
present and sometimes they will switch off on teaching lectures. This was
totally different than Missouri State. They all turned out to be pretty relaxed
and easy to talk to. They were helpful and understanding and of course, when
confused, I still use the “I’m an exchange student, how do things work here” to
get me through!
My First Three
Courses
Psychopharmacology and Psychopathology
This lecture style class was my favorite of the three and
happened to be my only Psychology course in the first period. This course we
learned about the different actions of drugs on neuronal malfunctions in the
brain including those to treat depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and
psychosis, addiction, chronic pain, dementia and ADHD. Unlike what I am used to
at Missouri State where we have multiple tests in a semester as well as other
assignments, this course was 100% based on the final exam for your grade.
Although I was extremely interested in the topic, I prepared for weeks for the
exam and it was definitely one of the most difficult exams I have ever taken.
We were able to use our book and mine was filled with sticky notes with
explanations from the lectures. Even with all of that, and all of my
preparation, I can still say that test was a pain! I am thankful for that
though because I have a newfound love for the brain and drug treatment for
disorders. I can really say I still love my major, even when in another
country.
Vulgar Culture
This course I took in order to fulfill a general education
requirement at Missouri State. It is from the Faculty of Arts and was a course
unlike any other I have ever taken. In this class we learned about how works
from “low” culture can still be viewed as aesthetic or even considered art. I
know nothing about appreciating art so this all was very new to me. We
discussed things like kitsch (the cheap shiny trinkets people love like
souvineers and coo coo clocks), photography, the abject (things that disgust us)
and even pornography. The last one was so different for me to learn about that
I still have trouble even blogging about it! In this class the first lecture of
the week was taught by one of the two professors and then the second class of
the week a group of students facilitated a discussion about the topic in the
form of a group presentation. Of course, when my group had to do this, our
topic was on pornography. Luck of the draw right? Welcome abroad Austin! The
final exam was a multimedia assignment where we had to create a piece of art
and then write about how it problematizes an aspect or two from the previous
lectures. Overall I liked the set-up of this class because having to do the
group projects helped me to really learn about the topics discussed and put my
own ideas into what we were learning. We rarely have group projects at Missouri
State in my courses and although they sometimes are a hassle, they can be a
good way to collaborate ideas.
Culture, Development and Globalization
This course was a difficult one for me. It is a course from
the Department of Anthropology and was all about different definitions of
culture, theories of development and the problems of globalization within our
world. Although these concepts were all completely new to me and I really
struggled to understand even the simplest of concepts in this course, by the
end, I can honestly say I have learned so much. We had a group research paper
where we had to come up with an example of how culture and development effect
globalization that we worked on throughout the entire course. Our group’s
project was on how international companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s are
able to be successful by incorporating different cultural practices into their
menu options and stores. Our group put in so much effort into this paper and
unfortunately it was only worth 30% of our grade. The other 70% came from our
final exam which was a take home exam. It was 4 questions and was set up just
like the paper we had to do. We had to defend our answers with citations from
all of the different readings throughout the course as well as the lectures.
After working on it for over 10 hours, I finished this exam and turned it in.
Deep breath, and move on, right?
My Next Three Courses
New period, new classes! The first is called Introduction to
Cognitive Psychology and I will be learning about all of the different brain
processes like perception, face recognition and memory. Another course is
called Fear, Anxiety and Related Disorders where we learn about the different
disorders related to anxiety like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic
Disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobias. Lastly, I am taking
a course called Applied Research Methods for Clinical and Developmental
Psychology where we will learn about research within these fields. I am pretty
excited to take these courses since they are all Psychology courses.
A lot of reading
means A LOT of reading
I have never read so much for classes in my life! Each class
came with 2-3 papers or chapters to read per week. Although I didn’t have much
studying or homework assignments, I was constantly sitting with my nose in a
book. Before going abroad, reading was my worst enemy. On the ACT in high
school, my lowest score was always on the reading portion. I struggled in
college to read even some of the chapters in the book and it took me double the
time it took an average person to finish readings. It turns out I just needed
practice. I was never into reading books as a kid and I sure wasn’t into
reading difficult books with ‘big’ words. After forcing my way through the
first few weeks of reading here at Radboud, I have found that my reading skills
have improved tenfold. As far as learning goes, studying abroad has been
essential.
Research: My own
project!
In addition to classes at Radboud, I also decided to bring
some research. My project is to ask students about how mindful they think they
are throughout their day with a series of questions they can answer online.
Eventually, I will compare the answers between students in the Netherlands and
students in Missouri. Another student at Missouri State studied abroad in
Thailand and is doing the same research with students from there as well. I am
very excited about how this project could turn out. Radboud University has
given me multiple opportunities for my educational process. I will always be
grateful for the ways in which I have been able to learn here.
Once again, thanks for reading! Sorry, no pretty pictures. What kinds of photos do I take for talking about classes? My concrete-walled lecture halls? (;
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