Exchange is not just about travel/ play, there's work to be done...

Sometimes we can be getting a wrong picture about student exchange that it's all about using exchange as an excuse to travel, relax, lay back, and not to do anything, which some of us may be doing just that, most of us need to really time manage and balance between academic life, social life and entertainment, just like a regular student.

Like I've mentioned in earlier articles that I intend to try something new, academically, over the exchange programme, I did not pick any course that has direct relation to the major I'm reading in HK. The exchange programme hosted by the University of Manchester does give exchange students the advantage to study across discipline, where we are not bounded by any particular school, as we are technically in the international programme (previously called Study Abroad Unit), which is a school in itself. That means I can pick almost any course offered by any school as long as timetable doesn't clash and the course is not too advanced for me. I then enrolled myself into courses of History, Classic Studies, Archaeology, and Language programme, from which I chose to learn Italian. These are subjects that I'm always interested in but never tried at CUHK fearing that it might ruin my cumulative GPA. So I guess it's a good time to try them all during exchange.

This semester I'm doing three courses, carrying 50 UK credits. They are 

The Making of Europe 400-1500, which takes us through from the fall of the great Roman Empire, to the rise of barbarian, successor states, revival of holy empire by Charlemage... up to the end of the middle ages. It's quite a stimulating course, basically taking care of most major European events during the medieval period, or the "dark" ages if you like. 

History is pretty much self-learning based, which means you have to do much reading yourself in order to really get something out of the course. We do have lectures, and curriculum, but these are only laying out a structure, in a sense, to give you direction of where to look and what to look, not to spoon-feed you information the course director wants you to know.   

Lecturers just raise questions worth asking and give the general views of historians, sometimes views of themselves. 

I do like the weekly seminar, which is really quite different from the tutorial thingy in HK. It allows students to speak their own views and, guided by the well presenting tutor, dig deeper into the topics which might not have covered enough during the lectures. It gives us a better picture of the historiography of the historical periods we're studying.

Italian is big fun too, although I am being seriously puzzled by all the complicated grammar it's throwing on me. What's more difficult than study a second language? Study a third language.

Archaeology lecture. This lecturer is very energetic, and try to present archaeology, which some might deem as a dull subject, as vivid and lively as she could. She even introduces some sort of electronic immediate response device to class, though not working as well as she might have imagine. ha

At last, it's BRIAN COX! I didn't enroll physics class,
but a star lecturer, who doesn't want to see him in person.
Sorry to all those physics student, whom we have intruded your lecture. LOL

While we still need to study for the subjects and the Tier 4 student visa requests us of 100% attendance, there's still a silver lining. At least we don't need to pay much attention to the grades/ marks. For those who want to transfer credits, you just need a pass, and for me who doesn't even bother to transfer the credits, I might even fail the course, which is of course not something I am aspiring to. But what I am saying is that it does take the exam pressure off you, and you can focus on really learning the stuffs you feel important/ interested, instead of the what will be tested in the exam. Surely if the course is designed properly, your focusing on the stuffs interested you should, by default, guarantee you good grades/ marks. 

That's about it. And next semester I will be learning about history of Roman Republic and British in the age industrialisation. Can't wait.

And next up will be me exploring the city of Manchester. Stay tuned.