It’s been far too long since I’ve updated on my wonderful life in Fiji. Three weeks ago I played in a volleyball tournament here in Suva. I was the only international student to play on the team which was intimidating but also exciting at the same time. The game of volleyball over here is not exactly like back home. It is much slower paced which makes it harder to play. We lost in the semi-finals but I got a lot of playing time throughout the day so it was a good day! On Sunday I went ziplinning through the forest. It was absolutely incredible! It was about an hour long zip. There were 8 different platforms we went to. The first and the last were my favorites. The first zip we went over a river and into the forest and the last was vis versa. God always seems to take my breath away by the beauty he has created. I am hoping to go again sometime during my stay in Fiji!
Update on life in Suva:
• As far as classes go I think I am finally fully adjusted. The system of how everything works is definitely still different but I think I have it down. I have started to make lots of friends in my classes! It makes it much more enjoyable to go to class now!
• The past 3 weekends I have stuck around Suva. I have made a lot of friends here so I find I usually don’t want to go away to resorts on the weekends! Unfortunately I came down with bronchitis and a sinus infection last weekend and am still fighting it off! Oh well, tis life and you just have to push through!
• In a couple weeks is our spring break! I am most likely going to the outer islands to spend a week on the beach and in the sun! Gotta live life to the fullest while I’m in Paradise, right!?
•Bummer news is my camera is missing. It’s either lost or stolen, but a replacement one is coming over spring break. (Thank you Leah’s mom!) So I will not be able to upload pictures until then, but they’re coming!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Home Sweet Fiji!
Suva, Fiji has become a place to call my “temporary home” rather than the feeling of being of a long vacation. It is as gorgeous as ever. It is so nice to see green everyday as well as random flowers everywhere. Most days there is a bright blue sky to wake up to but occasionally we get a 2-3 day rainy/gloomy period. With the sun so intense here those rainy periods are sometimes a nice time to cool down! But as of now life is Fiji is great!
Classes started two weeks ago and are going good so far! My art class (Intro to Design and Cadd) is actually fun. I can’t believe I am saying art is fun. For the first few weeks we are designing logos and chart with WordArt! History ( Contemporary World History) on the other hand has been interesting. My teachers switched from the first week to the second so hopefully they have that set for who will be teaching the class. It is fun to sit in those lectures because we have been talking about Europe and America. To all the Fijians, of course learning about “America” is so foreign to them but it helps me cause I actually know what they are talking about most of the time! Now Physics is a whole different world. It is definitely not the physics I took in high school. Fiji physics seems to be done differently than back home, but I’ll get the hang of it. In my physics class I have many different teachers. I have one for the first 6 weeks, then one for another 6 weeks, then another for the last 4. It should be interesting! I also have a different teacher for my lab and a different teacher for my tutorial. Tutorial’s are an hour class period where you meet and talk about what you’re doing in your lecture classes. They say it is a time to “understand” the material and ask questions. It is mandatory to attend tutorial’s. They are quite interesting, but a cool experience to learn how other cultures run their classes. The grading scale is quite different here!
Grade Scale:
A+ 100-85
A 84-78
B+ 77-11
B 70-64
C+ 63-57
C 56-50
D 49-40
F39-0
In most classes we are graded on continuous assessment such as assignments and tests an then the majority of your grade is the final exam.
As far as other activities around USP I have gotten involved in. I joined the USP volleyball team! It’s been a lot of fun. It’s not as intense as back home but it is so fun to play again. I made the team of 15 to play in the National’s Tournament next weekend! National’s here is most definitely not like national back home , but it is a huge tournament for them here. We have been preparing hard for that! The girls on the team are all great. A lot of time they start speaking Fijian though and I have no idea what they’re saying so I just act like I do. Also a tradition for them is to pray after practice which has been really cool to see! It’s been great fellowship for me to be around those girls. I have also started to take part in student life here at USP. It is a group of Americans who are on S.T.I.N.T through campus crusade for Christ. It has been great to have a place to go worship and have fellowship with others. I am currently looking into volunteering opportunities with children and/or animals! So we will see what I hear back on that!
As for weekends in Fiji… Last weekend four of use went to a beach resort called “Upraising”. To say the least it was GORGEOUS! It was only about 45 minutes away from campus and an inexpensive weekend away from campus. We laid on bean bag chairs on the beach looking out over the ocean for most of the first day. I laid by the pool looking over the beach and ocean the second day. We had two beautiful sunny days. It was great! To say the least I got the tan I’ve been waiting for!
We got to meet people who were traveling with the “Fiji Experience” group. The Fiji experience is where people pay a flat fee and can travel around fiji and just stop and stay places and stay however long they wish than get back on the bus and travel to the next place. There were a lot of people from England and one from Holand! So the weekend at upraising was very successful! As for this weekend most of the international students went to rakiraki to get scuba certified. My roommate, Bettina and I decided to stay back and lay by the pool instead. Oh and watch the big rugby tournament going on!
So life is good!
God Bless!
Psalm 105:4 “ Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”
Classes started two weeks ago and are going good so far! My art class (Intro to Design and Cadd) is actually fun. I can’t believe I am saying art is fun. For the first few weeks we are designing logos and chart with WordArt! History ( Contemporary World History) on the other hand has been interesting. My teachers switched from the first week to the second so hopefully they have that set for who will be teaching the class. It is fun to sit in those lectures because we have been talking about Europe and America. To all the Fijians, of course learning about “America” is so foreign to them but it helps me cause I actually know what they are talking about most of the time! Now Physics is a whole different world. It is definitely not the physics I took in high school. Fiji physics seems to be done differently than back home, but I’ll get the hang of it. In my physics class I have many different teachers. I have one for the first 6 weeks, then one for another 6 weeks, then another for the last 4. It should be interesting! I also have a different teacher for my lab and a different teacher for my tutorial. Tutorial’s are an hour class period where you meet and talk about what you’re doing in your lecture classes. They say it is a time to “understand” the material and ask questions. It is mandatory to attend tutorial’s. They are quite interesting, but a cool experience to learn how other cultures run their classes. The grading scale is quite different here!
Grade Scale:
A+ 100-85
A 84-78
B+ 77-11
B 70-64
C+ 63-57
C 56-50
D 49-40
F39-0
In most classes we are graded on continuous assessment such as assignments and tests an then the majority of your grade is the final exam.
As far as other activities around USP I have gotten involved in. I joined the USP volleyball team! It’s been a lot of fun. It’s not as intense as back home but it is so fun to play again. I made the team of 15 to play in the National’s Tournament next weekend! National’s here is most definitely not like national back home , but it is a huge tournament for them here. We have been preparing hard for that! The girls on the team are all great. A lot of time they start speaking Fijian though and I have no idea what they’re saying so I just act like I do. Also a tradition for them is to pray after practice which has been really cool to see! It’s been great fellowship for me to be around those girls. I have also started to take part in student life here at USP. It is a group of Americans who are on S.T.I.N.T through campus crusade for Christ. It has been great to have a place to go worship and have fellowship with others. I am currently looking into volunteering opportunities with children and/or animals! So we will see what I hear back on that!
As for weekends in Fiji… Last weekend four of use went to a beach resort called “Upraising”. To say the least it was GORGEOUS! It was only about 45 minutes away from campus and an inexpensive weekend away from campus. We laid on bean bag chairs on the beach looking out over the ocean for most of the first day. I laid by the pool looking over the beach and ocean the second day. We had two beautiful sunny days. It was great! To say the least I got the tan I’ve been waiting for!
We got to meet people who were traveling with the “Fiji Experience” group. The Fiji experience is where people pay a flat fee and can travel around fiji and just stop and stay places and stay however long they wish than get back on the bus and travel to the next place. There were a lot of people from England and one from Holand! So the weekend at upraising was very successful! As for this weekend most of the international students went to rakiraki to get scuba certified. My roommate, Bettina and I decided to stay back and lay by the pool instead. Oh and watch the big rugby tournament going on!
So life is good!
God Bless!
Psalm 105:4 “ Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.”
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