When It All Falls Apart

I really like surprises. But, I'm a conditional surprise lover. I like surprises if they're good surprises. Aren't we all that way? Well, as you can probably surmise from my last post, I was frustrated by the fact that two of my classes were via tutorial mode. Teaching myself Biochem and Sensory Science...yea, I'm still totally pumped. NOT.

Anyway, this got me thinking. Are my future classes going to be like this? Is this a common thing, or is it just this year. Australians describe themselves as in a "wine glut", so enrollment in their wine science and viticulture has seen a decrease. I wondered...is this temporary, or will my course at CSU continue in the pattern of "tutorial" learning. Good question, right? Should I continue paying all of this money to teach myself things? Or, is someone professional going to head my studies?

I'm sure this method of self-education works for some people, but I am not one of them. Now, I am going to try it this semester, and we'll see how it goes, but, I'm having a sneaking suspicion that it will not go well. But, I'm trying really hard not to have a bad attitude about it.

Anyway, my room mate, Jeremy, is a third year wine science student. So, I was chatting with him. He is currently taking 8 subjects(!) and 7 (!) of them are via "tutorial", AKA distance only internally, mode. He said to me, "The higher up you get, the worse it gets." Oh AWEEEEESOME. Then, I stopped in to talk to my course coordinator and he said that the majority of third year courses were offered in tutorial mode. You can imagine, that's exactly what I didn't want to hear.

So, I wondered...why hadn't I noticed this? Did I skip this page on the glossy book they sent me? I don't really recall ever knowing anything of this. So, from what I understand, this phenomena is relatively new at CSU, and it's occurring because the majority of students are studying at CSU via distance education. They are already working in the wine industry and getting their degrees online. They come to Sturt twice a year for "residential schools", which is where they perform all practical exercises that come with the course.

So, now I have to decide. Even though very few of my courses are going to involve actual lectures and traditional schooling, do I want to stay here and finish the degree I've just begun? Or do I want to look at other options. Do I want to look into the University of Adelaide? Do I want to come back to the states and go someplace in CA or WA?

My major malfunction is that I don't really know what I want to do just yet, nor do I feel like I've been here long enough to make a call on anything. However, I don't really have much time to waste. I need to make a decision relatively soon.

Geez, everything looked all set, and then it all goes and falls apart. So, yea, there's a little look at my past week.

Cheers

PS- I did have a copy of a pic of the opera house to use, but, I friggin' hate easyshare and it's inability to relate to macs. So, I had to borrow this one. Thanks, dude. :-)