The End of Euphoria

I'm taking a course on multicultural education this semester since it is one of my absolutely all time favorite topics.  It's interesting to read about students adjusting to school in a new culture since I'm experiencing that adjustment at the same time.  In today's reading, one section was about stages of cultural adaptation.  There's generally a period of euphoria, followed by a period of culture shock, followed by a period of adaptation.  

I definitely experienced the euphoria (or, as I've seen it referred to elsewhere, the honeymoon stage).  

But there's always an end to euphoria.  Life happens.  It's not all a vacation, and sometimes "different" loses its charm when you're no longer on vacation and you can't do things the way you're used to.  So right now, as the semester begins, I'm experiencing culture shock.  The Finnish system of higher education is decidedly different from the US system, and as of right now, I'm having a little bit of trouble coming to terms with that.  First of all, there's the schedule.  This week, I have 13.5 hours of class scheduled, next week, only 7.5.  We're 3 weeks into the semester already, and one of my classes still hasn't met.  Even classes that follow a set schedule meet in different classrooms on different days of the week.  All of that means it's pretty impossible to get into a routine and if I ever lose my day-timer I'm in deep trouble because I do not have 15 weeks of different class schedules memorized.  

And then, there's the classes themselves.  In some way they're a lot like American classes- lectures with power points and hand-outs, classroom discussions.  But there is one noticeable difference- the only class I received a syllabus in was the class taught by a visiting American professor.  Assignments (which so far have been ungraded) are haphazardly mentioned at the end of class, "oh yes, and send me a half page, or maybe one page, write up of your possible research questions.  Maybe you can talk about the methodology you'll use, and if you have the time to do any research you might share something about the articles" was more or less one of my assignments.  

And what's fascinating to me about it, is that the Finnish viewpoint is "we're treating you as adults, responsible for your own education," but from my viewpoint, it's just the opposite.  A clear syllabus with a schedule of what assignments are due and when makes me responsible and able to do the work given to me independently.  I can work ahead, or choose to procrastinate, or decide which weekend would be a good one to go to Sweden since there are no tests or papers due the next week.  As it is now, I feel completely dependent on the teacher and unable to make choices and control my educational environment.  

I think, as I adjust, it won't be so bad.  Maybe expectations aren't clear and assignments aren't graded because this is about the learning process right now, not the outcome.  The professors genuinely don't care what exactly I turn in as long as I'm engaging with the material, processing what we are covering, and demonstrating that in some way.  So, if I can get used to the mental unease of not knowing what's expected, I think I'll be able to embrace that aspect of my education here.  I have, after all, always been a rather self-guided learner.  What makes me nervous though, is that eventually I do have to prove the learning outcomes and I get the feeling my entire grade comes from the final exam (or written work, in one or 2 classes).  And that makes me nervous, because I'm used to having time to calibrate professors expectations to make sure that my work adheres to their standards.  Oh well.  Time to stop worrying, because worrying never changed anything.  I'd be better off studying Finnish or reading some journal articles instead.  :)