Shayla vs. The World

Just a reminder people here don't use the word 'college' because it has other meanings. Instead of a college student I am a uni student. :) Many people often ask me what the differences between uni here and uni in the states are. Which is harder? How much time do you spend in class? So here are some of the main differences that effect me. And I must point out this is from an Engineering basis because I have many friends here who have very different experiences than I do. Hours in class. This semester I have 20 hours in class. If I had gone to ISU this semester I would have had 17. BUT!!!!!!!! here I only have 12 hours of lecture a week, the rest of it is either labs or tutorials (smaller grouped classes with a tutor to help you out with lecture content). At ISU I would have had 15 hours of lecture and 2 hours of lab a week, although those lecture were most likely a smaller class than my massive lectures here. There's definite pros and cons to both schools. A...

People often ask me what I want to do with a Mechanical Engineering degree. Honestly I don't have an answer for that. Part of why I chose Mech Eng is my love for pretty much everything it consists of and its versatility. One horrible recent discovery I've made is my love for clean energy. I'm currently taking a Renewable and Sustainable Energy Technologies class that I'm finding really interesting. This opens a new door to another possible industry that I could go in to once I finish my degree. One HUGE problem with this... I moved to the wrong country to be interested in renewable energy. How does Australia make it's money? This graph isn't from the most reliable source. I feel I should report that, but it does get the point across. Mining is HUGE here, for various different resources. As you can see Australia is quite full of nonrenewable resources, and making quite a bit of money from it. It's not really economical for Australia to get too hard...

I'm a horrible person.... Today while walking up to my tower a student was nice enough to hold the door open for me. Her Mother was freaking out the entire time talking about how she shouldn't actually put her hand on the door because of all the germs and what not. The daughter just rolled her eyes. When the 3 of us stepped into the elevator the woman stopped her daughter before she was able to press her floor number button and pointed out she should hit it with her knuckle instead of the other side of her finger. The poor girl looked REALLY embarrassed. So I made a point to cough into my hand before pressing my floor button and the close elevator door button. The mother cringed. The daughter gave me a big smile. Don't worry random girl, we all have parents who have random embarrassing traits. I feel your pain. It's just a matter of making sure to torture them back.

I'm about to discuss a concept that has made a huge impact on my life from my first semester at Iowa State. It is something I truly believe to my core and though I struggle to follow it most of the time, as I am only human and we have this horrible tendency to mess up, I wake up every morning hoping to be truer to it than I was the day before. I apologise in advance if I slip up and say anything that someone may find offensive. That is the opposite of my intention. During my first semester at ISU I was reading an article in the Daily about whether or not racism exists on campus. It had a few statements from various people discussing the concept. The final verdict is irrelevant for what I have to say now, but there was one statement in particular that caught my attention. I am unfortunately not able to remember the direct quote, but it was from an African American student saying something along the lines of 'Yes, I feel racism everywhere: In the weird looks I get on the bus, w...

No it's Iowa. I still have never seen The Field of Dreams all the way through. I fell asleep the only time I've ever tried to watch it. Am I a horrible Iowan or what? Anywho... I believe we left off just before I babysat the Cleveland family. Saturday was Jess and Mitch's high school reunion, so I got the kids all day :)  Little Monkey  Cutest thing ever? Poor guy :( He had just put a bite in his mouth. I know it's dark and you can hardly see what's going on, but I rocked Ada to sleep. A precious moment for me that I had to document somehow Sunday I got everyone together for fishing :) A favourite pastime from my childhood. Don't laugh at the tiny fish. We're 'catch and release' type of people so it doesn't matter to us. Avery Jo probably caught the most. Proud moment. Teaching Alexa to hold the fish and take the hook out. Reeled it in all by himself :) Everyone caught many fish (one of the nice t...