The Baylor Bubble

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0650h: I'm excited, wired, nervous and tired all at the same time. I am listening to a radio station called Lonestar 94 Country. A local texan country radio station. It's definitely an insight into loval culture. Very lighthearted. "Every day you're walking around is a day more before you die...." whatever that means.

It was really cold outside - about 0.

The day
My first impression of the university was the wide buvelard streets lined with footpaths, trees, and buildings. Large stretches of grass ... though the grass is a little white because it has been so cold. The building are all Brick and georgian in style. Very large and impressive. Quite beautiful.

The people at the hotel had told me it was a long way to the building where i was to have my first meeting. It was over the other side of the univeristy but the 40minutes i gave myself to walk there was a little conservative. 10 minutes was enough. The campus is actually smaller than ANU.

I met with Dr Bill Bellinger - Head of Religion. His assistants provided me with lots of information. Bellinger was certainly sharing with me the university line as it were.

Then i walked back towards the hotel about 400 metres to the Caroll Science building where, apparently because Donors choose the name of buildings can never be changed, the English Department resides. I met with the head of the English Graduate Program, Dr Robert Ray. He told me all about Funding opportunities. He made it all sound good and easy.... mmmm....maybe not so much. He did confirm that they don't accept students into the graduate program unless they have the funding to support them.

What he did do was make my day. He took me downstairs to meet with Dr David Lyle Jeffrey.
this man is the whole reason i even decided this was a uni i wanted to look at. . If it hadn't been for him i wouldn't even know about this university. This guy is the best of the best.....
He was really open and blunt about the strengths and weaknesses of the Baylor program. A really good man.

I was on such a high after speaking with him!

I walked up the street and by dumb luck managed to find the OALA - Office for Accomodation and Learning Access. Equivalent to the DSU at ANU. They help people to be accomodated if they have a disability that affects their study. They were helpful but it wasn't earth shattering. Turns out across the entire campus of 12000 students they have only 2 graduate students who use their services.

Found out that 9 hours is considered full time here. with Graduate Asistant work of 12 -15 hours a week on top of that (maximum). Though most of the time even though they are paid for the full amount of time they don't have to work the entire time because it is dependent on what the lecturers have for them to do! So usually they work between 5-9 and are "available" for the rest of the time. That includes working in the library.

The equivalent to the refec at ANU is the Bill Daniel Student Center which is about a quarter of the size.

I had about half an hour before lunch and though i was really hungry i had to wait for my meeting with Jeff Lark from Campus Crusade. I found a nice couch and grabbed a coffee from Starbucks.....coffee isn't great but they are everywhere, more than 1 or 2 every kilometre and unlike most places they have soy milk!

I met with Jeff Lark and one of his staff workers Andrew. They were really helpful. I learnt all about the Baylor culture. Basically the undergraduate students come from really wealthy families into a place that promises to protect them from the big bad world. Single Sex halls of residence, an environment that provides them with food, healthcare and an education.

But they also pointed out the advantages for graduate students. A broader community outisde of the university that most never see. Housing that is really cheap.....cheaper than i am paying in Canberra right now! Really good programs that are funded really well.

Campus Tour
I toured the campus with a Sophmore (2nd year) named Emily. I saw the gym complex and the rest of the unversity. I also had a tour of the main research library. I was suprised that it wasn't as big as Chifley at ANU but they seemed to think it was.They definitely talked up their interlibrary loan.

Dinner in the Cafeteria
The Campus Welcome Centre people gave me a free meal voucher at the Cafeteria in Penland Hall. Penland is a residential hall. Never one to pass up a free meal i went to check it out. I found out later that the food there was the least healthy of any of the cafeterias (there are 3 on campus - so much for thinking Bill Daniel was small). A group of Freshman invited me to sit with them. I got to ask them heaps of questions. Turns out one of them was the President of the Freshman class and was Pre Med as well as being AirForce ROTC and something else. This 18 year old kid was a major overachiever....
The rest were generally very young, sweet and pretty naive. They asked me alot of questions about Australia including "Have you ever seen a Kangaroo?" If you want to avoid that question or better yet get a shocked reaction. Just tell them that occassionally we shoot them.
I enjoyed that reaction!

Two of the guys Greg and Brandon walked me the block back to the hotel because it was well and truly dark! I was brain dead by this point anyway......

Sleep beckoned and a free breakfast!

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Comments

[Kutz]

Walked back eh?
Accepting hospitality from strange naive American boys now eh??? Sounds about right... :P