Grades and campus life at Victoria

So I know I've written very little about school in my blog, and that's mostly because being here and experiencing things outside of school has been more important and more exciting for me. School, sadly was kind of a let down here. I expected to be focused a lot more on school and classes but I've found that those things just don't seem to interest me as much here because I'm surrounded by beautiful mountains and incredible people that distract me too much.
Now that's not to say that I haven't been doing my work and that school has been completely dropped out of my conscious thought. In fact, I've been doing quite well here. In my psychology class (a 300 level course, which is considered their hardest level for undergrads) I've received only A's. I'm not bragging, but instead making a point. Despite my best efforts to put school second, I've still managed to pull off fairly good grades.
Here are some little facts about the University that I have failed to mention up until now.
Victoria campuses are located all around the city, I believe there are three main ones. I go to Kelburn, which is the liberal arts campus and is a 15 minute "hike" up The Terrace (the street I live on) and then up a steep pathway located next to the main road that passes through campus called "Kelburn Parade." The Terrace, at least the section that I live in, is a busy street because it involves the rush hour commute for the business district (Parliament is literally down the street from my building) and also the commute for a lot of students. I make my way up the street passing lots of business men and a heavy line of traffic. I always feel bad for the people in cars because typically I move faster than they do and I probably get to my destination much faster than them. The Terrace is kind of like a funnel for the wind and it can get really frustrating to walk up when the wind is really strong and it is even worse when it's raining.
Campus is large, compared to Mt.Holyoke. There is a main quad that is centered between the library and two different buildings (Easterfield - where I have a lot of my classes - and Maclaurin). A lot of the buildings are interconnected, which means that often I don't even need to go outside to switch buildings (Easterfield has a pathway that connects to Kirk (I also have a class here), Kirk connects to Old Kirk, which connects to the Student Union Building... you get the picture). Some of the buildings are across Kelburn Parade, but no worries because they have a bridge that connects Kirk with Murphy so you don't have to get wet or go outside, ever.
Most of the lectures, for me, are large. They typically are comprised of 40 to as large as 100 people. All of my lectures are conducted with a Powerpoint and there is little professor/student interaction (meaning few questions directed at the class). They never take attendance and always post lecture powerpoint copies on Blackboard (the internet database every class has).
I believe I've mentioned this, but, all lectures are accompanied with a tutorial that you sign up for after the first day of class. Tutorials are used for students to get more dialogue about the course topics. However, my tutorials haven't really worked out like that. Tutorials are run by TA's, usually grad students in that particular area of study. They are roughly an hour long, although my psych tutorial was 2 hours. Tutorials split the large class up into different smaller sections so that people get more chances to talk but, still, I didn't really find that I got a more personal atmosphere in tutorial. They take attendance in tutorial and they also attempt to learn peoples names, but none of my tutors ever did. It is in tutorial that assignments are assigned and turned in. TA's are the ones who grade the work and give it back.
Because Victoria is such a large school, inbetween classes can be rather hectic. There is a lot of movement and noise because of the large amount of people moving throughout the halls (something that overwhelms me coming from such a smaller school). There are two cafes (that I know of) on campus and a convenience store that are always packed with people. There are also lots of random computers scattered about for people to quickly check emails and such (they are set up in such a way that you can only stand at them and you also can't print anything off of them). The actual computer lab (where you can sit and down work and print stuff) is in the library and is always full of people. It's horrible when you need to print something out because usually there is a long queue already formed full of other impatient people. And while you're waiting there (which can take as long as an hour) you can see some people browsing (stalking?) on facebook, wasting time that you could be using to print stuff out. This is a huge difference from Mt.Holyoke where typically there is always a computer free in the computer lab. And if not, all dorms have computers and printers available.
The library is ALWAYS packed here. I've never been in there without there being a good amount of people packed around the multiple amounts of tables, couches and comfy chairs. As far as I know the library goes up at least 10 floors, but I usually only make it up to the 6th because I don't really like waiting for the elevator. All the levels of the library have lots of tables set up on the perimeter of the floor next to huge windows. The inner part of the floor contains stacks of books and documents. Most tables are located next to a plug for people who want to use their laptops. The view from the library is pretty spectacular. You can see all of Wellington, the bay and Mt.Vic. It's hard to concentrate on work when you've got that view distracting you.
The grading system here is very different from the states. In the states grades roughly go like this: 100-90% (A), 89-80% (B), 79-70% (C), 69-60 (D), 59-0 (F). Here, grades go like this: 100-75% (A), 74-60% (B), 59-50 (C), and below that is D, E, F, and G. You don't want a G. Haha. So far I've recieved nothing below a 70, which was pretty shocking to see at first because my standards have always been that a 70 = bad. Instead now, it'll be weird going back to the states and realizing that I can't get 70's anymore and it'll be okay. Haha.

Anyway, I've wasted a lot of time writing this up, it's a method of procrastinating because I have a test tomorrow I should be studying for.
Chris is still sick, he definitely has the flu and I'm nervously waiting to see if I'm going to get it. I do feel a little sickly today, so I'm scared. But as long as I get through tomorrow and complete my test I won't really mind getting sick. Although Chris's flu has been really miserable and hard on him (running a 102 temp, chills, body aches, etc), so I won't really enjoy it if I do get sick.