Getting schooled

Well, the start of classes has been very interesting. There are huge differences between UiO and Berkeley, as should be expected. Still, sometimes expecting something to be different does not really help when it comes to adjusting to the reality of the differences.
I have had a mixed bag class wise. Some I really like, and some not so much. The biggest shock, and disappointment, came from my old Norse literature class. The teacher was not really qualified, she  did not specialize in the subject and was a high school/ junior high school teacher of drama. That was shocking, I have never had a teacher so under-qualified before in higher education. It was not like she lacked a Ph.D. but still knew her stuff, we spent most of the class time correcting her.
 I have to admit, that after that class I had serious misgivings about coming here to study (of course that was my first class and I had a long weekend to worry about it). Fortunately, my other classes have been better. I ended up dropping the old Norse lit for a Development class which is really great.
I have not started my Norwegian language class, thats tomorrow, but I am hoping that one is good/tolerable.

Things that surprised me:
1. No role on the first day, or any day. This is self motivated attendance. Ok, I knew that they would probably not take role during the normal class period, but I still kinda expected it on the first day/week.

2. 100% of my grade depends on the final. There is still a paper somewhere in the middle, but it is pass/fail and you have to pass that to sit the final. I knew that the final was going to be the only thing graded, but I did not really feel the fear that is associated with that until now. I have a tendency of blowing tests/finals. I did not know that there would be a mid-term/paper that does not ease the burden on the final. Honesty, that makes me angry; why can't the work I am doing help me out and make the final a little less intimidating?

3. Listening to someone who is not totally comfortable with English and trying to take notes from them is really hard. Sentence structure, word choice, and the flow are all different and subject to change mid-thought.