First and Fifteen

     Well, the first week of classes is over with now, and I wish I could hibernate the entire weekend. (I've even tried several times this week to take a nap.) So, in case you can't tell, THINGS ARE BUSY. Pretty much hit the ground running Monday morning, not sure how long this pace will hold up.

     Nutrition will be a big problem, I'm thinking. The textbook is horribly written, and I disagree with most of its info. The tests will be very much a challenge; the answers lock once you enter them, and a cap limit of thirty minutes is the time allotted to get them done. And the instructor isn't the greatest. But, you know, it's a gen ed, and once I pass I won't have to take it again. So just plow through as best you can and be done with it, right?
     Psych will be interesting. Many wrong ideas, but also some that are on the right track, and many interesting things to ponder. The professor seems very much a real person, wears jeans and a T-shirt to class, and has a clear concept of her role as teacher and ours as students: "I'll teach the material, you don't have to enjoy or agree with everything, just learn it and remember it for the tests. And if you keep the info afterwards, even better."
     Latin is terrific. The professor is impossible to describe; but strangely very much like you'd imagine a college language professor to be like. The closest comparison I can think of right now is Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World. He LOVES language, (English, Greek, Latin, maybe others?) and everything that goes with them; the history, cultural impacts on the society, it's fantastic. So while talking about words and their power, we can go from mythology to theology to military tactics all over. It's pretty great.
     Lit should go well, hopefully. The nice lady I wished I'd taken for Comp I is the professor, she enjoys the English language, wanting us to think, to (from what I picked up listening in the hallway last year) understand the story or point of what we're reading, and to tell it well when writing. And I know several people already in that class, and I'm familiar with the classroom.
     Editing will keep me running pretty fast, it's the other one I'm not too sure about. The professor is the head of the Media Studies department, so that's a bit scary. She's also a print specialist, so that's good, I guess. The class will definitely improve my writing/editing skills, though. Trying to take advantage of extra-credit points when they're offered.
     Interesting facts: All teachers are "instructors" unless they hold a Ph.D. in their field or are working towards (and are very close to getting) it, this semester four of the five are professors. Now the ratio of men-to-women instructors I've had in college (for fifteen classes) is  6:7. (Strat didn't have a teacher, and Mr. Shamblin taught two classes, thus accounting for the two-class gap.)

     Went to the BCM meeting Monday night, that went well. Pretty much studied nonstop ever since, though I have been able to get a bit of guitar-playing thrown in there. Had three quizzes already; in nutrition, psych and editing, and volunteered to be class note-taker for Latin, if somebody needs it.

     The guys in my quad are pretty cool for the most part, we've actually, like, talked once or twice a day whenever we pass each other, run to Wal-Mart for groceries or offered an invite to do whatever.

     So far it seems like there's a little more of each little component - the small good details, the amount of effort required to put into homework, the silence, the unappetizing food, the aloneness, the small sense of getting to know people, the classes where you're actually learning - so it's a little bit of everything so far.