And it's only the first day... It's pretty sad when one starts a semester stressed, worried, and generally bewildered. (But I'm doing much better now, to jump the gun a bit.) My 9:40 class this morning was Literature of War, the English class I've been so worried about. I liked the professor, and the class seemed like a good mix of people (we didn't have nearly enough space, but that will be remedied). The syllabus was slightly daunting (who wants to write a 15-20 page paper?), but I could have lived with it. When we got to the part of the class when we actually read a poem and started discussing it, I discovered something slightly shocking. It was all pure literary discussion—such as the many possible meanings of the last line and people saying things that sounded more impressive than they actually were—and I was bored to tears. I used to like this stuff in high school, but I just don't have any patience with it anymore. I could have discussed that poem in relation to the context it was written, but I just didn't care about this highbrow talk that didn't really mean anything. (I can still discuss literary forms with the best of them, mind you. ;) I've changed, apparently, and I'm not sure what I think about it. But I digress. You'll recall that I was uncertain about this class in the first place. I came out of it even more uncertain, and determined to talk to my advisor after my afternoon class. Speaking of my afternoon class, it was Modern Democracies. My verdict at this point is that the reading is probably going to be a pain sometimes (when the professor admits that it is "dry," one starts to get worried), but I think I'm going to like it. (The composition of the class is suspiciously similar to both my political science classes last spring, by the way... I wish I knew how many of these people are seniors!) The thing was, I actually enjoyed the introductory lecture and discussion. Well, okay, occassionally I was distracted, but I left energized. (You know, that buzz you get when you've just had a good class?) Then, of course, I headed to my advisor's office. I was there forever—first it took a while to get in, then it took a while to get to the point. She's as chatty as I am, and she's always asking the sort of question one wants to answer. (And "what I did last summer" takes a while if the audience wants more than the quick answer.) As soon as I mentioned that I was taking 2.0 units already, she launched into an explanation of why it's not the best of ideas to take 2.5 units when one is doing honors. Apparently they'd let me, but I got the impression that I shouldn't. The options were audit or drop, and I am not buying $135 worth of books for a class I'm only auditing. I dropped. The moral of the story? I should have talked to my advisor before getting all worked up about this. And my instincts were correct about not taking that much at once. She also assured me that I'm actually ahead on honors, since I've already done my oral exam. Go me. I'm beginning to get over feeling guilty. That, plus discovering that I could get rid of that extra class with a clean conscience (I always feel horribly guilty when I do something that will get me out of work), has made my day much brighter. I feel better than I have all week. :) Now, if only it looked like I'd have dorm internet access in the next month... ~Erin, 6:37 PM Comments: Post a Comment
