On Choosing Classes Wisely...

This semester I made the mistake of taking three classes which were in no way directly related to anything I even remotely want to study.  They all counted toward graduation requirements and they were conveniently scheduled and yes, they were with profs I liked.  Still, by the second month of classes I was ready to poke my eyes out with a pencil.  It felt like such wasted time.  I just kept thinking 'okay, this is interesting, but really has nothing to do with anything I want to study in depth.'  I know they will prove useful at some point; I'm sure of it, my education has always worked that way.  Nonetheless, it just feels like I am under the gun to choose a thesis topic and decide what I will be specializing in.  These courses did not help me in those endeavors.

This summer I will be taking some independent studies and hopefully that will be more energizing.  I'm totally zapped.  This semester has been the worst one I have ever had. Ever.  I did get all A's though, so I guess that's something?

First Semester Done!

Wow, that semester really flew by!  I have now completed my first semester of graduate school.  I should add that I got all A's.  Apparently, grades don't matter as much in grad school, but it made me feel "worthy" nonetheless.

My first semester was not necessarily what I had anticipated.  Not good or bad really, just different.  I have polled my Facebook friends to see what their first semester experiences were like.  It has been a mixed bag.  I know some had a horrible experience and others had a tolerable adventure.  I suppose it's like most things - it is what you make it.

Foreign Language Requirements & Fall 2009 Grades

I managed to pull out straight As for the fall term - yay me! It's kind of cool when your teenager gives you a hug and says, "That's really cool mom!" I hope that somewhere inside him I am sowing the seed for a good example.

While the rest of the academic world is resting on its laurels, I am fighting my way through my last foreign language credit of my undergraduate career. All of my work needs to be done by the end of January and my January will be swamped, so I am working on it now - ick. I love foreign language, really I do, but doing it because I want to learn it and be able to communicate with my friend from Panama is something entirely different from doing it for a grade.

I wish this were the last time I had to work on a foreign language for credit, alas, it's not. Typically there are foreign language requirements for graduate programs in history - Spanish, we shall meet again. At one point, I was considering graduate work in religion (religion is my minor) and the program I would have likely applied to required fluency in German as a graduation requirement. Sorry. It was enough to scare me out of going further with religious studies.

So, I guess I'll be working on Spanish over the summer as well and hopefully be able to knock out the foreign language requirement for grad school in the fall. Yeah, we'll see how *that* works out.

**Miss Clio