I've come to the conclusion that school sucks!
Ok, so school has begun. I should have posted long before now.
I've had mixed results with my classes. I'm not failing any, to my releif. I've received a "C" in my Communications class and that has annoyed me slightly. I can still rebound and get an "A" but it will mean some heavier studying and some more diligent behavior on my part. Otherwise, acing Anthropology (no surprise here: I could teach the class myself). In my Geography class, I'd need to get an A on every test and quiz following to get into "A" status. Really need to pick up the ball on this one. Its very important I do well in Geography. Its very important I do well in all of them!
In History, it should come as no surprise that I'm doing extremely well. In Middle East politics, I could say i'm doing well nut I do not know the results of a debate I had on Monday, the 26th. I also missed a class (considering its a night course and there is only one class a week, this is a major thing) and missed a quiz. I will however, make this up with an extra credit opportunity next week.
My debate by the way, was between myself pretending to be British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and Steve playing the legendary David ben Gurion. I had a difficult time of it and tried my best but I could not reconcile myself to playing an anti-semite. Though I've read sources that say he wasn't, I feel very strongly that he was.
On Tuesday, the very next day, I dealt with ethnocentricsm (sp?). Ross, a young man who I sit next to in Communications, was wearing a wooden rosary around his neck. Now, I know many people are unaware of the use let alone proper handling of the item. When I mentioned to Ross that it was a sacrilege to wear a rosary around the neck, he said that it was the traditional way. I said that it was not. I mentioned that I was raised Catholic. He then said most Catholics weren't aware of the rosary anyways so why should he care?
I left it at that. I was not going ot get involved in a shouting match with someone who is from a sheltered, wealthy and arrogant family. The girls he sits with are also from the same ignorant background and have no clue how to look beyond themselves. We watched a video of an Oprah show about how much Americans are hated abroad. These same people could not accept that there are people around the world that hate the U.S. That is not to say they hate all Americans, but there is a clear resentment of both our politics and our economics. Our values are maligned and we asa nation are beginning to see the consequnces of that as we should. It does appear to me that though I'm only getting a "C" in this class so far, I might still be the better student in the long run.
Last Thursday, I went to the College Democrats meeting at the behest of my Geography professor. I showed up along with one other person and he was the Vice President last year. Well, that was sort of dissapointing. A decision had to made about who would be president and who'd be the VP. Jason was not going to president against the assumption that he'd take the post. So, it was left to me. Another invitee arrived and he took the post of Secretary. Later, we got a Guyanese classmate of mine (my Geograpy class) to join as Treasurer. According to Doug, my professor, this is interim. If at anytime, I decide I just can't handle all of the work, then I can step down and call for elections. Woopy!
Well, today I getting inductd into the honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, at long last. I'm actaully quite happy to do so. It is something I stove to do last year and made it a priority of mine. I need to always maintain a 3.00 GPA at least which shouldn't be a problem. I'd need to get a "D" in all courses this semester to fall to a 3.25. I do not think this will be an issue. At the worst I might still be in the 3.7 range at the end of this semester. I'm at 3.7666 (and on and on)so if I get all A's and one B, then I'll move up to a 3.78. If I happen to squeeze a 4.0 out of this semester, then I'll have a 3.84. I'd much prefer this number.
This semester is defeinitely kicking my ass! I'm taking 16 credits, working 24 hours a week at Fairview, 18 hours a week at the Writing Center which I may need to cut down on. In additionn to these, I've also become President of the aforementioned Democrats club and been unilaterally chosen to maintain the Writing Center's website. Of course I can work on the website during time I'm working there. Not a big deal. But still this is a lot of work! And I want to do some projects with Phi Theta Kappa whom I'm joining today.
After this hell of a semester, I'll be applying to the University of Minnesota. I've tried looking for other places to go but none offer International Relations and a language I want to study (Hindi, Hebrew, Russian, Arabic.... hell, I'll take Italian!). George Washington University offers German, French and Spanish. Well whooptido! My High School offered Japanese and Russian on top of those three. They even offered 4 years of them not just 4 semesters! (Granted high school language education is far less intense than college....but I digress).
The U, as we call it here, offers a far richer smorgasbord of choices. A quick look at the offered languages and one will find Hindi as well as Marathi, another language of India. There is Hebrew both in classical biblical form and modern revivalist. Arabic is offered to the Master's degree and is considered one of the best programs in the nation. The Russian program is also stellar. One could also learn Danish, Greek, Sumerian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Sanskrit, Finnish, Aramaic, Swedish, Japanese, Dutch, Urdu, Chinese, Norwegian, Swahili, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, and Akkadian. You could even learn Coptic!
My big question has been which language do I want to learn. It has become difficult to choose. I was going to take German or French and had even resigned myself to being happy with that. However, I deicded there were obviously too many people who knew that language. I want to be competitive. So, I'm going to take either Russian, Hindi, or Arabic. I'm leaning otward Arabic supposedly the hardest of the three. Wish me luck!
I've had mixed results with my classes. I'm not failing any, to my releif. I've received a "C" in my Communications class and that has annoyed me slightly. I can still rebound and get an "A" but it will mean some heavier studying and some more diligent behavior on my part. Otherwise, acing Anthropology (no surprise here: I could teach the class myself). In my Geography class, I'd need to get an A on every test and quiz following to get into "A" status. Really need to pick up the ball on this one. Its very important I do well in Geography. Its very important I do well in all of them!
In History, it should come as no surprise that I'm doing extremely well. In Middle East politics, I could say i'm doing well nut I do not know the results of a debate I had on Monday, the 26th. I also missed a class (considering its a night course and there is only one class a week, this is a major thing) and missed a quiz. I will however, make this up with an extra credit opportunity next week.
My debate by the way, was between myself pretending to be British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin and Steve playing the legendary David ben Gurion. I had a difficult time of it and tried my best but I could not reconcile myself to playing an anti-semite. Though I've read sources that say he wasn't, I feel very strongly that he was.
On Tuesday, the very next day, I dealt with ethnocentricsm (sp?). Ross, a young man who I sit next to in Communications, was wearing a wooden rosary around his neck. Now, I know many people are unaware of the use let alone proper handling of the item. When I mentioned to Ross that it was a sacrilege to wear a rosary around the neck, he said that it was the traditional way. I said that it was not. I mentioned that I was raised Catholic. He then said most Catholics weren't aware of the rosary anyways so why should he care?
I left it at that. I was not going ot get involved in a shouting match with someone who is from a sheltered, wealthy and arrogant family. The girls he sits with are also from the same ignorant background and have no clue how to look beyond themselves. We watched a video of an Oprah show about how much Americans are hated abroad. These same people could not accept that there are people around the world that hate the U.S. That is not to say they hate all Americans, but there is a clear resentment of both our politics and our economics. Our values are maligned and we asa nation are beginning to see the consequnces of that as we should. It does appear to me that though I'm only getting a "C" in this class so far, I might still be the better student in the long run.
Last Thursday, I went to the College Democrats meeting at the behest of my Geography professor. I showed up along with one other person and he was the Vice President last year. Well, that was sort of dissapointing. A decision had to made about who would be president and who'd be the VP. Jason was not going to president against the assumption that he'd take the post. So, it was left to me. Another invitee arrived and he took the post of Secretary. Later, we got a Guyanese classmate of mine (my Geograpy class) to join as Treasurer. According to Doug, my professor, this is interim. If at anytime, I decide I just can't handle all of the work, then I can step down and call for elections. Woopy!
Well, today I getting inductd into the honor society, Phi Theta Kappa, at long last. I'm actaully quite happy to do so. It is something I stove to do last year and made it a priority of mine. I need to always maintain a 3.00 GPA at least which shouldn't be a problem. I'd need to get a "D" in all courses this semester to fall to a 3.25. I do not think this will be an issue. At the worst I might still be in the 3.7 range at the end of this semester. I'm at 3.7666 (and on and on)so if I get all A's and one B, then I'll move up to a 3.78. If I happen to squeeze a 4.0 out of this semester, then I'll have a 3.84. I'd much prefer this number.
This semester is defeinitely kicking my ass! I'm taking 16 credits, working 24 hours a week at Fairview, 18 hours a week at the Writing Center which I may need to cut down on. In additionn to these, I've also become President of the aforementioned Democrats club and been unilaterally chosen to maintain the Writing Center's website. Of course I can work on the website during time I'm working there. Not a big deal. But still this is a lot of work! And I want to do some projects with Phi Theta Kappa whom I'm joining today.
After this hell of a semester, I'll be applying to the University of Minnesota. I've tried looking for other places to go but none offer International Relations and a language I want to study (Hindi, Hebrew, Russian, Arabic.... hell, I'll take Italian!). George Washington University offers German, French and Spanish. Well whooptido! My High School offered Japanese and Russian on top of those three. They even offered 4 years of them not just 4 semesters! (Granted high school language education is far less intense than college....but I digress).
The U, as we call it here, offers a far richer smorgasbord of choices. A quick look at the offered languages and one will find Hindi as well as Marathi, another language of India. There is Hebrew both in classical biblical form and modern revivalist. Arabic is offered to the Master's degree and is considered one of the best programs in the nation. The Russian program is also stellar. One could also learn Danish, Greek, Sumerian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Sanskrit, Finnish, Aramaic, Swedish, Japanese, Dutch, Urdu, Chinese, Norwegian, Swahili, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, and Akkadian. You could even learn Coptic!
My big question has been which language do I want to learn. It has become difficult to choose. I was going to take German or French and had even resigned myself to being happy with that. However, I deicded there were obviously too many people who knew that language. I want to be competitive. So, I'm going to take either Russian, Hindi, or Arabic. I'm leaning otward Arabic supposedly the hardest of the three. Wish me luck!
posted by Misheru at 9/30/2005 10:59:00 am
0 comments
