Well, Color Me Enlightened

I love my classes.

First of all, I don't think I have a single bad professor. Yeah, there are some dry ones in the bunch, but they are all very knowledgeable and have mechanisms in place that ensure my success (as long as I follow through - which we all know I will).

Secondly, aside from Latin, they are all classes toward my majors, and that makes all the difference in the world in terms of my sustained attention and interest, and my commitment to completing my homework. This has been a problem in past semesters - although I will undoubtedly get behind (ha, who are we kidding, I'm already behind), the subjects I'm studying are more than enough motivation for me to get caught up.

Religion and the US Founding easily tops the list of my favorite classes ever. It's at least in the top three. Professor Fischer is upbeat, funny, and she knows EVERYTHING about this subject. I want to be just like her. I have no idea what her personal beliefs are, but boy, does she ever get us to think. I read through our first reading assignment; it's about Deism and its origins  I couldn't put it down - it basically changed my life. If the rest of our readings have even HALF the impact, then this will be the easiest and most rewarding A I will ever get in my college career.

International Relations was intimidating going in - Ratemyprofessors.com didn't give me much hope. Professor Duvall is the chair of the Poli Sci department and he's taught at Yale and other ridiculous places. Bottom line, he knows his shit. But, reading through my first assignment in his class really got me to think of the possibilities, and I learned a whole new side of international relations that I didn't really get in my intro course at UMD. It was very realist-oriented, and while we will cover realism in this course, we have started in the liberalist camp, and it's not something I knew very much about. The reading is complex and it repeats itself a LOT, but it sheds light on the possibilities for our world, and I came away from it learning a great deal. It might not be easy or an A, but it will be fun.

Early Modern Political Thought will be a challenge, as well - while I LOVED my Intro to Political Thought class in Duluth, not only is the professor very, very different, but we are also going a lot more in-depth. Our writing assignments require a turned-in, peer-reviewed rough draft, which means that I'm actually going to have to work ahead of time (not my strong suit). I am very much looking forward to being reunited with my friends Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, and learning tidbits from my new friend Machiavelli and maybe even my old nemesis, Luther. Reading Machiavelli hasn't been easy or fun (yet), but I'm hoping to get some new insights. I CAN get an A, but with my workload I will probably have to settle for an A-.

The History of the Ancient Near East - honestly, I thought my concentration was going to be in Ancient History when I started college, but I haven't been able to take an ancient history course until now, either because I had more important things to take or all the ancient history classes filled before I could sign up for them. And boy, this one is going to give me a run for my money. The reading is dense and very dryly historical (aka boooorrrrringggg) and we need to know MAPS. Ugh. Fml. Despite the difficulties, it will be interesting. Despite its interesting nature, I am not expecting an A. Frankly, I'd be shocked at an A-.

Then there's Latin. Oh Latin. I have my favorite Latin prof, Andrew, THANK GOD. That is the only good thing about this class, besides the fact that I'm taking it pass-fail. Things have been very review-oriented over the past week and a half and NOTHING is coming back. Yeah, ok, I remember some declension endings, but sequence of tenses? Verb conjugations and synopses? Gerunds and gerundives?? ABLATIVES??? Forget it. Forgot it. Forgotten. Reading Caesar sucks, and every single bloody day, without fail, I ask myself why I was so stupid as to choose to study this horribly organized dead language. I'll pass it, but I will not enjoy it.


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These A's and 'passes' will only come with dedication and hard work. I'm behind now because of my little Gettysburg getaway, but believe you me, that will not last long.

Thank GOD I'm not on Facebook.