Summer B
Today was the first day of Summer B, which means the start of two new classes, in addition to the resumption of another I’ve been taking for six weeks. Last summer I also took three classes, and they were all writing-intensive. This semester, however, marks the first time in more than five years that I won’t be doing my afternoon classical music show at work. I will still go in most days to pull the music for the next day, and record public service announcements. And I’ll still do my Saturday vocal music show. In the past I’ve always managed to schedule school around work, even if it once involved swapping Tuesdays and Thursdays for Mondays and Wednesdays.
Taking so many hours this summer was not my original plan. Indeed, I had thought I could get by taking only two classes, one of which would be a one-hour astronomy lab. But the CLAS advisor mislead me. In order to graduate in December as planned, I must take three more classes than I expected. So, the astronomy lab moves to autumn, and two three-hour classes had to go on my summer schedule.
The first of these today was called “America in the 1970s”. The teacher had the Reverend Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” playing when I walked in, which was encouraging, but I felt more discouraged as the class went on. There’s nothing wrong with the teacher’s personality. (Last summer, in a Florida history course, the instructor, Dr. Noll, acted like a maniac the first day, probably in an effort to scare off the suckers, but proved to be one of the funniest teachers I ever had.) Still, I just didn’t get a good feeling. He’s a grad student, and I just haven’t had good experiences in courses taught by grad students. Plus, the assignments didn’t strike me as especially compelling, and I’d have to write about sixteen pages of papers, and not about 1970s topics that interest me, e.g., Bruce Springsteen. I am fascinated by the era, but, like I said, I just wasn’t feeling it today. I’ll give it another chance, but I may drop this class in favor of one about ancient Egypt.
My second class this afternoon, also held in Keene-Flint Hall, was “The United States in World War II”. The teacher seems young, but struck me as a smart man, nevertheless. He has just moved to Gainesville from Boston, and told a funny story about driving out to the country last week to buy a leaf blower off someone on Craigslist, only to encounter danger, and witness someone drive off a dirt road into a lake full of alligators. The work load seems manageable.
I’m really hoping to get a 4.0 GPA this semester, but that will be a challenge.
Filed under: School on June 29th, 2009
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