Winter Semester '07: First Impressions
Yesterday was the first day of the winter (second) semester for SC4 students. I am an SC4 student. Therefore, yesterday was the first day of the winter semester for me. (I learned this in one of my classes, yesterday. It's basic, but that's the point. We work up from here.)
Here are my impressions, in some particular order:
I didn't sleep. Not at all. I set my alarm for 7A.M. and it went off just as I was getting ready to take a shower. Not a good plan to not sleep on one of the most boring days of the year. "Introduction Day."
First class; Sociology 101 with Professor Radike - 8:30 to 9:45 : I was almost late to class. At least, that is what I thought. I was actually 5 minutes early, which isn't exactly early, but still ended up that way. Why? The professor was 5 minutes late. Good start. First, before he walked in, I was looking through the book to check things out. There was a picture of the, now late, Saddam Hussein, with full, graying beard. Mr. Radike walks in. With full, graying beard. He looks, done to the wrinkles and the color of his skin, almost exactly like the late Saddam Hussein. But he does where glasses. Drew might be able to vouch for this. If not, I'll make him see the light. So, from now on, Mr. Radike will be referred to as Saddam.
The class it self was incredibly boring, without the sleep deprivation. Four out of five of the words out of his mouth were either "umm..." or "...ahhhh...." It is very annoying, but I might be able to get over it. We were "assigned" a 6-8 page book report about 5 minutes into class. At the end of class he noted that it was optional and that it was for extra credit. Consider that I, after my next classes, have plenty of work to do, I will probably not be doing that.
The notable student in my class include: Leah Haynes, Alicia Steenland... yeah. That's about it.
Brunch/Lunch Break; Me and whomever I choose - 9:45 to 12:00 : Eating time. I wasn't actually hungry when I got out of class and I don't know where anyone else was, so I went to the LRC. (The library, basically.) I spent 1 and 1/2 hours on Wikipedia reading about Japan and other stuff. Very interesting. Then I went to the main building, ate, and talked to Chris. Then some weird girls came up, one being albino, I think, and stared talking to him (and worse)and me. Creepy people. I ran out of there to get away and to class. Notable students: No one.
Second class; "Introduction to" International Relations with Professor Forsgren - 12:00 to 1:15 : Ahh, this class. Chris is in this class. Not much more you can say about it, but I will anyway. This is
obviously a 200-level class. The work, while not impossible or too overwhelming, is fairly intense. The work load includes: light reading from the text, three average-length papers, several quizzes, two tests, a U.N. reading/short question assignment, and a rather large project. For the most part, I expected most of that. The project was not as expected, though. It involves picking a country and writing a 4-page paper and 5-8 minute presentation about the country of our choice. Fair enough, but not only that, but all other papers and assignments are done in the eyes of our country and not ourselves. Annoying. I don't get an opinion on my papers, but my country I picked does. There will be classroom discussion, so I can probably endure it.
Notable students: Chris... and Emma Swarenzhouer. (That wasn't even close.)
Third class; English 102 with Professor Torricelli - 1:30 to 2:50 : OMG, this is going to be a
great class. I'll start with the coursework. Not too bad, or at least not as bad as I thought. The research paper? Normally about 8 pages, will not be that long. Maybe six, which is better. Only two other papers and, of course, lots of reading. Sounds bad, right? Nope. I've already read about half of the assigned texts to read. And, for Drew's sake, we are even going to be using writing in our books and the discussion groups.
The professor: He rocks. He's funny, short and Italian. Good combination. The students: I don't know anyone. The left half seemed to be looking at me half the time and it was freaking me out.
Four class; Programming Concepts with Professors DesJardin and Pepin - 3:00 to 4:50 : I want to die. I'm fairly certain that half, if not all, of my class have an I.Q. lower than 65. The table where I sat has: a weird/normal kid sitting next to me, a 50 year-old woman, a 20-something year-old guy whom doesn't say much besides what you are doing wrong and a 60-70 year-old man whom has huge ears and thinks he knows how things work, but he doesn't realize that he is about 40 years late. The second to last guy is really that bad and he doesn't say his thoughts in malice, but I don't think he is very social. He reminds me of the character "Ethan" from the movie "Slackers," if you have seen it. He even looks like him.
The coursework: Boring beyond imagination. We have to print out the days agenda before class starts. I only have about 10 minutes for that and the class probably won't be open for me to do that. Ms. DesJardin said that we could print it at home, but won't have it online until noon that day. I'm in class starting then and up to the time class starts. Half the class will be hell because we have to "plan" all of our programs out and get them approved before we start the actual program, which, by the way, is done in a crappy program that, if I'm not mistaken, isn't actually about programming, but more about learning to think like a programmer. BOO! I got more out of Diller's programming class.
Notable students: Everyone. I only know one person, but everyone was crazy or different from the rest. We have a Ricky Boyd clone, a clone of the fat guy from the "Problem Child" movie, a grandfather, a mother, a fat guy whom thinks he is smart (not me), a clone of Jim Belushi in the show "Yes, Dear" whom kept looking at me and many others.
One hour break in which I was talking to Steve Hyen. (Spelled wrong.)
Fifth class; Introduction to Logic with Professor Obee - 6:00 to 8:50 : This is also a 200-level class and it shows. Not in the amount of work, which there is not much, but in the difficulty of the subject material. I can't exactly explain it, but it seems like it is going to be hard. Maybe it is the fact that the professor said we could use a tape recorder for the class notes. That just seems bad to me.
Notable students: Aharic Bouy, Ted Parkhearst and young George Bailey (I think).
My entries about each class got shorter and shorter. Oh well, that was good to get down. I'll probably post again when I get to know some of the others.
Here are my impressions, in some particular order:
I didn't sleep. Not at all. I set my alarm for 7A.M. and it went off just as I was getting ready to take a shower. Not a good plan to not sleep on one of the most boring days of the year. "Introduction Day."
First class; Sociology 101 with Professor Radike - 8:30 to 9:45 : I was almost late to class. At least, that is what I thought. I was actually 5 minutes early, which isn't exactly early, but still ended up that way. Why? The professor was 5 minutes late. Good start. First, before he walked in, I was looking through the book to check things out. There was a picture of the, now late, Saddam Hussein, with full, graying beard. Mr. Radike walks in. With full, graying beard. He looks, done to the wrinkles and the color of his skin, almost exactly like the late Saddam Hussein. But he does where glasses. Drew might be able to vouch for this. If not, I'll make him see the light. So, from now on, Mr. Radike will be referred to as Saddam.
The class it self was incredibly boring, without the sleep deprivation. Four out of five of the words out of his mouth were either "umm..." or "...ahhhh...." It is very annoying, but I might be able to get over it. We were "assigned" a 6-8 page book report about 5 minutes into class. At the end of class he noted that it was optional and that it was for extra credit. Consider that I, after my next classes, have plenty of work to do, I will probably not be doing that.
The notable student in my class include: Leah Haynes, Alicia Steenland... yeah. That's about it.
Brunch/Lunch Break; Me and whomever I choose - 9:45 to 12:00 : Eating time. I wasn't actually hungry when I got out of class and I don't know where anyone else was, so I went to the LRC. (The library, basically.) I spent 1 and 1/2 hours on Wikipedia reading about Japan and other stuff. Very interesting. Then I went to the main building, ate, and talked to Chris. Then some weird girls came up, one being albino, I think, and stared talking to him (and worse)and me. Creepy people. I ran out of there to get away and to class. Notable students: No one.
Second class; "Introduction to" International Relations with Professor Forsgren - 12:00 to 1:15 : Ahh, this class. Chris is in this class. Not much more you can say about it, but I will anyway. This is
obviously a 200-level class. The work, while not impossible or too overwhelming, is fairly intense. The work load includes: light reading from the text, three average-length papers, several quizzes, two tests, a U.N. reading/short question assignment, and a rather large project. For the most part, I expected most of that. The project was not as expected, though. It involves picking a country and writing a 4-page paper and 5-8 minute presentation about the country of our choice. Fair enough, but not only that, but all other papers and assignments are done in the eyes of our country and not ourselves. Annoying. I don't get an opinion on my papers, but my country I picked does. There will be classroom discussion, so I can probably endure it.
Notable students: Chris... and Emma Swarenzhouer. (That wasn't even close.)
Third class; English 102 with Professor Torricelli - 1:30 to 2:50 : OMG, this is going to be a
great class. I'll start with the coursework. Not too bad, or at least not as bad as I thought. The research paper? Normally about 8 pages, will not be that long. Maybe six, which is better. Only two other papers and, of course, lots of reading. Sounds bad, right? Nope. I've already read about half of the assigned texts to read. And, for Drew's sake, we are even going to be using writing in our books and the discussion groups.
The professor: He rocks. He's funny, short and Italian. Good combination. The students: I don't know anyone. The left half seemed to be looking at me half the time and it was freaking me out.
Four class; Programming Concepts with Professors DesJardin and Pepin - 3:00 to 4:50 : I want to die. I'm fairly certain that half, if not all, of my class have an I.Q. lower than 65. The table where I sat has: a weird/normal kid sitting next to me, a 50 year-old woman, a 20-something year-old guy whom doesn't say much besides what you are doing wrong and a 60-70 year-old man whom has huge ears and thinks he knows how things work, but he doesn't realize that he is about 40 years late. The second to last guy is really that bad and he doesn't say his thoughts in malice, but I don't think he is very social. He reminds me of the character "Ethan" from the movie "Slackers," if you have seen it. He even looks like him.
The coursework: Boring beyond imagination. We have to print out the days agenda before class starts. I only have about 10 minutes for that and the class probably won't be open for me to do that. Ms. DesJardin said that we could print it at home, but won't have it online until noon that day. I'm in class starting then and up to the time class starts. Half the class will be hell because we have to "plan" all of our programs out and get them approved before we start the actual program, which, by the way, is done in a crappy program that, if I'm not mistaken, isn't actually about programming, but more about learning to think like a programmer. BOO! I got more out of Diller's programming class.
Notable students: Everyone. I only know one person, but everyone was crazy or different from the rest. We have a Ricky Boyd clone, a clone of the fat guy from the "Problem Child" movie, a grandfather, a mother, a fat guy whom thinks he is smart (not me), a clone of Jim Belushi in the show "Yes, Dear" whom kept looking at me and many others.
One hour break in which I was talking to Steve Hyen. (Spelled wrong.)
Fifth class; Introduction to Logic with Professor Obee - 6:00 to 8:50 : This is also a 200-level class and it shows. Not in the amount of work, which there is not much, but in the difficulty of the subject material. I can't exactly explain it, but it seems like it is going to be hard. Maybe it is the fact that the professor said we could use a tape recorder for the class notes. That just seems bad to me.
Notable students: Aharic Bouy, Ted Parkhearst and young George Bailey (I think).
My entries about each class got shorter and shorter. Oh well, that was good to get down. I'll probably post again when I get to know some of the others.