Saturday, January 26, 2013

Class Breakdown...or are they giving me a breakdown?

Wow. Two weeks since I blogged last. Well, that feels about right. That's when classes started and I have been BUSY. This is my first time actually trying to juggle five classes and I am so incredibly thankful that I'm not working on top of it. A part of me misses it like crazy and I almost applied to the Starbucks on campus but then common sense prevailed and I realized how crazy of a move that would be. The weather has been a bit cooler so I've mostly just been going to classes, coming home and doing readings and then hanging out with friends. Here's a quick review of what I'm studying.

The US as a Young Republic 
I have this class M/W/F from 9:05-9:55. It kind of stinks to have an early class like that but so far it's kept me on track with getting to bed at a decent hour which is nice. It's also my only class on Friday's so that isn't too bad. The prof is pretty cool. Extremely knowledgeable and enjoyable to listen to except he is LOUD. I'm not sure if he's used to lecturing to survey classes or what but in our small 20ish student class, sometimes he just hurts my ears. He's interesting though and I really like this time period so I'm glad I'm taking the class. I have one major research paper due for this class and I'm still debating my topic. I have a few ideas though.

US Constitutional History
M/W 2:30-3:35 This prof is hilarious. Foul mouthed but not in a particularly offensive way. We just sit there and laugh all class. It is an incredible amount of information because I'm learning the Constitution from scratch but we have a good text book and his lectures are easy to follow. We have two case briefs for this class. I haven't even looked at the topics of mine yet.

Georgia History
T/T 12:30-1:45 This class is a massive amount of work. We have online and text book readings assigned for each class and we're tested in class to confirm that we've done the readings. We have a MASSIVE primary source research project and paper as well. The class is fascinating though. The prof (my only female one) is fiercely loyal to Georgia and specifically Savannah at the expense of Atlanta and all other states. It's a lot of fun. 

US as a Global Power
This class is just once a week, on Tuesdays from 6:30-9:15pm. It's long but the prof gets off topic a lot with little stories and anecdotes so it's not like he's lecturing the entire time. He is really funny as well. I make a point of bringing a handkerchief to class because I'm often wiping away tears from laughing. This is class is probably my most intense as far as course work. Three book reviews as well as a major research paper. I haven't even begun to think about what I'm going to write about so that is a bit scary. This class focuses on the 20th century and I took a similar one from a Canadian view point so it's really interesting. It's the most contemporary time period so it's a nice change. 

North American Public Policy Issues
This is a directed studies class which means we only meet a few times during the semester. I have an academic advisor though and I'm checking in with him regularly on the research paper I am writing. This is hands down the class I am most excited about. I could talk about it for forever but, as my Global Power prof says, to make a short story long, this prof is currently developing a Masters program in Public History and is working really hard to try to convince me to apply. I'm not convinced yet (and that wouldn't be for two years anyway) but this man totally gets me. I feel like I've finally found a title for what it is I want to do and he completely understands my goals. It's awesome. A part of this class is my volunteer placement which is it's own bundle of awesomeness but I'll save that for another entry.

So there, that's my five classes. Four major research papers. Three book reviews. Two case studies. Midterms and finals in the first four. I can do this. Gulp!

1 comment:

Shelljo said...

And it sounds like typical History Major stuff! You can do it!