a vestige of thought...
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The View from Finals Week
"Johnson men have a Christmas party; Trustees men throw a TV out the window. If that doesn't mean something, I don't know what does."
~Sam
I am two tests and a short paper away from completing my first semester as a college student. Woot! It has been a fantastic four months. Looking back, I shall rate my six classes:
*****Intro to New Testament: I'm definitely glad this class is a requirement. I hear that some found the class boring, but I found the subject itself really interesting and with Heather sitting next to me and Dr. Anderson periodically saying things like "I'm eating crow!" how can you go wrong? I even found writing my exegesis paper enjoyable (or at least the research for it).
**Theory of Physical Activity: Okay, I can see the point of having this class. There is logic behind it. But that doesn't make the class any less boring, or make me any less bitter that my hardest final this week is going to be in my PE class. I am glad that I was required to exercise regularly (hopefully a routine I will continue), but I wish I could have just kept an excercise record, done a fitness test at the beginning and end of the semester, and been done with it. Pretty much everything I could ever want or need to know about health or nutrition I absorbed just from living at my own house for 19 years.
*****Gen. Psych I: Another good one. There were a lot of surprises in this class (like the time that we had the option to not take a chapter test and get a perfect score on it, or take the test and get whatever grade resulted), and I very much enjoyed getting into other people's heads. Seeing things from other people's point of view is sometimes a challenge for me, and I feel like I'm able to do it a little better now. Plus, who doens't like learning a plethora of random statistics? (I also liked learning about psychological disorders and hope to take Dr. Seitz's Abnormal Psych class as an elective later.) Oh, and huzzah for tons of extra credit. Thanks to that, I learned a lot, but didn't have to worry too much about the tests.
****Basic Latin: I'm pretty positive I could have tested out of this one and started at Latin 102, but I'm glad I didn't. The semester was mostly review for me, and we went perhaps a bit slower than I had anticipated, but it gave me a solid grounding that I would probably have been hurting without when next semester came around. Plus, had I not been in the class, I would have missed out on the fantastic Latin-related bonding of my fellow 1st Glide and J2W Latin major/minors (and Prof Richardson rocks).
***Advanced Composition and Research: English had its good days and its bad days. After changes made this semester, I could have tested out of it, but I think it was beneficial anyway. Mostly it was a lot of practice of things that I already new, but I think I have definitely improved at them, and that was the point of the class. There were also a lot of very cool people in the class that I hope I am able to stay in touch with.
*/****Art/Music Appreciation: This class was split with half of the semester focusing on Art and half on Music. The art half was generally dull and boring and I don't think I learned anything besides a great appreciation for the venerable Sister Wendy and how to fudge my way through a page or two about a painting that just looks like a bunch of paint blobs to me, but the music half was great. I can't think of anything in particular from either part of the class that I feel will use repeatedly in the future, but I imagine that both aspects made me a more well-rounded individual, which (after all) is the point of a liberal arts education.
I've learned quite a bit this semester on many different levels. Among these: if you throw away banana peels and apple cores in your room, you will get fruit flies; if I stop by Laura's room on the way back from heating up water for tea, my water will get cold; I study way better in the library than in my room; living on a hall of girls is amazing and I love it; the two hour drive to Cincinnati is nothing (I have the shortest drive of all my close friends here).
Questions that remain:
Who is Crawford? Glide is named for someone who donated money for the building, as announced by the plaque next to the front door, but I have no idea who Crawford is.
If you were stranded on a desert island with Johnson 2nd West, who would you eat last? (Heather's question, not mine.)
~Sam
I am two tests and a short paper away from completing my first semester as a college student. Woot! It has been a fantastic four months. Looking back, I shall rate my six classes:
*****Intro to New Testament: I'm definitely glad this class is a requirement. I hear that some found the class boring, but I found the subject itself really interesting and with Heather sitting next to me and Dr. Anderson periodically saying things like "I'm eating crow!" how can you go wrong? I even found writing my exegesis paper enjoyable (or at least the research for it).
**Theory of Physical Activity: Okay, I can see the point of having this class. There is logic behind it. But that doesn't make the class any less boring, or make me any less bitter that my hardest final this week is going to be in my PE class. I am glad that I was required to exercise regularly (hopefully a routine I will continue), but I wish I could have just kept an excercise record, done a fitness test at the beginning and end of the semester, and been done with it. Pretty much everything I could ever want or need to know about health or nutrition I absorbed just from living at my own house for 19 years.
*****Gen. Psych I: Another good one. There were a lot of surprises in this class (like the time that we had the option to not take a chapter test and get a perfect score on it, or take the test and get whatever grade resulted), and I very much enjoyed getting into other people's heads. Seeing things from other people's point of view is sometimes a challenge for me, and I feel like I'm able to do it a little better now. Plus, who doens't like learning a plethora of random statistics? (I also liked learning about psychological disorders and hope to take Dr. Seitz's Abnormal Psych class as an elective later.) Oh, and huzzah for tons of extra credit. Thanks to that, I learned a lot, but didn't have to worry too much about the tests.
****Basic Latin: I'm pretty positive I could have tested out of this one and started at Latin 102, but I'm glad I didn't. The semester was mostly review for me, and we went perhaps a bit slower than I had anticipated, but it gave me a solid grounding that I would probably have been hurting without when next semester came around. Plus, had I not been in the class, I would have missed out on the fantastic Latin-related bonding of my fellow 1st Glide and J2W Latin major/minors (and Prof Richardson rocks).
***Advanced Composition and Research: English had its good days and its bad days. After changes made this semester, I could have tested out of it, but I think it was beneficial anyway. Mostly it was a lot of practice of things that I already new, but I think I have definitely improved at them, and that was the point of the class. There were also a lot of very cool people in the class that I hope I am able to stay in touch with.
*/****Art/Music Appreciation: This class was split with half of the semester focusing on Art and half on Music. The art half was generally dull and boring and I don't think I learned anything besides a great appreciation for the venerable Sister Wendy and how to fudge my way through a page or two about a painting that just looks like a bunch of paint blobs to me, but the music half was great. I can't think of anything in particular from either part of the class that I feel will use repeatedly in the future, but I imagine that both aspects made me a more well-rounded individual, which (after all) is the point of a liberal arts education.
I've learned quite a bit this semester on many different levels. Among these: if you throw away banana peels and apple cores in your room, you will get fruit flies; if I stop by Laura's room on the way back from heating up water for tea, my water will get cold; I study way better in the library than in my room; living on a hall of girls is amazing and I love it; the two hour drive to Cincinnati is nothing (I have the shortest drive of all my close friends here).
Questions that remain:
Who is Crawford? Glide is named for someone who donated money for the building, as announced by the plaque next to the front door, but I have no idea who Crawford is.
If you were stranded on a desert island with Johnson 2nd West, who would you eat last? (Heather's question, not mine.)
1 Comments:
hm.. I would have to say that Heather's question could be answered this way: I wouldn't have to eat any of them because the combination of Dustin and Stephen would have figured out a way to get off the island by the time we were anywhere close to hungry. =D
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