So I went to my first two classes today- English 352 and Latin 101. Luckily they start at 12pm and 1pm so even though this is the first semester in like two years that I've had a Friday class at least it's not super early. Rolling out of bed at 11 isn't too bad. Tomorrow getting up somewhere around 8/830 wont be fun at all. I swore to never again take a class before 11 but unfortunately the school scheduled the classes I need at very early hours :(
My English class is titled: Popular Literature- Ghost Stories; and my professor is Jack Pendarvis, a famous writer here at Ole Miss as a guest teacher. He only briefly discussed the class syllabus with us, making a huge point out of the idea that "I don't care if your grandmother dies, you can only miss three classes so make sure you leave one to her funeral." Technically there is a whole paragraph in the syllabus that he typed in bold, uppercase font saying not to miss class no matter who died if you are already over the limit of absences. He also spent some time telling us that he doesn't care if we use wikipedia as a source, as long as we cite it. He says he doesn't like failing people but he will if we plagerize. Honestly after four years of high school and five (going on six) years of college I think this idea has been thoroughly instilled in my brain. One day when I am a professor (hopefully) I'm going to make sure that I tell people to please plagerise because it would only make my life easier, or just not even turn the paper in. Of course if I do make it one day being a professor I want to be sort of off the wall so that my students actually get involved in whatever subject I'm teaching. I find it complete bs that last semester I watched a certain "friend" basically not do any of the homework and walk out with the same grade as me. Yes, my doing all the reading and whatnot will help me in the future, yes her grades really don't affect my life but still it's frustrating and disheartening.
So back to my English class...umm OMG is it full of nerds! Maybe they are really nice kids but when it comes down to it I don't think I've ever seen such a large group of non-southern looking people ever at Ole Miss. On one hand I guess it's a nice break from the over-sized sorority shirts and shorts on the girls and the polos and khakis on the boys but, at the same time, some of them just looked like they needed a shower and a haircut and some fashion help. Obviously I'm a nerd on the inside, going home and doing homework before the semester even starts, but when it comes to my appearance I try to spice it up a bit. The class seems like it'll be interesting because we get to read a lot of off the wall stories and the structure agrees with me perfectly. Every class meeting we have a one page paper due about the reading from the night before. I love this idea for two reasons- 1)It ensures that the entire class does the homework and 2)It is basically a great way to keep notes to look back on when it comes time to write the midterm and final papers. The second thing I love is that it is papers and not tests that we have to do for the class. I hate English teachers who make me take a test at the end of the semester because it's sooooo much to study for and by the end of the exam I always have the worst hand/arm cramp from writing so ferociously for two plus hours! One thing I am very UNHAPPY about is the final paper requires us to read one of two books and relate them to the required texts from the semester. The book I absolutely REFUSE to read is Wuthering Heights. I mean I specifically did not take a class this semester because that was on the reading list and here I find out that it is one of the choices for the final. I will have to chose the default then of Frankenstein. I've read it once or twice before and will have to have my mom find my copy (if I even still have one that is) and send it to me. All in all I think this will be a lovely class and look forward to telling you about how the books go and how this class will help develop me as a writer. Who knows, maybe when the semester is over I'll have an itching to one day write a ghost story just like how at the end of last semester I had an itching to write a Robinsonade story.
So the other class I went to today was Lat 101 with Prof Ajootian. She is just hilarious with her mannerisms and it's a good thing that I like her because I have three classes with her, meaning I will see her everyday Monday-Friday. As I expected she started teaching from the minute she finished explaining the syllabus and kept us till exactly 1:50. I really didn't want to take another language class seeing as I already have 15 hours of French but I was stuck taking this because there were no other open English or Classics classes and I needed to once again take a 15 credit hour semester. I'm going to have to study harder than I want to in order to get an A in this class but it's just something I have to deal with because I really want another 4.0 this semester. My goal is to kick ass and make the Chancellor's list once again, bringing my GPA up to a level that would impress both grad schools and potential employers. Grad school really isn't something that I'm looking at starting any time soon for multiple reasons. First of all, I am so OVER classes and ready to start a boring 9-5 working life. I'm ready to feel like an adult and going to grad school would just put off starting my real life a bit more. Another reason I want a break is that I want a way to save up money! I'm so sick of barely getting by (or as the case is right now, being supported by my parents while I wait for my job to start making me money).
So, like always, I have gotten a bit off topic, but I guess that's just how my brain works. To summarize about my first day back on campus- there was a million people but it seems like a good start to my penultimate semester here at Ole Miss. This time next year I'll hopefully be looking back and thinking "Dang, I wish I still was in school because it was so much easier" haha.
Until tomorrow- Love and kisses,
KABO
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