Halfway There

This week has been a bit slow academically. However, I live near Philadelphia so it has been quite an exciting week for the city especially sport fans like myself. Even though today was the parade classes were not cancelled. I only had theatre today but I had to go because I have a midterm for that class next week. Lucky for me it is my only midterm. I also register for classes for the spring semester next week. At my school enrolled students are able to register for classes online. This is very convenient as I will be able to avoid long lines. There is one thing I can't avoid in college. The cold! Walking across campus is difficult and very uncomfortable. I am not looking forward to the snow. I am hoping that it won't start snowing until I go on winter break which begins on December 17th. I can't believe that I am almost done my first semester of college. There have been both ups and downs and I have had numerous adventures but I am not surprised because everyday is an adventure!  

Getting Feedback

As my college does not administer grades to its students, I at times have trouble gauging exactly how well I'm doing in a class. I feel comfortable with all the work I've turned in, but that doesn't necessarily mean that my professors feel the same way. The responses to my past few papers in my Latin American studies class have been critical, but constructive nonetheless. But finally yesterday I got a good response to a paper. I wasn't sure how well my prof liked me, as she is known for being a tough grader and has high expectations for her students, and I don't usually have as much to offer during class discussion as other students do. Previously excerpts from my work, as well as that of other students, had been used in a lesson on what not to do in an argument paper. So I was surprised on Wednesday when she used my last paper as an example of a strongly argued paper with a good thesis statement. Moreover, I was shocked to see how little criticism the paper had on it, as it was mostly covered in (approving) check-marks. It was good to finally get some good feedback in a class I was previously a little worried about. As well, in my Literary Journalism class on Tuesday, I had to read my 8-page memoir aloud to the class. I was freaking out about that leading up to it, as previous papers had been really well written, and I was afraid it would get torn to shreds by my class, especially by one student who always sits in the corner, rubbing his goatee. Rather, my professor had little criticism, and even called it a good example of "describing but not prescribing" (that's typically how she talks) and people seemed to actually enjoy it. And the dude who is always nitpicking other people's work said he thought it was "f**king great" and only had minor problems with it (which is good, because the memoir is far from perfect.) Getting this kind of feedback has been nice, since up to this point I was feeling unsure about how strong my work actually was.

Late Night work sessions are not a myth

The past few days have finally brought me what is apparently common in college, and that is staying up late working. I've managed my time pretty well, and while I've had tons of work, rarely has it gone later than 9-10. That was not the case with last night. I spent the weekend in Cambridge, staying at a friend of a friend's house at Tufts University. It was a really fun time, to be sure. I got to see somewhere around 8 hardcore bands. I've been in moshpits before, but the intensity of these shows has no match as far as I am concerned. I stayed on the sidelines at both the events I went to, taking notes for an article I'm writing for my journalism class. So throughout the weekend, while I was attending concerts, I was deluding myself into thinking that I was doing homework. The only thing I had due on Monday anyway was 45 pages of reading, which is easy, especially since it is from a novel and not a textbook. I completely neglected, however, the massive amounts of work due on Wednesday - 200 odd pages of reading, a five page essay, and a reading response. I would have definitely benefited from taking some weekend time to work on this stuff, but it all ended up happening on Tuesday. Luckily I only have one Tuesday class so I had time to get it done, but I am only human and therefore often fall victim to procrastination. I typically study in my room, but my computer was being too much of a distraction, so I went out in the cold night to go to the library. It's dead quiet on the top floor there, so without any distractions I managed to sit down, focus, and finish my Latin America book - which was also horribly depressing. I still had a five-page paper left to do, which wasn't really that hard - it was about Wartime cartoons, so as a fan of animation I didn't really get too stressed - but I was up until midnight doing it. I'd like to say I've learned my lesson, and I think I have, but sometimes homework still hits me pretty hard. Say, for example, right now. I'm reading the biography of George Bush, and it is almost 10. But a few hours ago the girl down the hall and I were playing bachi ball, both of us admittingly putting off homework. I suppose it's good to relax and take part in a little recreation though, but I can't stand staying up this late working.

Period of Adjustment

It is only Tuesday and I am already counting down the days until Friday. Today I had to walk down three flights of stairs because the elevator wasn't going to floor one. It wasn't until after my downstairs class that I realized if I had rode down to the second floor I could have taken another elevator and arrived at my desired destination. Another brilliant move by me Not! I feel like the only thing I have learned since I have begun college is that I am always wrong! This is a very difficult concept to grasp for a perfectionist like myself. I still have not gotten an A on anything in World Civilization, My spanish professor told me I did terrible on my oral evaluation and I did not know any of answers to the first six questions on my psychology exam. The worst part of these grade troubles is I feel so crunched for time. You only have fifteen weeks to get an A in a college course where as in high school you have an entire year to adjust. I guess my best bet is to do the best I can and focus on next semester. I met with my honors advisor and tentatively picked my classes today for next semester and I am actually looking forward to it. I will probably be taking a political science course, biomedical ethics, english, 102, world civilization, spanish 202 and a math course. It will definitely be an adventure with six classes but at least they will be classes I enjoy. I may have to post again this week if I have another adventure like today. In my case I will most likely be writing again soon because everyday is an adventure!

I Wish I Was a Mind Reader

This week has been ridiculous. I wrote a ten page play for my theatre class. The professor hated it because she said it was to long. My problem: she said it had to be approxamately ten pages. She also said it should only be ten minutes. I don't know about all of you but I have never written a play. I hate watching and reading plays for that matter so I did not know how to write one and she gave no instruction whatsoever. That is one of my biggest pet peeves of college. Most professors expect students to be mind readers and to know what to do and how to do it without any explanation I had a similar experience in english. The professor has not followed the course outline for about three weeks and we are behind by an entire paper. He got angry at the class because no one read a selection for Monday's class that was on the course outline but he made no mention of it in the previous class. Classes would be much less confusing if professors would just stick to the course outline. Psychology is very similar. The professor never covers all the material he wants to so we are always behind. Monday he gave us a packet and told us to bring it class complete on Wednesday. He also told us we would need our books for Wednesday. I lugged my textbook around for four hours and he didn't even get to the material. The best part is that we have a test Monday and some of the questions come straight from the packet. That is enough complaining for now though. For the funny story of the week. PS mom if you are reading you might not think it is funny. I had to go back to school today to take a World Civilization exam. My friend who was at school was taking me home. Now usually when I go to school I take my walker but that only fits in vans so I took my crutches. My friend's class was done at three. I got done my test around two-thirty so I decided to walk to the building where her class was. I know what you are thinking I got lost right? No, I am actually getting pretty good with the layout of the campus. I got to the building which happened to be the school of nursing and.... I fell. There was a lip on the step and my crutch got caught and down I went! I guess I picked the best place on campus to fall because there was about ten people there to help me within seconds. The campus police had to come and file an accident report it was not my best moment. I guess I should not be surprised though because in my life everyday is an adventure!

Breakin'

The past few days have felt like a scene out of a vampire movie. Campus is more or less dead, with the withering leaves of the trees falling to the ground and bicycles laying abandoned against trees like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Nearly everyone has gone home for Fall Break, since the majority of people live on the east coast that go here, including most of the people I've made friends with. It's been okay though, I've gotten a chance to explore the area and get a lot of work done, but seeing campus like this is just a reminder of how far away from home I am. Over the weekend I went to two movies, which were both good but not great, and the travel experience on the bus system, which I believe I've already gone into, is never to great. Friday and Saturday nights, the bus between the mall and the University campus is packed, probably beyond maximum capacity, with plenty of people who you don't want to be on a crowded bus with. I wasn't given a ton of homework to do over break, and that hasn't been hard to get done, so I've found myself at times trying to find something to do, but there's no one here. But I really shouldn't be complaining - I'm on break, which means I don't have class and more homework. It would be nice to have some friends around though. I suppose I could go do my laundry...

Look deep inside and Self-Evaluate...take your time.

One of the positives of my school, at least one of the reasons I chose to come here, is that there are no grades, tests, or specific requirements. However, that isn't to say that there is nothing in place of that. On Wednesday we have to turn in a "Midterm Self-Evaluation" for each class. These are one-to-two paragraphs essays detailing how we feel we've progressed as students in each of our classes. It doesn't seem to bad, it's not like I have to look any further than myself to find the answers. What it is though, is a forerunner to the End-of-Term Evaluation, which is filed at the end of the semester about the overall experience. It's an odd thing, how this semi-bureaucratic system is what is in place of grading. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the no grades thing they have going here, but around campus you hear people talking about how they just finished filing their division 1 or 2 projects - even though it is the beginning of the year. This leads me to believe this whole divisional evaluation system may be more of a challenge than I thought, as originally I understood that the divisions directly correlated to the academic year. Apparently not. People end up studying here for more than four years quite often, and that scares me. The money for my tuition won't stretch that far. So it's just another motivator to work hard and not put things off. People get through here in four years if they do that.

If College was Like this all the Time I Would Not Mind Going!

Where to begin? I know this blog is supposed to simply be for my college experience but there are many things that influence my experience. One is the amount of sleep I get. I am a worry wart and do most of my worrying at night. This week has already been full of worry. One of my best friends got surgery today, (love you) another just got cleared by the doctor to return to physical activity(hooray team mom is back) and another has to go back in the hospital for cancer treatment(you are an inspiration).  I just wanted to let you all know I was thinking about you and I ask everyone to put these three people in your prayers. 

Now for the actual day. I got to do one of the coolest assignments of my educational career today. I have to write a ten minute play for my theater class. In order to get possible scenarios the professor told us to go anywhere on campus and observe others. Then we had to use our own experiences and creativity to make inferences in their lives. It made me feel a connection to people I did not even know. Then I went to english and I found out that according to college or at least my professor's standards no one in my class knew how to write a good opening.  I do have to give kudos to my Jr. AP Language& Composition teacher because I was the only one who knew what he was talking about when he discussed rhetoric and the different types of writing.

Sometimes it is good to be the only one. For example I was the only one to get an A on my psychology test. It is the test that I wrote about in my last update with the paragraph for each question and my first college exam. It was pretty exciting.

I must say that another myth about community college is that it is always bad being close to home. I found out this week it is nice being close to family for comfort and being able to be there physically for friends. This week has just begun and I am looking forward to the adventures ahead because everyday is in adventure!

P.S. Title contributed by my sister. 

The Work Swamp

Wow.  I thought previous weeks were tough, but this week redefined that entirely.  I thought last weekend seemed too light, and I realize now, in retrospect, that it was just the calm before the storm.  I had to read over 300 pages and come up analysis in response, watch two films, and begin research on a topic relating to Latin America.  On top of that I found out that I should already  be well into one of my long-term writing assignments.  Granted, I have a bunch of it handwritten in a notebook, but I haven't typed a word of it yet.  It isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be though.  Nearly all of the work is interesting stuff, and my Postcolonial class is starting to become more understandable, and I've been able to contribute to class discussion.  

I had a pretty good time last weekend, though.  Last Friday I had my radio show without my co-host there with me, but it still went well.  I'm pretty sure only my parents listened to it though. Campus was wild on Friday, as somebody had held a party in one of the dorms, in which the alcohol was consumed within a matter of minutes.  I walked in not long after seeing numerous people staggering out of the building, and after avoiding numerous drunk people, found that the entire building reeked of alcohol.  I found my friends inside (they happen to live the floor below) and we went to a concert happening on campus.  It was pretty cool music, and the crowd's vibe was great, even though most of them were inebriated.  

I went and watched the presidential debate in the main lecture hall on Friday as well.  Both the debates have been great to watch in the halls.  Not only are there students playing drinking games in there (take a shot every time Palin says "Alaska") who provide some interesting commentary, but everyone is cheering, laughing, and booing at the big-screen projection.  I thought this was a common thing on college campuses, but I found out that my college is the only college in the area that has big public screenings of the debates and election coverage.  So there's another positive - drunk though many of them may be, the students here do care a lot about what's going on in their country.

Testing the Limits

I have made it through an entire month of college. This is the first time since prior to high school I have not been counting down the days. I took my first major exam this week in psychology. It contained four chapters worth of information and had sixty questions. Each question was several sentences long. It did not seem that hard but I have not gotten it back yet so I do not know how I did. I have two exams next week. One is in world civilization. Although the professor gave us the essay questions in advance and did an extensive review I am worried because he is a stickler for details and my work has not been up to his standards. I have an IEP that states I get extra time on exams because it takes me longer to write. When I was in high school I would just finish the test after school. In college my professor will have to schedule a time for me to take the test at the test center in the library. That means  I do not even have to go to class on Tuesday. I have another exam on Tuesday in Spanish that I am not looking forward to. In order to improve my spanish and earn some extra points I am trying to find a volunteer job where I have to speak spanish. If any teachers are reading this I would love to come and tutor students in spanish. 

I did not have any major adventures this week just a few mishaps. For example when my walker wheel got stuck in the elevator and my walker almost flipped or when the bathroom door got stuck. Other then that this week was pretty uneventful.

Hope everyone had a good week. Also I just wanted to say Good Luck Bucky. I love you!  Just try and look at this as an adventure because everyday is an adventure.