First Day(s) of Classes

Well, the first two days of class are complete. It is always kind of nice because (most) of the time professors let the class out a little bit early after introducing themselves and going over the syllabus. Or there is always the professor who insists on watching a 45-minute video about the Sun and not letting us go even one minute early, but hey, who's complaining?

Various Syllabi and Course Packets

I will begin with my classes yesterday and then move into today's schedule.

Let's start with my first English class of the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays: American Literature 1865 - Present.

My professor is a young woman in her second semester of teaching here at UT. We began the class by analyzing a poem by Hermann Mellville, The Portent, which was very strange, but served to teach us that we are going to be embedded in the literature that we read and analyze this semester. I am also very excited because of the weekly reading journal assignment that we have in this class. Every Thursday beginning next week, a one-page response to any of the readings that we have done is due. I grew really excited when she told us that this was more 'creative writing.' while the short papers will be more of analysis. For a blog writer, creative writing is ideal so I am excited to see what this class holds!

The handsome Hermann Mellville (Source)

Next up on the schedule was Astronomy. I took Intro to Astronomy last semester, and this class, The Lives and Deaths of Stars, will be more of an in-depth look at stars. The professor is an older women who really seems to have a passion for the subject of astronomy, which is always promising and makes for a good class. Despite that video about the Sun, it should be a good one. This class is at the same time and in the same place as my Intro to Astronomy class last semester, so hopefully my grade in this class follows the same pattern. Here's to my last semester of science, ever!

The view of the Tower from the top of the RLM building at a star party

Last on the agenda today in terms of classes was my second English class: British Novel in the 20th Century. The professor for this class was seriously awesome, and the class sounds absolutely wonderful, however, I was notified this morning, at 1:20 a.m., that I finally made my way off the waitlist into the other English class I was hoping to take: Representations of Childhood and Adolescense in Literature and Film. I haven't actually been to this class yet, as it took place at the same time as my British Novel class, but The Hunger Games is on our reading list. Need I say more? I am so excited about this class, I am hoping it turns out to be one of my favorites!

Life of an English major!

My first (and only) class on the agenda today was cultural anthropology. Seeing as I wasn't sure which English I was for sure going to be enrolled in and I don't yet have my astronomy book, I decided to get ahead on some reading for anthropology and although the chapter was long, it was an enjoyable chapter to read and I really think this is going to be a very thought-provoking and eye-opening class. It examines and compares different cultures and my professor said 'groovy' every other word, so this class really seems promising.

I am also taking an online history class, but have not yet had access to it so I am just going to try and knock the reading that I have for my other classes out of the way so as not to fall behind. I find that if I fall behind at the beginning, there is no catching up, at least for me anyway, in college. 

I am sad to say that since the semester has officially begun, my blog posts definitely will not be as frequent but I am not going to neglect it. Instead of wasting time on Facebook and Pinterest while I am taking a school work break, I will write a blog post. This is definitely something I want to keep up - it is a wonderful vessel for developing my creative writing skills!

Shoutout to N. Myers - one of my froomies and regular blog readers!