I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted anything here. Sorry. Here's one.
My classes are going well this term. Getting up early two days a week is still a drag, but at least I'm mostly enjoying all of my classes. As expected, GEOG 230 (Environment & Society) is pretty easy. So far it hasn't covered any larger concepts that are new to me, but my depth of knowledge of the rest of the world is getting larger. So far we've covered Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa (aka MENA), and are now on South Asia. We will also be covering Southeast Asia, and then Asia. The class is too short (3 hour and 15 minutes each week) to cover much anything else. The instructor is kind of a ditz, but she is knowledgeable enough (and knows when to say she doesn't know something or will have to find out an answer) that it's a relatively interesting class. I did a paper in week 2 on sugar and how it has an effect on the world in terms of things like world trade, knowledge/goods dispersion, slavery, indigenous diaspora and extermination, etc. I'll be doing one more paper on a specific country's immigrant population in Portland. I haven't quite decided the group yet, but I need to get on this one soon. There is no midterm exam for this class. As long as I don't blow off the second paper and the other couple of smaller assignments still to come, I should be able to get an "A" in this class.
My earliest ever class (starts at 8am on Mondays and Wednesdays) is GEOG 380 (Maps & Geographic Information). Its a good thing I'm into maps because this class has a lot of map-related minutiae that would probably bore most people to death. The instructor is pretty smart, but doesn't seem very organized. Ultimately, we students pay the price. We somehow got behind so the schedule needed to be rearranged and compressed. And he forgot that there is no school on the 12th because of Veteran's Day, so that made it even worse. I have to read six chapters for next week. Six! That's ridiculous. Questions on the online weekly quizzes tend to be ambiguous and/or worded in a confusing way. We were warned during the first class that this would be the case, but everyone is still complaining. A lot of people seem to be doing bad on the quizzes. We were told not to worry too much about them and that the instructor grades on a curve. I guess this is good news for me. I've been doing relatively well on the quizzes. The instructions for labs (mine's on Tuesday afternoons) are also sometimes confusing. I also have a thing about grad students basically doing slave labor for professors and this class is no different. Ask me if you really want to know what I think. I am learning a lot though. I'm getting a little bit of experience with Idrisis, a mapping software program, which is kind of fun. There are also no papers and no mid-term exam. The final is going to be each of us working through a single GIS problem. I don't really know what that's going to entail, but I may just end up with an "A" in this class.
My third class is EC 417U, Women in the Economy. I really like this class a lot. More than I thought I would. The stuff I'm learning is eye-opening and enlightening. Being a male, I never really thought much about most of the gender-related issues of economics. The professor rocks! She is smart, funny, gives engaging and interesting lectures, and seems to really enjoy what she's doing. This is one class where I sometimes wish it was longer. My only actual midterm this quarter is in this class. Tomorrow! I've studied a little bit, but most of the strictly economic information hasn't been new to me, so I'm pretty confident. I'll do a little more studying tonight and tomorrow on the bus or between classes. I do have a pretty sizable paper for this class that counts for a large part of our grade. I've done little more than come up with three pages of source material. I have two more weeks to finish this paper. I really hope I don't wait until the last minute...If I do well on that, I think its likely that I'll get an "A" in this class as well. This might be my first straight "A" quarter at PSU. Knock on wood.
One of the biggest changes this term has been not driving my car AT ALL to get to school. That and having to pay for a Trimet pass (goodbye FreeRail Zone!). It takes about 15 or 20 minutes longer (more if I get on the wrong bus and don't notice for a while - oops!) but I'm generally a lot less stressed and have time to read or study before and after school during my commute. Its really not that bad. Except the part about having to get up earlier.
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