Spring Quarter

No snow yet! It's apparently somewhat of a tradition around Bellingham for it to snow somewhere around spring break. So far this year it hasn't come to pass, and sadly I don't believe it's going to. Weather here is mostly wet and windy with the occasional sunbreak.

Spring quarter was off to a nice start this week. I absolutely love the way my schedule is this quarter! I was worried for a while because the only chemistry class that would fit with the schedule I wanted was full and the professor is one of the best so his classes get picked up fast. All through spring break and I was worried I would have to shift classes around, but Saturday afternoon when I checked there was a single spot open in his class and I got it! So now I have class Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30-2 with a break between 11:20 and 12! I have no class on Tuesday and chem lab Thursday morning. I wasn't sure how I would feel about having classes one after the other, I mean, I know I did it in high school but come on I wake up now at the same time school used to start, things have changed. I love it though! It allows me to stay in school mode through all of my classes. I don't get distracted and flustered like I did before when I would have a two hour break between class when I would tool around and watch TV on the internet.

This quarter I'm taking four classes, adding up to 17 credits. Here's the low down:

Political Science 101: Government and Politics of the Modern World
I'm not quite sure about this class yet. I'm not opposed to it right off the bat, but I'm not exactly sure what the class will entail. My idea was something along the lines of: "This is so-and-so's government and this is how it looks, this is how it differs from ours, and this is an article written from the perspective of so-and-so and how they view Democracy" So far though we've watched an episode of the Simpsons to find political themes to show how politics can be hidden in just about anything we watch, read, or listen to.

English 101: Writing and Critical Inquiry
This is not a class I'm looking forward to. I'm mostly just thankful that C-, the grad student that teaches it, seems nice. Because English 101 is a required freshman level class, most of the students there don't want to be there and the grad students that teach it don't want to be there either creating a super wonderful class (please note that sarcasm was intended). English 101 is also known for the fact that it's essentially impossible to get an A. Last quarter C- gave one A and three A-'s, the English department is really good at reminding the Western populace that technically a C is average, even though when you get one you feel like you failed. Writing composition is not my strongest subject, hopefully I can learn something without failing in the process.

LUNCH!

Chemistry 123: General Chemistry III
I'm really bummed that the teacher I had the last two quarters for chemistry isn't teaching the third and final installment of the gen chem series. I really liked the teaching style he had, and he's great to go to during office hours. Over the quarter he learns nearly everyone's names; something incredibly hard to do in a class of 100+ students. Ah well, the professor that I signed up for is thought to be basically the best chemistry teacher here. Professor Peyron's teaching style is something I'll have to get used to, but is not too incredibly difficult a thing to do.

Philosophy 107: Logical Thinking
The room that this class is in is more geared toward having someone give a presentation than teach a class. The chairs are super comfy and the lean back a little so you can lay back and see the front of the room super easy because the floor is slanted. Luckily I'm not a person prone to napping or I could foresee a serious problem...Like all the classes we haven't started doing too much yet, but what we have done do far is interesting. Right now we're learning the basics of logic, arguments (A=B, B=C, so A=C) and the different ways people can get mixed up. For instance, an argument or premise (the statements that make up the argument) can be valid even though it is false; an example:
-All Canadians are born in Washington
-I'm Canadian
-So, I was born in Washington
The argument is true: I was indeed born in Washington, It's valid: if everything was true it would be correct, The premises are false though. So this argument is valid, but it's not sound. I just thought that was interesting, it can be valid without being right.

In other news:
Rugby- A bunch of the team went down to Utah for the challenge match against Santa Clara, if we won we stay in Utah for regionals... and we won! Now they have to win at least one of the two games at regionals to qualify for nationals.

Judo- I earned my green belt!

Grades- I got all B's last quarter. My college GPA is currently 3.05, pretty average.