Whoa. It's been a long time since I've done any blogging. I feel really awful, sorry for completely checking out! I've been navigating my way through the first few weeks of college, and I can honestly say that things have been ridiculously hectic. So many other things have taken priority. Examples?
Well, I had a math midterm the third week of college, papers due around the same time, and readings the length of novels assigned in my classes.
That's the quarter system for ya, folks.
Anyways, after a few hours in Powell (one of our main libraries on campus) finishing an outline for tomorrow, I figured I could use an extended break and fill y'all in on what's been happening in my life lately.
CLASSES & ACADEMICS
Up first for this post: the most fun topic, duh!
So, I started this 1st quarter taking:
Math 31A (Differential and Integral Calculus),
An Introduction to Philosophy of the Mind (Phil 7),
and a General Education Cluster called Interracial Dynamics in American Society and Culture.
I'll be honest with you, I've got nothing to hide. Math turned out to be a huge wake-up call for me. I didn't take calculus during my senior year of high school, since I knew that I was not going to be even going close to math or engineering, career-wise. Instead, I decided to load up on almost every other AP class my school offered (throughout high school, I took Chinese, Biology, US History, Spanish, English Lit, Microeconomics, Psychology, Government & Politics, and Statistics) that I thought would be more useful to me in the future.
It was really, really freaking hard to jump into a fast-paced, quarter-system-style, calculus class where everyone except for me had already gotten an introduction to calculus in high school. Yep, Pre-calc just wasn't gonna cut it when we covered limits and derivatives in about a week or two. The professor was really nice and fair, but it was really hard to understand him in lecture because he would go off on a lot of math-related tangents.
Professor: "Isn't it so cool how the limit laws can be connected to physics as well through these proofs??"
Students: *Crickets*
The reason why I'd decided to try 31A was because it was one of the first math pre-requisite courses I needed for Econ if I wanted to double major in Psych and Econ. However, through this very preliminary run through calculus, I kind of realized how much math was going to be involved in Econ. So I took a step back and seriously reevaluated what my plan was. I didn't think I could be happy (or even successful) with Economics.
It took me a ridiculously terrible midterm in math to realize all this, but I finally decided to drop the class and move away from Econ. My parents were obviously freaked out that I dropped a class my first quarter of college...and they had every right to be.
"Dropping out?? That's like what you do when you realize you're failing every class! Are you even going to be able to graduate, Melissa???"
I was pretty scared too. This was NOT what I'd expected for my first quarter of college. College kind of slapped me in the face, and I learned how hard I'd have to work to do well at a school like UCLA. To be blunt, this sh** isn't gonna be easy.
However, my mom and I talked it over with an academic counselor and I feel like I definitely made the right choice. I know which classes I'm choosing next quarter, and I'll be completely on track with what I want to do even with my dropped class. Also, I don't want my GPA to get destroyed this first year...and there's no point in struggling through a class that won't even help me if I don't use it towards my major.
Okay! On to the next class: Philosophy.
I've never taken a philosophy class, and I have to say: it's a lot more challenging than I thought. I mean, I always knew there were a lot of existential questions that philosophers tackled, but just getting your head wrapped around these ideas and theories that we've been covering is difficult. We're currently talking about the different theories on the relationship between the mind and body (interactionist dualism, physicalism, and naturalist dualism). I really feel like I've learned a lot in this class, which of course is great.
The professor is a really fascinating character to me, and I definitely am not the only one who feels this way. He's really young (late twenties, early thirties), hails from Vermont, and dresses like a skater dude. Both of his ears are pierced, and his regular outfit to class is a pair of skinny jeans, a t-shirt, and high-top sneakers. I guess it's not as surprising that he teaches philosophy, but I'm still intrigued and ridiculously impressed.
My GE Cluster is also a class that I find very interesting. This whole interracial dynamics is something that I've always wanted to learn about, and by taking this class year round, I'm getting more GE units, as well as knocking out the Writing II requirement for graduation. The topics we talk about in class are things that I can actually discuss afterwards on my own time with friends and classmates. To incorporate some SoCal vocab I should probably start using, race is "hella" important.
The only downsides to this class are the 2-hour long discussion sections and the amount of reading we have to do each week. That being said, I'm slowly learning to endure through discussion by talking and participating more, as well as making friends in my section. It's not as awful now.
Also, I don't really mind doing all the readings. It kind of reminds me of the Harvard glory days when I had to do sit in Annenberg, doing piles after piles of readings for Psych and International Law. God, do I miss Annenberg. Powell is beautiful, it really is, but it doesn't even come close to the majestic qualities and grandeur of Annenberg. *Sigh wistfully*
There are 4 professors that teach the class: Stevenson, Ortiz, Matsumoto, and Decker. I've actually ranked them here in terms of my personal preference, except Ortiz and Matsumoto are kind of tied (Matsumoto hasn't actually lectured yet, so I can't really judge how much I like her yet. She seems really nice, though). Decker is...boring and monotonous, to put it nicely. I just don't like the way he does his lectures. It's not exciting or interesting. I love Stevenson, though; she seems like a great person to be friends with. I really want to get to know her better.
We have a huge lecture twice a week, on the Hill, which is really nice because it's way closer to my dorm than most classes. I have my first midterm in the class coming up later in the week, so I'm probably going to start blogging again after I finish that exam. Priorities, people!
Okay, well that's basically it for the low-down on classes and such. I'll cover the many other facets of college life in the next post! Stay tuned, and as always, thanks for checking in! Stay awesome, my friends.
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