School is a Thing?!?
By Tamika Whitenack
Today was my first day of classes, and it is sort of late now (my computer just reminded me that I am waking up in 8 hours, potentially), but IT WAS MY FIRST DAY OF CLASSES, so I am going to do a quick blog about it.
I woke up this morning and felt decently well rested because we actually tried to go to sleep at an acceptably early time last night. I did core this morning! I have been seriously slacking in the core department but now that classes and routines are starting again, I've decided to commit to my morning abs/core (and daily plank per Dad's suggestion). After getting ready, I went to the Deece with my roommate for breakfast. Today I had a large plate of fruit (grapes have made an appearance, yay!) and a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and sunflower butter. We sat with a few other girls from our floor that we get along with well and mainly chatted about how nervous/excited we were to start classes today.
I had to eat a little bit quickly, as I actually had a flute lesson audition at 9:00, and the music hall is at the opposite end of campus from the dorms and dining hall. This went well, the teacher is very welcoming and seems like she'll be beneficial for my flute-playing development. I'm looking forward to starting lessons with her!
Unfortunately, my audition went a little bit over the time I was expecting, so I really had to rush to Spanish, and was a tiny bit late. The extent of today was Hola, me llamo Tamika, y tu? Te llamas? Como estas? I was actually on the waitlist for Spanish, but the professor signed my add-form so I am now officially in the class. Yay! Español es divertido!
After the Spanish class was another hurried walk to my freshman-writing-seminar, titled "The Instruction of Citizenship". The class is full, so 17 students, which feels a little big. But should still be really good! This might have been my favorite class today, and I'm quite excited for it this semester. Today we just went over the course syllabus, and then wrote and shared a short piece about our names after reading the poem "My Name" by Sandra Cisneros. It was fascinating to hear what others wrote, both in the content they chose to share and in the way they chose to write about it. I like hearing people's stories and their artistic voice.
After the writing seminar, I briefly went to a Biology class that I had signed up for in case I didn't get into the Spanish class. By briefly, I mean that I went in to the class, informed the professor that I was actually going to drop this class, and she said great, thanks for letting me know, and asked for my name so she could take me off the class list and potentially add a new person. I then used this free block of time to go pick up student employment forms, look into buying textbooks, and submit my add-drop form in order to finalize my schedule. Which, to reveal it, is: Elementary Spanish, the writing seminar, Intro to Cognitive Science, Intro to Psychology, and a half-credit 6-week-seminar from the Education department titled "Building Inclusive Communities". Also, flute lessons for a half-credit.
My last class of the day was Intro to Cog Sci, and it was interesting (what a great and helpfully descriptive word. sorry. it's late. i'll be better next time). Cognitive Science encompasses a lot of different fields, so the class will touch on a bunch of different things and be based off of readings, not a text book. Fun fact, Vassar was the first school to have a Cog Sci department/major (I think? that might be a false fact...I will confirm this or not later).
I was actually less exhausted than I was expecting to be after classes, probably because most of them were mainly just introduction to the class and syllabus and not too much engaged thinking yet. I spent the afternoon organizing school stuff, taking care of email, learning how to navigate the site used for posting readings and assignments and such, and getting a start on my homework. I also went on a run with Asher (friend of Emma's, for those unaware) in the farm, and may have slightly had us go one mile too many considering he is a sprinter. He was good-natured about it though, and I am always grateful to have a running buddy.
The evening consisted of more homework/organizing, dinner at the Deece (a surprisingly good grain and butternut squash risotto from the kosher station, my daily plate of vegetables, and a vegan almondmilk mocha almond ice cream bar that I thought was actually really good), and then off to Skinner again for the Wind Ensemble information meeting and a quick practice session.
The rest of the evening was spent on homework/reading, and finally, this blog! Apologies for the extreme rambling quality of this entry. I am satisfied with this first day of classes and will try to keep writing even as things get busier! You will likely be able to tell how busy I am by the gradual deterioration of my grammar and ability to form cohesive sentences.
P.S. I have a lot of pictures that I have attempted to take over the past few days, and I may post a blog solely devoted to them soon. Just not now, because I don't want to deal with adding pictures at the moment.
Today was my first day of classes, and it is sort of late now (my computer just reminded me that I am waking up in 8 hours, potentially), but IT WAS MY FIRST DAY OF CLASSES, so I am going to do a quick blog about it.
I woke up this morning and felt decently well rested because we actually tried to go to sleep at an acceptably early time last night. I did core this morning! I have been seriously slacking in the core department but now that classes and routines are starting again, I've decided to commit to my morning abs/core (and daily plank per Dad's suggestion). After getting ready, I went to the Deece with my roommate for breakfast. Today I had a large plate of fruit (grapes have made an appearance, yay!) and a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese and sunflower butter. We sat with a few other girls from our floor that we get along with well and mainly chatted about how nervous/excited we were to start classes today.
I had to eat a little bit quickly, as I actually had a flute lesson audition at 9:00, and the music hall is at the opposite end of campus from the dorms and dining hall. This went well, the teacher is very welcoming and seems like she'll be beneficial for my flute-playing development. I'm looking forward to starting lessons with her!
Unfortunately, my audition went a little bit over the time I was expecting, so I really had to rush to Spanish, and was a tiny bit late. The extent of today was Hola, me llamo Tamika, y tu? Te llamas? Como estas? I was actually on the waitlist for Spanish, but the professor signed my add-form so I am now officially in the class. Yay! Español es divertido!
After the Spanish class was another hurried walk to my freshman-writing-seminar, titled "The Instruction of Citizenship". The class is full, so 17 students, which feels a little big. But should still be really good! This might have been my favorite class today, and I'm quite excited for it this semester. Today we just went over the course syllabus, and then wrote and shared a short piece about our names after reading the poem "My Name" by Sandra Cisneros. It was fascinating to hear what others wrote, both in the content they chose to share and in the way they chose to write about it. I like hearing people's stories and their artistic voice.
After the writing seminar, I briefly went to a Biology class that I had signed up for in case I didn't get into the Spanish class. By briefly, I mean that I went in to the class, informed the professor that I was actually going to drop this class, and she said great, thanks for letting me know, and asked for my name so she could take me off the class list and potentially add a new person. I then used this free block of time to go pick up student employment forms, look into buying textbooks, and submit my add-drop form in order to finalize my schedule. Which, to reveal it, is: Elementary Spanish, the writing seminar, Intro to Cognitive Science, Intro to Psychology, and a half-credit 6-week-seminar from the Education department titled "Building Inclusive Communities". Also, flute lessons for a half-credit.
My last class of the day was Intro to Cog Sci, and it was interesting (what a great and helpfully descriptive word. sorry. it's late. i'll be better next time). Cognitive Science encompasses a lot of different fields, so the class will touch on a bunch of different things and be based off of readings, not a text book. Fun fact, Vassar was the first school to have a Cog Sci department/major (I think? that might be a false fact...I will confirm this or not later).
I was actually less exhausted than I was expecting to be after classes, probably because most of them were mainly just introduction to the class and syllabus and not too much engaged thinking yet. I spent the afternoon organizing school stuff, taking care of email, learning how to navigate the site used for posting readings and assignments and such, and getting a start on my homework. I also went on a run with Asher (friend of Emma's, for those unaware) in the farm, and may have slightly had us go one mile too many considering he is a sprinter. He was good-natured about it though, and I am always grateful to have a running buddy.
The evening consisted of more homework/organizing, dinner at the Deece (a surprisingly good grain and butternut squash risotto from the kosher station, my daily plate of vegetables, and a vegan almondmilk mocha almond ice cream bar that I thought was actually really good), and then off to Skinner again for the Wind Ensemble information meeting and a quick practice session.
The rest of the evening was spent on homework/reading, and finally, this blog! Apologies for the extreme rambling quality of this entry. I am satisfied with this first day of classes and will try to keep writing even as things get busier! You will likely be able to tell how busy I am by the gradual deterioration of my grammar and ability to form cohesive sentences.
P.S. I have a lot of pictures that I have attempted to take over the past few days, and I may post a blog solely devoted to them soon. Just not now, because I don't want to deal with adding pictures at the moment.
ahh sounds so wonderful!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're off to a good start! I look forward to seeing pictures and stuff.
ReplyDelete