Back on my grind, y'all

Ok, just to let everyone know, I'm a bit schleepy (sleepy) so if parts of this doesn't make any sense then I apologize in advance.

Just to lay out where I am now and what I would like to achieve academically: I'm a full-time student at Harold Washington College in Chicago, Illinois. This is my second semester of college ever and I'm still getting acclimated to not only my class schedule but the whole experience of being in college in the first place. I hope to get my AA in Spanish by Fall 2008 and then I plan to attend Kendall College for culinary arts. The Fall 2006 semester for HWC started on Monday, and yes, I did go to all of my classes. lol This semester I'm in school four days a week for a good lil chunk of the day.


My first class on Monday was Spanish 102. The teacher seems pretty cool (she's not hot like my teacher for Spanish 101 was :-D ) and our class size is fairly small. As far as I remember, we're going to be learning past tenses. First of all, I can't believe that I have to learn something like 14 verb tenses for Spanish. Second of all, why in the hell did I schedule myself for the 9 am class? I'm already regretting it a bit cause I have that class tomorrow and I'm side-eyeing (thanks C+D!) the hell out of waking up at 5 am. *le sigh*

The second class on Monday was Social Science 101 with a Race & Ethnicity emphasis. One of the reasons why I took this particular Social Science class was because I really wasn't sure of what Soc Sci consisted of, so I figured that if I went with a class with a certain emphasis to it, I could find my way through it easier. The teacher seems nice but I know that he won't take any shit from us students. I really respect that. I'm going to have to write a few papers (which I expected) and one five page paper due at the end of the semester. I don't think I'll have too much trouble with that paper because I'm writing on a topic that is near to my heart.

Today, I went to my Philosophy of Religion class. I walked in about 10 minutes late (which isn't really late when it's the first week of the semester) and whadda you know? I couldn't find a seat! I had to sit in an office chair with my books propped up on my knees. There must have been about 30 or 40 people in the class and a couple of them weren't even there! I can already tell that this is going to be a very....interesting class to say the least. We all know that religion is a very touchy and somewhat taboo topic of discussion so it should be interesting to see how it all plays out. Hopefully he/we won't shy away from discussions that have the potential to be explosive. I like intellectual conflict. :-D Another interesting thing is that my older cousin is taking the same class that I am. I joked to him that I may find out some stuff that I don't want to know about him through the class. It's weird having a family member in my class, but it feels good at the same time. Maybe the connection of my family and I starts with him (more on that another time, I guess). Oh, and I will be writing papers every two weeks. Oh, joy! :-/

Later, I went to my last class of the day which was Literature 114 : Ideas in Prose. This class actually isn't one that I have to take. It's purely for pleasure because first of all, I love to read. Secondly, it has a Gay and Lesbian Literature emphasis. How cool is that? The teacher shares an office with my former English 101 professor (who, seriously, was like the greatest teacher evah!) and she was the one to tell me about my Lit teacher before the Fall semester even began. She seemed elated when she found out that I was taking his class. Said he needed thinkers like me. *cheeses* Anyway, I think he's cool, but I can tell that he really doesn't take any shit. How do I know? Besides his demeanor, he gave us a 13 (I think) page syllabus today. I also really like and respect the fact that he's willing to go the extra mile to make it to class. He (like a lot of other teachers at HWC) is taking a class at U.I.C. so in order to get to school in time to teach our class, he probably has to damn near break his neck. He let us know that he's going to try his damnest to make it to class and if he doesn't, he'll e-mail us and let us know why.

I guess I'm in awe of that because last semester I had a teacher who always came to class 5 to 10 minutes late without fail. I don't take well to the whole "Do as I say, not as I do" that many people (including teachers) apply so it's hard for me to listen to/respect a teacher who does the same things that they don't want to be done in their class by students. I'm not even gonna continue the rant about that particular teacher because it's in the past....plus, he gave me a "B". lol

I'm determined not to fail any of the courses this semester as well as to pass them with flying colors (and no, I don't consider a "C" to be flying colors lol). Wish me luck, everyone!