One week down!
Hello again!
This was my first week of the second semester, and I think I will have a great year! I have a very full schedule, but I think it will be just fine. I think for now I will just give a quick rundown of what my classes seem like this time around! There is still one teacher I have not met yet, the teacher of the Chem lab, but that will come in a couple weeks. Plus, I have other news about that that I will address when I get there!
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
8:00- I start out the day bright and early with Calc 2. My teacher is a late-middle-age-ish lady, Dr. Dahl. She seems bright and cheery, but gets really, really, annoyed with simple errors. Make a mistake in a complicated integral? No problem. Understandable. Fail to do basic algebra or arithmetic? Prepare for your demise. She also seems to like to have a bit of an intimidation factor associated with her, which seems odd just looking at her, because she likes to slam books on the table. Heavy books. From rather far distances. It is very loud, but it definitely does get my attention, I suppose! (especially since I am right in front anyway…). She also is bordering on deaf, but I am sure I will get used to it. I think this class will be fine, especially since I know Thomas (who is a math major) really liked both classes he took with her. According to her, the first test of calc 2 is the hardest test of any of the calc classes on campus, so that will be interesting to see, but I am really not worried in the slightest. I still am quite a while away from where I left off at MacLaren.
9:00- Computer Science 1. I am taking the CSC major version of this class instead of the ME version, because they are both still accepted for graduating as an ME, but I must take this one if I end up wanting a minor in CompSci. It is taught by Dr. Val Manes, who used to be in the Air Force. He seems like a very kind man. Looks around 45 or so, and just seems like an over-all great teacher. Nothing especially notable about him, but I know he was one of Sam’s favorite teachers, so I look forward to the rest of the semester.
10:00- Statics. I am taking this class (which is a branch of physics) with the same professor who taught my Intro class last year, Dr. Kjerengtroen. Same old, same old with him. Really easy going, but not especially accurate with showing us examples. We already have had a typo in a worksheet. I was a little worried, because he came into the first day being really serious and telling us how many people were retaking this class this semester and so on, so forth, but now a couple days later he is back to his normal cheery self. Really, though, there is another section of the class that is 27 people, and 21 of those are retaking it…that is not good. I am not worried much for myself, but that really was a staggering statistic. Apparently Dynamics and Thermodynamics have a similar rate of failure, and I will be taking those the next two semesters, respectively.
11:00- Physics 1. Mr. Dowding is SO COOL!! I have actually seen him around campus before, but I always assumed that he was a student. I would be very surprised if he was over 30, and I wouldn’t be shocked if someone told me he was only 25. He is very casual in his mannerisms, but he knows everything we have done so far backward and forward, and he also seems pretty enthusiastic about physics. Not only the equations and their application, but also the derivations of those equations and the history of the people that found them first and the state of physics before they were found…yeah. So cool. I get the feeling that other people don’t quite appreciate his style of teaching quite as much as I do, but it is very reminiscent to me of some of the classes I took at MacLaren, which is strictly a good thing.
12:00- Lunch. Thank goodness. Also, Surbeck dining has improved a bit since last semester, it seems. There is a much nicer salad station now, and I have seen a few meals already that definitely were not part of the menu last year. I don’t know if it is just a special for the beginning of the second semester or what, but I am thankful.
1:00- My last class of the day is Chemistry, and it is such an awesome end to my day. The only reason I describe Mr. Dowding’s appreciation for physics as “pretty enthusiastic” is because I needed somewhere to go with Dr. Heglund’s love of chemistry and teaching. I feel like is would be very well suited to run a children’s TV show where he just mixes chemicals and shows people what it does. He has the most amazing facial expressions, he is hilariously witty, and he is so energetic. I don’t know how he does it. Maybe he will slow down a little bit as we get further into the semester, but I honestly doubt it. He also wasn’t awkward at all around a new group of people like some teachers are; he didn’t make dumb “jokes” about how everyone seemed tired, or we weren’t being enthusiastic enough, or everyone is “still half-way into vacation mode” or “is it cold in here or is it just me” or any of those kind of over-used-but-still-way-too-common phrases that make me go a bit crazy. When we weren’t really answering his questions on the first day, he just plowed through un-phased and with a massive smile on his face, and by the end of the day we all felt like we were his family or something. Awesome, awesome teacher. And it doesn’t feel like he is catering to children, like my BritLit class did last semester. We are really covering a lot of rather challenging material, but he just makes is much more enjoyable for everyone involved.
2:00- I am done! Haha! At 2! So much more time for homework!
Tuesday: The killer.
I haven’t had a “full Tuesday” yet, nor will I until the week after next, but it will be brutal. The reward for having such a crazy Tuesday, though, is that I actually have Thursday completely free this semester. The reason it is as crazy as it is, though, is because I managed to switch to a different Chem Lab class. You may remember at the end of last semester I was stressing out a little bit about having Lab with Marshall, the teacher who has rather crazy expectations of everyone. Well, I was offered the opportunity to switch classes, so I did! I was kind of looking forward to making my own opinion of Marshall, but taking the route of having Thursday free while at the same time switching to a unanimously loved teacher sounded like an awesome trade to me, so I did it. So, my schedule on Tuesday includes a whopping 8.5 hours of class. Fun fact, only 3 of those 8.5 are “credit hours.” Dang it, labs.
8:00- Calc 2. It is a 4 credit class, so I meet MTWF.
12:00-1:50- Computer Science lab- I haven’t had this yet. I know it is supposedly pretty hard, but since I have experience in MatLab I am not really worried.
2:00-4:50- Chem Lab- Haven’t had this one yet either, nor have I met the teacher.
5:00- Race to have the fastest dinner ever before
5:30-8:00- Orchestra. Not really a class like the others, but I am still counting it so I can say I have 8.5 hours of class on Tuesday. I don’t have all of our music yet, but I know we have a couple awesome pieces. One is a rather interesting arrangement that I think is a string quartet with a string orchestra accompaniment. Kinda weird, but I love having a few more parts out there for additional harmonies. The other piece that I am absolutely floored for is Gabriel’s Oboe. We are playing the arrangement made popular by Yo-Yo Ma (I think) for the cello solo. So pretty. And our principle cellist is astounding, as well.
And that is my week! I am also still going to be shadowing-hopefully more actively- the composite guitar senior design team, and I just finalized my joining of the human-powered vehicle team today. I am still dancing on Wednesdays, though later this time since Brooke has something going on until 9, and I will have my first meeting of our literacy club that is yet without a name next Thursday, starting The Idiot, by Dostoevsky! This will be a great semester, and I look forward to staying in touch with all of you!
-Christopher