Hey everyone,

So today successfully concludes my very first day of class! Let me break it down for you..

Firstly, walking from the freshman towers is killer at 8:00am. It really is. Not only is it very humid, but, at least in my schedule, the distance you have to walk is pretty far. At a brisk pace, getting from the towers to the north side of campus is a good 25 minutes. Also- wearing a dress is a horrible, horrible idea. In hindsight, it was something cute to do for my first day, but ideally wearing a cotton dress in humidity is not a good idea. Don't do it. 

My first class was originally supposed to be my largest, however I quickly realized that would not be the case. Out of 7 people I am one of of the youngest. There's actually one other freshmen, but other than that there's only a couple sophomores and juniors and the rest are Ph.D students. It makes me wonder why so few students are continuing with Chinese, and it also makes me wonder why so many students are guys and not girls. But regardless we opened class with introductions of ourselves in Chinese and went on to review the rest of the year. 

After running home and changing into shorts and a tee, something much more practical, and went on to my next class: Intro to World Religion. Now while I thought this class was going to be interesting it just turned out to be a huge rant and a "Do you think God is real? I can prove to you why he isn't as real as you think." Which is insane. And what makes it worse is the fact that I was under the impression that this class would be small. Instead, the class is a huge lecture hall with probably 40 people. Personally, that's way too many people for me and the whole reason I registered for an ACE cluster. It really ticked me off and I wish I could drop the class just based on the sheer amount of people enrolled in it. 

Next class was Anthropology, and more specifically World Cultures. Another class in my ACE cluster, but another one with too many people to count, immediately I wanted to leave. The topic seems interesting, but not only does the teacher not know how to use a computer but also hates electronics. I get that some people are old fashioned, but this is a whole new level of loathing. At one point, when she was explaining the book we would need to buy, a girl asked her if, because an E-book was cheaper, we could opt for buying the online version instead. Her response was, "Of course!" But when asked, "Awesome, so when I do that can I bring my tablet to class?" She did a complete 180 and went "Absolutely not. No electronics." So now the girl is really confused, as am I. She rebuttals with, "So should I get the E-book?" And I kid you not she goes, "Certainly!" And its so frustrating because some of us, like myself, are going to get the book the cheapest way we can, but you're really going to stop me from reading your textbook because you don't like technology and "studies have shown...". Quite honestly that might be the worst line you'll ever hear in school. "Studies have shown..." I mean I get where she's coming from but as a teacher you should know that not every student learns the same, so if I student learns better by typing their notes than why not let them? If technology is so awful and detrimental than why are STEM schools so successful?

Anyways, my next and final class was English 100. Naturally, I scored a 3 on the AP exam, meaning I would get absolutely no credit and that I will have to retake the class. However, as luck would have it, my English class seems like it's going to be the most fun. With only 20 kids, the ideal amount, I really think this class is going to be entertaining. Also, it's great to be able to sit there and say, "I thought all of my classes were going to be small..." And hear a chorus of "Yeah same!" It's comforting.


After all of that was over it was about 3 in the afternoon. I know early classes are often dragged, but being able to walk home when others are leaving, or just starting, feels so refreshing. Plus, it's so nice to just be able to go home at a seemingly normal time. 





I hope you all have a great day and I will talk to you soon!

Until next time,
Aislinn