September already??

I was just getting used to it being August, and now it's September.

Yesterday was a not very busy day. I didn't have classes or any major things scheduled. I did go to a required meeting about degree audits. The degree audit is a piece of paper (or in our case a webpage) that says how many credits we have earned and how many we need in order to graduate. It is the ticket to graduate from Simpson.

In the evening I went to a RLC leadership meeting. They asked what I wanted to lead in, but I didn't really know, and I told them what I was already involved in. They said I was fine and I could just hop around from group to group. There was free Godfather's pizza. Yum.

Today was a big day for me, as it was the first day of classes.

First was my LAS, which is Philosophy 109. We had a discussion about "What is an argument?" Fascinating. I contributed a few sentences, but I mostly just listened. Our main question for the course will be "What is truth?" The professor said that we are basically an applied logic class.

Second was Psychology 101B. The professor in that class had a different way of learning our name, rank, and serial number (Name, hometown, and major). He went around the classroom with a video camera and had us talk to the camera rather than to him. I thought that was a pretty good idea, since I can't remember people's names either! He talked about psychology as a science. Several very familiar concepts were brought up. This class will be one of my most homework-intensive, I think, because I will have an online quiz for nearly every day of class, with five exams interspersed in that. It's not bad though- I won't have to get a perfect score to get full credit on the quizzes, and I can retake them as many times as I want/need.

Third was Spanish 202. This is the class I was most nervous about. The professor put me at ease almost immediately, though, when she said "I don't expect perfection; I will grade on effort." I am actually excited for this class now. The professor said we would be learning to actually speak Spanish, not worry about vocabulary, grammar, and other things like that. There's a few familiar faces in that class, so that is good.

I ate lunch and then went to my fourth class, English 102. This was where I learned the joys of getting out of class early... My class got out half an hour early, which means I spent less than half the scheduled time in class with the professor. I was surprised, pleased, and a little irritated. What am I getting myself in debt for if I get out of class like that? However, she said that we shouldn't get used to getting out that early, if at all.

I spent the afternoon doing my homework and putting my syllabuses into my Google calendar. That will help me keep on top of it, since I have several assignments for several classes. I have almost all of the homework assigned today finished, except for one little essay for my Spanish class.

This evening, I attended a forum event called "Non-Violent Sexuality" with my floormate friends. The forum was not so much about sex as it was about having respect for oneself and for others. A quote: "To treat things as if they were people is an illusion. To treat people as if they were things is violence. To treat people as if they were people is justice. To treat people as if they were yourself is love."

It was very humbling to look around and see how very broken our world is, and how broken our students' lives are. The speaker asked us to raise our hands if we knew someone in various categories of violation/hurt, from having an std to an unwanted pregnancy to having drug/alcohol issues to being in an abusive relationship. Once he had asked about each category, he asked everyone who had just raised their hands to put their hand up again. Then, he told us to look around... Nearly every person had their hand up. It was very eye-opening and humbling.

The speaker also gave a definition of violence which I think I may adopt. He said that violence is when a voice is silenced. When I thought more about it, the definition made a lot of sense.

After the forum, I went to campus worship, which was an experience. There were five people playing guitar, four singing (one of whom was playing guitar too), one on keyboard, and one on drumset for the praise band. Guitar overpowered the voices on most of the songs, but I could still follow along by lipreading.

I like the chaplains, both of them. They seem to be strong leaders in faith, and I have had pleasant conversations with both of them. The older one gives the message at worship and the younger one prays. It's a good way of working together from my observation.

All in all, today was a day that made me feel like a sponge. I have been taking in so many different ideas and concepts that I am truly excited to go to class. I have textbooks that are interesting, and my psych text even has a sense of humor!

College is so cool. :D