Tuesday, January 15, 2008

My First Interim

I was a little bit disappointed about having to return from Christmas Break. Christmas Break was so much fun as I got to see a lot of friends from home that I had not seen since we all parted our separate ways for college. We spent a lot of time catching up on how our social, athletic, and academic experiences had gone so far. Along with seeing all my friends, I got to spend a lot of time with my family as well as my extended family which I had not seen since coming to Calvin. I was disappointed that Christmas Break was so short and that it flew by so quick, however I was ready to see all my college friends and to begin my first interim. I did not know what to expect with interim classes because I heard some people talking about great experiences and also not so great experiences with interim. I was a little bit nervous, but excited for my first day of class. 

Most students take DCM their first year and I often heard mixed reviews about it. Some students felt as though interim was a breeze because they only had to read a couple books and write journal responses to their readings. Other students talked about how interim was pretty hard with all the projects and papers they had to write on top of doing readings. I did not know what to expect and I ended up taking the Palestine-Israel Conflict. I took this class because I know it is a hot topic today in the Middle East and I was interested in learning more. So far the class has been pretty interesting. I have watched a couple movies that have really shaped my views on the topic. I have also heard stories from professors and guest speakers about their experiences in the Middle East. As well as watching movies and listening to speakers, the course has been engaging with the books and discussions in class.

The experiences outside the classroom are especially great during interim because I feel like I have so much more free time. I am a member of the men𠏋 soccer team and since I have been back from winter break, we have started our Winter League. Last night we had our second game and we won pushing our record to 2-0 in the league. It was so much fun to get back out playing with the team. Needless to say we are still a little rusty from the holiday break, but we will quickly get back into the swing of things. Besides just playing soccer, a lot of guys on the team lift in the weight room to get back in shape. A lot of my free time during interim has been spent training for soccer, but I have also spent a lot of time with my friends. I have spent time playing catch phrase, which gets pretty intense, watching movies with friends, and even video games, Call of Duty 4-is the hot one right now. So far my interim experience has been great and has lived up to my expectations. I wish interim was longer because I still have so many things I want to do before spring semester starts. However, I will enjoy what is left of it.

Posted by Jeff Grater on 01/15 at 04:41 PM
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