Thursday, February 03, 2005

Spring Semester!!

The first week of class, and it’s almost over!  I wasn’t expecting this week to go so well.  Usually during the first week in a semester, I go through what some friends have fondly named “syllabus shock,” meaning I’m holding four or five syllabuses (syllabi??) and thinking about papers and quizzes, and it seems like everything in the world is due TOMORROW and no way on this planet will it ever happen…  Then by the second week, I’m back to normal, and everything works out.  I do this every semester, and so by now I thought “Here it comes—I’ll just plan on this week to be crazy.”

But it’s not!  Granted, two of my classes haven’t really “kicked in” yet.  My organ lessons begin next week, and I’m thrilled.  I just bought my book, and it’s talking about how to play with your FEET!  This is awesome.  After messing with piano for fifteen years, this’ll be so fun.  Plus, organs just make so much more noise!  I can’t wait to get into that practice room!  So anyway, organ hasn’t started yet, and that will be a lesson, plus five to six hours of practicing, and probably a studio class (which is where we organists get together and play for each other) each week.

The other “class” that hasn’t yet begun is actually my internship.  It should start pretty soon.  When it does, I’ll be copyediting full-length manuscripts for a publishing company.  This is still unbelievable to me.  Some of my friends think I’m crazy, but I feel like the luckiest person alive.  I just love editing—what can I say?

As for the classes that have begun: American Lit will be a blast.  It’s not my favorite period of literature, but the prof is one of my favorites, and if anyone can win me over to Thoreau and Melville, he can.  Sociology 151 is also going to be fun.  The prof is so excited about sociology!  It’s like we’ve made his spring, just by signing up for his class, and he can’t wait to dive into the material.  He has a great sense of humor as well.  It should be a riot. 

Right after sociology, I have Poetry Writing (English 355).  Wow.  This is hard core, guys.  I’m not a poet, but this counts toward my writing minor, and I know it will make me a better, more careful writer.  We’ll be critiquing each others’ poetry every week—yikes!  Makes me feel a little, oh, vulnerable, but everyone is in the same boat.  And it’s one of those things that I know will be good for me, even really good for me.  One of those classes I’ll remember for years.  The prof is supposed to be excellent, and so far, he’s impressed me.  My first poem is due tomorrow, so… we’ll see!

Other than that, it’s just great to have all my friends back from Interim (most were traveling) and to have the campus full again.  We had a “Regathering” service yesterday, kind of to bring everyone together, to get refocused and reacquainted.

One more thing: my scarf is done.  Like my potholder, it’s larger than life.  Why is that?  But the tassels are great, and hey, I might wear it today. –jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 02/03 at 11:05 AM
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