Summer/Night Class

Blog No. 159: Summer/Night Class

You've read correctly...

Only, surprise surprise, I'm not taking Chemistry. I'm waiting for Fall. I've come to my senses and realize that, if I can't get up early enough the past few days, then there's no way in hell I was going to muster up the strength to put myself through an entire two months of back-to-back Chemistry. I need it in doses.

Of course this means this sinks any plans for a performance music class. No Choir. No Chamber. No Band. If they allow me to rehearse during my time and add me in during concerts, like high school, as well as go on the field trips, then sure. But, alas, that would be impossible. DX

However, I'm not too grieved about it. I would be giving up these classes regardless seeing as I wouldn't be taking any music classes at UCSC. XP

Anyways, today was my first day of school.

My mom took me to school, after a trip to Aida's Book Shop, (which didn't have my books, so I had to buy them new from the bookstore...), then In-N-Out Burger. 

After getting out of the ARC Bookstore, I walked to the practice rooms, where everything was quiet. I had paused in the center of the hallways, listening for signs of any life. After a minute of silence, I walked over to the practice rooms, crossing my fingers to see if they were open during the summer. I sneaked into the practice room, where it was even more silent, and started playing some scales on the piano. After about an hour of that, I walked out and headed for Davies Hall. 

Dana, a vocalist from the Latin Jazz Ensemble and one of the crazy birds from my Jazz History class, was also taking the class with us. Apparently, she and I are taking all our history classes together. XP

King would agree with me when I say that Jardine, our Western Civilizations teacher, has some breathing problem. He breathed through his mouth a lot and very audibly. He also talks as if there was a crescendo at the end of each sentence. Not so much an increase of pitch, but an increase in volume, (although his voice did crack if his voice was too loud for a long period of time). Here are some highlights I made note of:

"I might bring back discussion groups if I'm BORED."

"We'll learn the Socratic method... from Socrates himSELF."

"I'm an ENerGY GUY."

"I also had a fear OVER public speaking."

He also shares my addiction to coffee. He speaks from the heart and tries to engage conversation with everyone. I got that he liked to talk... a lot. Pretty much took up the first 2 hours talking about the syllabus, even after saying that we should read it on our own time for the details. Still, he's very passionate about teaching history. For a short, long winded guy, he's pretty interesting.

The class itself should be soewhat a breeze. All we're being graded on are quizzes and the written assignment. There are 7 quizzes, one of which will be dropped, with no final exam or anything cumulative. The written assignment ties along with the extra book we had to get and the questions for the assignment aren't handed out until the near end of the summer session. 

So, as far as classes go, I think I can conquer this one flat. XD