2nd semester, 3rd year

The last semester of my 3rd year is coming to a close. I'm taking a light load of four classes- American Environmental History; Victorian Fiction; Race, Class and Gender in the Americas; and a tutorial for my thesis next year. By the end of next semester I should have all of the requirements for my AOCs completed and, with any luck, my thesis will be well on its way. 

I don't have any big issues with any of my classes. I like my Latin American class better than I had expected and my Lit course less than I had thought. All in all it isn't a bad semester. 

The biggest drama at the moment here at NCF is the new pre-registration system that has started up. The professors don't understand it, the students don't understand it, and none of us like it. It seems to be another sign of NCF getting bigger and most of us are pretty worried about the outcome. But I did go through the process, with some problems, and I should be taking Science of Science Fiction, a Latin American history course, International Economics, Micro Econ, and a tutorial- if my advisor signs off on it. 

Our new roomie, Nick, has worked out nicely. Unfortunately, room draw is coming up this month and we have to figure out where we are living next year and who our other three roommates will be. 

Midterms

Midterm week is finally over (for me anyway) and now I can begin Fall break. I had midterms in three of six classes, so it could have been worse.

My first midterm was in American Wars and Peacemaking, my least favorite class, and I have to admit that I really hoped to fail the midterm so I would have an excuse to drop the class. Unfortunately, I didn't not try hard enough and I'm pretty sure I passed it. The first time I have ever been able to say that with disappointment....

My second midterm was in Contemporary French History. My adviser teaches that class and while I am sure I passed it I fear it was not an impressive exam. While I care very little for my American History class and thus do not mind doing poorly in it I feel the need to earn the approval of my adviser (despite not liking French History) especially now that he is going to invest time in me by sponsoring my thesis and offering to provide a thesis tutorial and even a pre-thesis tutorial. Hopefully I will be able to make up for it with my term paper at the end of the semester.

My third and last exam was Carolingian History. It was probably the hardest but hopefully I did okay. The professor for Carolingian is a young Oxford grad who gets very excited by Medieval history and sounds insanely British (despite being Irish? Maybe a product of going to Oxford) which makes what could be a dull course much more interesting. Overall it is the most enjoyable of my six classes, which actually isn't saying much because some of them are dreadful.

The best part is that I'm done and get a week off!

New College

Classes here at New College started about two weeks ago. Between taking a few too many classes and living in rather tight living quarters it has been exhausting. I am taking Advanced German, Contemporary French History, Carolingian Empire, Politics of the EU, Transitions from War to Peace, and American Wars and Peacemaking as well as fencing and Pilates.

Some classes are better than others. American Wars and Peacemaking is a seminar taught by a retired professor who spends the three hours rambling. It is pretty painful. The class is also right after my Politics of the EU course leaving no time for lunch and it ends 15 minutes before fencing, which leaves little time for an early dinner.

With my course load my adviser (Dr. Harvey) is recommending a 4 out of 6 contract, which does take some of the stress off; there is somewhat of a rush to finish the requirements of my double major so that in the next few months I will be able to solidify my baccalaureate thesis prospectus. Right now my idea is to write it on the rise of Germanic Neopaganism. Dr. Harvey specializes in France and Germany and has written books on French occultism so I hope that he will be able to help me out. Unfortunately he hasn't offered his course on Magic, Mysticism and Modernity in the past few years.

As it turns out I have no classes on Fridays which means I have a three day weekend every week. Sometimes it is awfully nice to be able to get off of campus for a few days.

Roommates

These are my wonderful, if quirky, roommates. From right to left we have Hannah, me, Dane, and Sarah. Now Hannah and Sarah have shorter hair and Dane and I have been growing ours' out.

We are all international studies/political science majors. I'm focused on Germany/Europe with a double in history, Dane on China/Asia with a slash in political science and Sarah on Latin America with a slash in literature. Hannah is a political science major with a slash in German language and has taken at least one language from all three areas. Not shown in the picture are our friends Mary and Mitchell, who are majoring in anthropology and undecided, respectively.

After the immediate disappointment of not being roomed with militant lesbian, vegetarian, domestic terrorists, as I had been led to believe everyone at New College would be, I found that I couldn't have been more pleased with my rooming situation. Sarah, Dane (whose really name is Sarah) and I were put together first year because the rooming committee thought it was fun- Sarah, Sarah, and Shanna. We added Hannah last year, and no, it wasn't just because it is fun to say...

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!

I have discovered that Europe is inefficient. Normally I would feel bad about making such a blanket statement but I am feeling particularly unforgiving considering the hell that Aalborg University has been putting me through.

After a few months of not hearing from the university I e-mailed them to figure out what was wrong. Eventually they got back to me. It turns out the online application I filled out was not actually meant to be submitted online, it needs to be mail and faxed to Denmark. So I fill it out again and mail and fax it. Still no word from Aalborg. Apparently a page in the middle was never printed. I re-mail and fax the application. Still no information from the university. I e-mail them. My official transcripts aren't detailed enough, they need more information about my class. The information is sent.

Less than two weeks from the time I should be leaving for Denmark I send another e-mail wondering why I still haven't been given any information from Aalborg about housing, classes, arrival dates, visa documentation and so on. It turns out that the transcript information that was sent was what they were looking for it just wasn't sent to the right person. They didn't bother to get it to him or to tell me that it need to be e-mailed to him. And now, 10 days until I should be in Denmark, I do not know where I will be going to school.