“What are you taking this semester?”
This question is up there with “How was your break?” in terms of how many times I’ve answered it in the past couple weeks. But I can never remember my fourth class. It doesn’t matter what order I list my courses in; the fourth one only comes after a bit of “uh… um… oh yeah.”
So, inquiring mind, here are the classes I’m taking this semester:
Anthropology In and Of the City
There were few courses I was remotely interested in that I could fit in my schedule after picking the other three, and I was lucky to get into this one. It’s my first time taking anthropology, and it stuck out to me since it’s cross listed with the peace and justice studies department. There’s a lot to unpack when it comes to cities. My favorite reading so far is the one I just did this afternoon, an autoethnography of a woman who grew up in a white working class family on Chicago’s South Side while the steel mills shut down. I related to the culture shock she described feeling when she went off to boarding school, and I really enjoyed her writing style.
Musical Literacies
I have to take Music 100 as a co-requisite to my non-credit guitar lessons. I wouldn’t have signed up for it if it weren’t required, but it’ll be good for me. As a guitarist, singer, and occasional songwriter, a better understanding of how music works will only help me. My favorite part of this class is that I leave every day knowing that I learned something. I leave my other classes mulling over a great discussion or pondering a new concept, but with music theory, I learn something tangible every time. Say, for example, now I know how to read bass clef.
Intermediate Portuguese
I’m fluent in Spanish, and I would’ve loved to take some Spanish seminars, but I decided to try a new language. I hopped into intermediate this semester (hence why I spent break working through the textbook). Much of the vocabulary is similar to Spanish. I understand most of what the professor says, but I can’t quite form my own sentences yet. The Spanish department is currently putting on a Spanish and Portuguese film festival, and I loved seeing The Consul of Bordeaux this week. It’s based on the true story of a Portuguese consul signing tens of thousands of visas illegally for Jewish refugees during World War II. (I dozed off when the consul was saying he couldn’t sign visas because it was illegal, and I woke up when he was signing a stack of visas, so I missed some critical character development. The parts I was awake for, however, were thoroughly enjoyable and understandable.)
Uh… um… oh yeah: Socially Constructed Inequalities, my first-year writing course. This is also a women’s and gender studies (WGST) course, which means I get to improve my writing and learn new stuff. We’ve had some great discussions. I love being in a small (10-person) class and reflecting on how gender roles permeated my childhood. It’s kind of mind-blowing. We read a study that found that girls who played with Barbie had fewer career aspirations than girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head. Mind = blown.
Portuguese and music theory each meet four times a week, and WGST has a double block on Mondays. I’m in class for three more hours per week than I was in the fall. It’s working out fine so far, but as intensity picks up, I’ll have to be even more effective with how I use my time.
And speaking of using my time effectively, the spring crew season starts a week from tomorrow. I’m looking forward to being back together with the whole team, but I’ll enjoy this last week of 7 a.m. (not 5 a.m.) practices. 