It's Been TOO Long...Fall Term Snap Shot

As I sit and reflect on what has happened since I last updated my blog, I have made a pre-New Year’s resolution to stay on top of this blog. I feel like it’s the end of the semester and I haven’t been keeping up on my homework and now it’s piling up on me. Wait- that is what it is! In my last post I sympathetically wrote about how the dog days of summer were over and I was heading back into the grind of university life. Boy, has it ever been a grind; it has had some bright spots and had some downright earth crashing spots too. I was excited to start the semester and the final year of my BA, but I can tell you now that I am that much more excited for it to be over. To give a summary of my semester, I’ll go course by course: Religions of the World I- The professor is great! She is young, dynamic and extremely knowledgeable. As with any religion course I am always so worried what some people are going to come out with and say evoking a near riot in class, but this professor seems to let people talk, but still keeping a diplomatic feeling. The classroom itself comes with the most uncomfortable seats, but it’s beyond all of our controls. I meet one of the best new friends I have ever had in this class. Finally I have met a mature student who just gets it and gets me. We have so much in common and our friendship is starting to look like that girl friend that you should have in your university days that sticks by you for life. Melissa is a fantastic person. Throughout this semester we have gone through MANY experience together- some exciting, some deadly. Not very often now that a day goes by that we don’t talk, text or email...even our men get filled in at the end of each day! Gender & Religion- Not knowing really what to expect in this class beyond the general course description when I registered, I was a little disappointed. We had so much material to cover I feel that we only did brief summaries of each without digging deeper into each faith or tradition. The professor is great entertainment for a Tuesday night course and it certainly doesn’t feel like we’ve been there for 3 hours after she’s done teaching. Of course, having Melissa in class with me helps, but the teacher tops this one. Sports Marketing- There’s not much positive that I have to say with this course other than that it’s over. The teacher was horrible and I had one of the most negative experiences with group work again. This class had no midterm exams or final exam but rather one individual assignment and two group assignments. We all know how I hate group work and this just reinforced my feelings about it. NEVER AGAIN! Methods & Theories in Religious Studies- Oh, yet another 3 hour night class in the pit of the university. Our classroom has no windows, no ventilation and is in the basement of the engineering building. Not very often has our class gone the full 3 hours simply from the depressing atmosphere that we were surrounded by. This course involved a lot of heavy reading that I had a lot of trouble with at the beginning. The reading included well over 200 pages a week and if you missed a reading, you had no clue what the class discussion was about. The professor is certainly intimidating, but shows her soft side from time to time; I HATE the TA...he’s so condescending and talks like...I can’t even describe it. This is a full year course, so I’m in for the long haul. The teacher has promised she’d look into a room change for next term. Inuit & Aboriginal Religions- Boy, can you think of a better way to spend your Friday night than wondering if the professor is actually going to show up? This is what I have gone through for the last 13 weeks. This professor has to be the worst one I have ever seen. We went a week where she didn’t show up at all and 11 other weeks where she was 15-45 minutes late for class to only talk in circles about stuff that was so hard to understand what she was saying. BUT, it’s over!!! I can’t say that I have learnt anything in this class, but Google has been extremely helpful in completing my take home midterm and take home final exam! Now that you have a snap shot of what my classes were like, I’m sure you can see why I am looking forward to the holiday break. The break this year is a very short one (just 1 week), but it makes the next semester start and finish that much sooner too. The motivation right now is the 7 teachers college applications that I have submitted and waiting to receive acceptance letters. They send acceptance or refusal letters starting April 1st, so the wait begins for that too. I will leave you with this for now, but I promise I’ll post the latest and greatest in the coming days and weeks to get back into the routine. Until then...have FUN! Stephanie