School has really sucked so far this year, and considering that it's been less than two weeks so far, I can only assume it's going to get worse. This year I sacrificed classes I actually wanted for classes that would make up the timetable I wanted. Believe me when I say I didn't want to do it, but I had to do it in order to get two free days to volunteer at the Woodlands (and I need those hours for my teacher's college applications!).
My schedule goes like this:
Mon. & Wed.:
10-11am Native North American Literature
11-12pm Chaucer
12-1pm 18th Century Literature
2-3pm Modern China since 1800
5-7pm Intro to Czech
Fri:
10-11am Native North American Literature
11-12pm Chaucer
12-1pm 18th Century Literature
And of course Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm at The Woodlands all day (8:20am-2:50pm).
Now, Native North American literature is pretty interesting, but it's also quite difficult because as much as it's a literature course, it's also a course about the issues and concerns of indigenous peoples--something which I have no background in, and have never even had much interest in. So I'm finding it quite a challange to participate in class. Plus our prof doesn't really give very detailed instructions, and I'm the type of person who likes to have things all laid out with very clear instructions and expectations.
Chaucer just plain sucks. I hated it from the first day when I learned that our textbook is this 10 lb hardcover monstrosity called "The Riverside Chaucer." The fact that I was able to order a paperback edition of the book from Amazon UK (it's not available in North America) that is not only much lighter (see photo below for comparison) but also considerably cheaper--even with shipping--made things more bearable, but it still sucks. I can't read one page of the Canterbury Tales without falling asleep--and I actually found the Tales quite interesting in Major British Writers! Goodness knows what I'm going to do once we move onto Chaucer's other works. @_@
Left: Old textbook, Right: New textbook Posted by Hello
Eighteenth century literature doesn't seem like it'll be too difficult, but it's located across Queen's Park and even though I have 10 minutes to get there, I feel compelled to kill myself everyday to make it there in 5 minutes so I can get a seat since we don't have as many seats as the stated capacity (and hence enrollment) of our class. It's really quite a bugger. Our prof seems nice enough, but he also puts me to sleep.
Modern China also puts me to sleep. And our prof keeps telling us to check the course website before class for the lecture outlines, but it's almost 12am on the day of class and there isn't an outline yet, so I really don't know who she expects to actually be able to get the handout before class.
Czech, I must admit, is the one class that I really wanted to take, and I'm glad I took it. Unfortunately, though, it's a helluva hard language to learn. They've got this one sound that doesn't exist in any other language, and I simply cannot pronounce it properly. Plus our prof is actually a grad student and it's her first time teaching Czech, so that doesn't make things any easier. (But she's really nice, so I'm not saying that in a really critical way or anything.)
Of course the biggest problem with such a compressed schedule is that all the assignments and evaluations come at the same time. December 6 I have a term paper or exam in my Native N.A. lit. class, followed by whichever one it wasn't (term exam or term paper) in my Chaucer class. Decemember 8 is even better, I have the term paper/exam in Native N.A. lit and Chaucer (whichever ones I didn't do, respectively, on the 6th), then an in-class test in 18th century lit., and a term test in Modern China. I haven't heard about Czech yet, but knowing my luck, the mid-term will also fall on that day. So yes, people probably shouldn't expect to talk to me or see me around the beginning of Decemeber, as I will be holed up in my room trying to prepare for the week of death.
*phew* Although I'm sorry to have complained so much, I'm glad I got that all off of my chest.
