Next Semester Courseload

I know I've really neglected the blog lately, but I've been busy. I've been stressed out with classes I'm not particularly fond of, and I've also been busy having a lot of fun with wonderful new friends who aren't here to stay for very much longer. These things take precedence, understand. I'll catch up on everything, but maybe not until I'm in Florida bored out of my mind except for cooking for my family, visiting a bit, and going to writing club once in a while. For now, I want to talk about my schedule for next year. I am fantastically excited about it. You see, unless I just want to kill myself, it's going to take me five years to graduate. (So three years after this year). But, once I accept that, the five years are not especially stressful. Funny how that works out. Part of the reason is that I've taken most of the classes that I dreaded taking either this semester or the semester before this one. So I can have a lot of fun from now on out. I certainly have some challenges ahead, but most of the challenges are things I'm going to care about and be excited by, so I think I'll actually be happier with them than I am with, say, History or Econ or Cross Cultural Journalism now.

So. Next semester. I have to take News, and I have to take 1 more credit of science (Geology - it's the only 1 credit science class), and I have to take an upper level humanities in order to enter my sequence in time for Spain. So, I filled the humanities with Introduction to Catalan Language and Culture, which will be awesome and is taught by my favourite MU professor so far, Monica Marcos-Llinas. So, that's 7 credits, and registration for them went smoothly.

Then I wanted to take some German to prepare for studying abroad in Germany next fall. Unfortunately, the next German class in line is only offered at the same time as the other classes I need. Sad, but I think I'll learn so much German when I'm there anyway, I'm not particularly worried about anything except getting a language ability recommendation (I think I'll have to track down my teacher from last semester, who is off in Germany this year). Still, I browsed through the rest of the German catalogue and decided to take a class on Contemporary German Culture. I'm sure it'll go towards my International Studies major, and I can never take too many of that sort of class for what I want to do with my life.

Then I looked around at other classes, because I only had 10 credits and you need at least 12 to be a full time student. I usually take more - first semester and second I took closer to 18. But this semester has been stressful and maybe it'll be nice to take more time for reslife and preparing for study abroad, so I'm thinking probably 13 would be good - maybe 16 if I like most of the classes. If I like what I'm learning it's not really even a burden for me.

Linguistics was full and so was most of Anthropology. Language classes are pretty much out unless I try to test out of a semester of Italian or Japanese, both of which are sort of longshots, and work. When I came across one Anthropology title, though, I was intrigued. The class was called Anthropological Theories of Religion. Right away, I knew I had to take that class. It was open and it worked in my schedule, too. Right after I registered, however, I realized that it had some pre-requisites I hadn't taken yet. So I emailed the professor about the situation and got his permission to continue in the class!

This was 13 credits, and as I was twiddling my thumbs wondering if there was anything else I should be taking, something hit me like a load of bricks. I'm a Spanish major. And I didn't take any Spanish classes this semester. And I wasn't registered for any next semester. The Spanish curriculum is not very flexible, and I decided from looking at the requirements that I probably needed to take Introduction to Hispanic Literature 1, and pronto. Unfortunately, every section of the class was closed, including the two that fit into my schedule. News is at irregular hours and is messing up everything for me. It manages to spread itself over three normal class slots. So now I'm trying to get a permission number to overload one of those two classes. I have a reasonably good reason for wanting the override, but still, we'll. I also realized that Monica (again my favorite teacher) teaches two Spanish classes I'd love to take at some point, if I get the time. One is an advanced writing class about style, and I'm quite desperate to take it. The other is a phonetics class. If I can fit them into my requirements and schedule at any time, in any way, they're mine. :D

So, it looks like next semester I'm taking:

Journalism 2100 - News
Anthropological Theories of Religion
Catalan Language and Culture
Modern German Culture
Introduction to Hispanic Literature
Special Problems in Geology (1 credit)

16 credits total.