Let the games begin...

So I decided to wait until I had been through a few classes to make judgements on my professors and the classes. Of course, the first day of class in most of my classes was a lot of 'administrative junk' and paperwork and introductions to the professors and TA's (teacher's assistants).

Thursday was my first day of 'real' classes. I got a much better feel for what each class will be like. I have a good feeling about this semester. For one thing, I've already been forcing myself to sit in the front of the classroom and make sure that I am noticed by the professors. I think if I continue to do that, I won't be tempted to skip classes, because I will know that the professors might actually miss me if I'm not there!

My Intro to Journalism professor really irked me on Thursday. Still, I think this is a good sign, because not only am I paying attention to what he is saying, I'm really thinking critically about it and not just swallowing the tripe so that I can regurgitate it on a test or a paper. He was driving me nuts with his 'good old days' mentality and the fact that he kept showing charts that were very misleading. He showed one graph showing how voting in the U.S. has been in a slow decline since the 70s. A few slides later, he showed a slide that showed how older generations vote more than youth (18-24). Next, he showed how voting among the 18-24 age group has declined and was asking the class about why the youth of today don't vote. Well, Dr. Reese, why doesn't ANYONE vote as much anymore?? You JUST showed us a slide proving that the voting rate is going down in the U.S. population as a whole- don't you think the voting rate would also go down in an individual age demographic?? That's just an example of one thing that bugged the hell out of me about this guy.

Now on the flip side of that, my next class is an absolute blast. Dr. Z is a hoot. He's an old reformed hippie, and is just a card. I think the class is going to be very beneficial to me in deciding whether to stay in the Geography dept or switch to Journalism as planned. I think Dr. Z will be a great mentor and sounding board for me in discussing my future plans. On top of that, our big project that we will be working on for the entire semester is based on Texas tourism... how much better can it be??

My photography class makes yet another switch. I feel like I'm taking a class that should be a prep class for the one I took last semester in Dallas. I have already learned black and white photography and how to work in a darkroom... now I'm reversing to only using color slide film and having my film developed by a lab. It's a little disappointing, but maybe it will be an easy A??

More on the rest of my classes later- it's a Friday night and I'm bound and determined to have some fun!