2nd Week

My second week back at Montevallo is nearly over. As far as classes go, it's completely over: none of mine meet on Fridays.

Human Geography:
- This class hasn't really taken off yet. Our first lectures have been on population, and they're the same basic lectures as last year, when I took World Regional Geography. It's not too bad sitting through the same lectures again, although I do manage to look like a pompous know-it-all even though I'm not saying anything.

Dr. Higley: Does anyone know how Norway can afford to be that generous? (Pointing at me) I know you know, but does anyone else?
Everyone Else: *stares at me*

I'm sure things will get more interesting once we move on to the actual meat of the class.

English History from the Roman Conquest to Elizabeth I:
- So far, nothing I don't know because I've read a lot about early British history. We've made it to the Viking invasions. My professor looks the part for this class; he's short and muscular, and has a shaven bald head with the exception of a goatee. He could play the part of a Saxon hacking some poor Celt apart or ripping nearly-raw lamb meat off of a bone with his teeth.

German 201:
- No activity in this class, as my professor is in Las Vegas with family from Austria. It's nice to know that her family's impressions of America will consist of a small college town and Las Vegas.

European History Since 1815:
- My sole night class. I'm taking this for a few reasons. I enjoy the professor's style; I like the subject; and I'm interested in learning more about Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. During the semester we're going to be doing group presentations, with each group talking about a particular country. We did a lottery tonight to see who was going to be in which group. There were six choices -- the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Russia. I was hoping to be sorted into either the U.K. group or the Italian group. I'm fairly well-versed in German history at this point, and I'm growing weary of the "You study German history and aren't religious, so you must be a NAZI!" spiel I have to endure every time the subject comes up. It's sad that a nation with centuries of rich history is judged by twelve years -- even if they were a dramatic twelve years.

Sex, Gender Roles, and Culture:
- This class is one of the more interesting ones. We have a lot of discussion. For whatever reason, sexes and gender roles have always been interesting to me. Even at an early age, I realized that the "natural, godly" roles that we were supposed to believe in were just cultural constructs, although I wouldn't have called them that. I realized that people were just making this stuff up. It helped that I was really uncomfortable with the idea of lording over someone. In the church I was raised in, there was a hierarchy: God was at the top, and told men what to do. Men told women what to do. Women were supposed to obey their masters -- erm, husbands -- completely, and husbands had some completely patronizing role. (Pun!)

Also, I was intrigued by what "made" sex considering that some people were born who didn't match biological and cultural expectations. In today's lecture we discussed some sex abnormalities -- Turner Syndrome and so on. I have a lecture on the biology of sex, but it's difficult for me to really grasp genetics.

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I spent Labor Day weekend in Selma with my parents. On Monday I drove back to Montevallo, developing a sore throat on the way. By that evening my throat was quite irritated. I only got four hours of sleep because I was so congested. On Tuesday -- the day I had to cope with four hours of sleep -- classes were hell. My nose was stuffed, my throat hurt every time I swallowed, I kept coughing, sneezing, and sniveling, I was sleepy, my sinuses hurt, and my head hurt. After lectures and lunch, I spent the afternoon in bed trying to find sleep -- but I wasn't all that successful.

Yesterday was much better: my sore throat hardly hurt, I had gotten some rest, I could breath through my nose for the most part, and I didn't have any sinus trouble. It was a good day. Today I'm just having to put up with the sniveling and coughing. I don't know how many napkins I've gone through.

Not having a computer last week has resulted in me discovering Scrubs, which I really like.


And that's about it.