17 December 2007

Thank God for Winter Break

So I'm sure I have no readers left out there...all 3 of you have probably long given up, but I just have to say that I am so happy that it's December 17 and I handed in at 5pm today my final final paper of the semester! The last 3-4 weeks have been absolutely grueling, but they're done! Don't get me wrong, I'm loving grad school, but one of the best parts about writing a paper is handing it in, and I'm so ready for a break...now if I just didn't have this pesky job to go to, haha.

In any case...reflections on my first semester:

1. Grad school ain't easy. When they say read, they mean read; and when they say read 300 pgs by next Weds, they don't just mean the first 10 and the last 10. I think I read more pages in the last semester than in my 4 undergrad years combined. And writing...let's just say it had been a while since I'd put pen to paper (ok, no one does that anymore, but you know what I mean) and it took a while to get back into the swing, but it wasn't all that bad...

2. Being a research assistant is interesting...sometimes. But when the prof you're working for buys a new edition of SdB's The Coming of Age that just so happens to be numbered COMPLETELY differently than the previous edition and she's already read and taken notes on half the book...well, finding quotations and writing up page numbers is not the most thrilling thing I can think of. Besides that little charade it was definitely a great learning experience, and I'm glad to take it on again next semester...but w/ a prof who's focus is Ancient?? Parmenides is not quite my forte, but we'll see.

3. The quirky prof who teaches pomo thought...there's a reason his office is actually a closet. He wears a jacket to class and complains that it hot, a hat w/ ear flaps, and busts a sag. Not to mention the key ring that he must have inherited from the janitor who passed away last year... But he is an interesting fellow w/ some thoughts....just don't ask him "What's up?" when he gives you a strange look across the room....his answer: "Is that a trick question?"

4. As an undergrad, everyone feared how the prof would react to their final presentation to the class. As a grad student, everyone fears how the girl who seems to know exactly how to tear every argument, even her own, to shreds might react. The black knee high boots w/ too high heels add to the persona.

5. Reading for fun...hahahahahaha! It took me an entire semester to get through Restaurant at the End of the Universe! It took me one and a half days to read Hitchhikers Guide...hmmm.

Now it's on to semester two featuring:
1) Marx's Critical Social Theory - used to love him, still like some, some's in question...guess we'll see.

2) Current Issues in Theory of Knowledge - a focus on Alvin Plantinga...lotta catching up to do in this one and it hasn't even started.

3) Philosophical Figures: Hume - they say I have to take a modern course...

These three should play nice together...well, except Marx...always gotta be one troublemaker.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its great to read about what you're learning in grad school. I appreciate how difficult it must be to really delve into so much reading and being required to truly understand all of it.

As a small favor for those of us who don't have the knowledge of philosophy, give a little help with the abbreviations :). It took me 10 minutes to figure out SdB was Simone De Beauvoir.

Anyway, glad to see you're doing well.

Kyle

Effie Jones said...

still reading :) good luck with your studies!