We've realised that, if I'm willing to sacrifice 1) sanity, 2) a social life, 3) TV, 4) recreational reading, and 5) free time, I could get through UT with a double major by next December. If I give up sleep, I can even do it with University honours. It's the recreational reading and sleep parts that are holding me back (and the free time, a little bit; how can I tell you about my life & times if I don't have time to blog?).
But, it turns out that being a Spanish major is not as much fun as I had hoped. Upper-level foreign language classes in today's universities are geared towards those who want to teach the language, not those who merely want to use it. So, I've met with my advisor. And barring a change of heart, at the end of this semester I'll remove Spanish as my second major (I already have enough classes for it to be my minor) and add Liberal Arts Honours. Thus giving me more time to focus on rhetoric, which I love. Excellent.
And since I have enough Spanish classes already completed (including this semester) to fulfill my minor requirement, all that is left is for me to finish Rhetoric classes and a couple more lower-level classes that I missed due to being a transfer student. Even more excellent.
And finally, I actually have one more class than necessary for Spanish. Which means if I'm really struggling in any of them, I can change it to a pass/fail class before the end of the semester. Excellence abounds.
7 comments:
I know what it's like to be a double major pushing for honors... you're right, there's no time for recreational reading, sleep, or any free time beyond the few hours you MIGHT be able to carve out on a Friday night.
As much as I loved my university years, I don't think I could do that again. It also helped that everyone in my program & year was really close... so we still had time for friends, even if that time was between classes and we saw those friends in class every day. But beyond that, nothing. I can't even imagine how I would have coped in a bigger program where students don't necessarily have four out of five classes together.
Good luck with your school work, and I really don't blame you for changing track in the program -- you'll need your sanity. And your sleep. :)
It's always good to keep your options open and your heart open as well. Way to see the bright side of all of this change!
@Faith: Thanks! That really helps. I'm in two "small" programs at UT and I still don't have any overlap of classmates in any of my classmates. I wish I did... sigh.
@Timbra: It's kind of funny actually, 'cause I come in every day determined that I can finish the double major and don't need to change anything... only to change my mind quite dramatically within five hours. Sigh, again.
Nothing like keeping busy, wow! I vote for a bit of free time... blogging is far too fun to let go! ;)
I think so, too. Besides, however am I to improve my writing if I don't practise, right?
Sheesh! I would never give up the little free time I have. I'd rather slow down in what I'm doing and take longer doing it.
I understand what you mean about learning language that's directed at people who will teach it one day. I'm taking a graduate in English, and we're learning very technical things, like phonetics. I love learning it, and I suppose it helps me with pronunciation, but I'd much rather learn the techniques of writing in my first term!
The earlier you work on writing, the better, I always say. :)
A lot of my rhetoric classmates are pre-law, which is also entertaining, but for some reason the occasional "this will help you in law" annoys me a lot less than, "Now, if you want to teach this..."
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