here it goes again

It's starting to feel like the beginning of the school year all over again. Only this time the syllabi are coming faster, the classes are more intense, the teachers tougher than last semester. I guess as time goes on it can only be expected. That doesn't make it any more fun to hike across campus to look at chloroplasts under a microscope before the sun has come up, or keep my skin from crawling in a small journalism class, hoping I'll know the answer to the pointed questions our instructor fires at individuals without warning. It's going to be an interesting semester.

In Sociology, things are going pretty smoothly. It's just the same old lecture, notes, exams format. My teacher is pretty good. I don't agree with her all the time (No, not everyone in America was brought up to believe that individualism is best. Yes, I would love to boycott Wal-Mart, but what happens to the sweatshop workers who provide their products when the mere cents per hour they earn are taken away?) All in all, no surprises thus far.

Botany is, well, botany: cells still contain a nucleus and DNA; plants still produce sugar using energy from the sun. Nothing has changed there since freshman year of high school. What has changed is the pace at which we're learning these things. And lab is so...early. But one perk is that our professor teaches the early lab: "You don't get students that are going to fool around in the 7:30 section; that's why I teach it," she told us. She's 65 years old and this is the last section she'll be teaching at this university. She is very strict, but carries on lecture like she's talking about one of her favourite hobbies, and will occasionally throw in an amusing expression (grana in chloroplasts are "stacks of green pancakes"; if you mess up a slide under the microscope, it's "gone gollywobbles.") "She's just like my grandma," some boy behind me is fond of saying.

The most intimidating class is News and Feature Writing. Not only is the professor the most no-nonsense teacher I've ever had, but this is exactly what I'm majoring in, so I feel like I have to do a lot to measure up. And her standards are high. Up until now, I've done some creative writing, and more informal yearbook features. I have not done any AP-style stories. I have not read the newspaper religiously. I do not have a picture of Walter Cronkite on my desk. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do, even though I am one of two freshmen in the class. Some of the other students are already reporters for the paper or do broadcasting for the sports station in town. One even did publicity for our nearest NFL team. Either I'm going to discover the journalism is not for me, or I will adapt to the situation and do what it takes to get good sources, and a good story. I'm shooting for the latter.

As for the video, I thought it seemed appropriate because of the title. And it has guys dancing on treadmills. Just watch it already.