First impressions

I started my spring term a couple of days ago. It's always interesting to compare what I thought at the beginning of the term to what I think at the end, so here's what I currently think of:

Chem 227: Has only 30 kids in it, compared to the 100+ there were in 113. That makes it much quieter and more roomy. Dr. Austin seems really cool, except for I think I started off on the wrong foot with him...I had to send him an email telling him I'd be gone the first day of class because of Lake Powell and I don't know, I just get the feeling he thinks I'm a dumb blonde...sigh...every semester, every new class I feel like I have to start over proving I'm smart. It's like nothing I've done in the past counts for anything. You're only as good as your last performance, right? Well none of my new professors know what my last performance was, so I have to prove it all over again. It's exhausting. I just wish I didn't have to try so hard.

Anyway, enough of that. On with the first impressions.

New Testament: Is taught in a building which I do not like at all because of its 80's feel and dark rooms, but I think I'll like the class a lot. My professor had some interesting insights on each of the four gospels. Matthew: written for the Jews as evidenced by more quotes from Old Testament prophets and all of the begats..all of that is Jewish heritage stuff...Mark: written by Mark who was writing for Peter which you can see by the fast pace of the narrative. Luke: written to the poor and meek as evidenced by all of the stories of poor, seemingly insignificant people. John: written for members of church, calling people who already know about the gospel to come higher up and further in. Anyway, he said a lot of other good things to support all of those ideas, but I just liked being able to think about the authors of the gospels as real people writing to specific audiences. Very cool.

TAing for Brent: K, I did not expect to learn anything from TAing a bronze latin class, but you know what, I totally did today. As I was demonstrating with Brent I had to really think about exactly what my body was doing so that I didn't lead the students astray or anything...I did not even realize that I always lift my heels off the ground when I do cucarachas (ahh, spelling? I am not a Spaniard.) but when Brent was teaching them how to do cucarachas I noticed that I definitely do...will fix that. Anyway, it'll be good just to be able to dance twice a week seeing as I still do not have a partner...

Working in Dr. Woodfield's Lab: The people who work in there are so cool; I think I'm going to like it a lot. I'm still in the figure-out-what-the-heck-is-going-on phase, and I expect to be in that phase for a good part of the summer...but, I did grind up a tin II oxide nanoparticle sample today. It was really cool actually. You measure out two off white powders, pour in a little bit of water, and then grind with a mortar and pestle for 15ish minutes and the powders bubble for a while until the mixture becomes a brown paste...who would've thought?

Continuing my education through spring is going to be a bit of a drag, but at least I won't be bored. Hope everyone's summer vacations are going well! Enjoy your break from school....:)