Last semester was my best semester in anything concerning a GPA that actually matters (i.e. all As in 4th grade? Who cares?). (That sentence is awkward because I know what I would say in French, but I can't think of a good English equivalent. This is getting to be the case more and more often. Imagine what I'll be like after I return from 2 semesters in Paris.) Here are my thoughts about Fall 05:
- I'm so glad I have my advanced comp requirement fulfilled. I didn't like many aspects of my Judaism class, and the only reason I went to as many class sessions as I did was because of Talia. The lectures pretty much had nothing to do with the grade; our grade was based entirely on papers based on the readings. I'm glad I did go to class, because I learned a lot. But let's face it: I'm lazy. I just wouldn't have gone.
- I got absolutely no feedback on my performance in my lit class until after Thanksgiving break. With two weeks left in the semester, I found that I had gotten an A on my presentation (roughly 1/3 of my grade). I was nervous about my participation; I made an effort to say at least one thing every class session, but who knows if it was ever an intelligent thing (hint: it wasn't). I spent 2.5 days on the huge take-home final, but towards the end my brain turned to oatmeal. I got an A in the class, but I didn't deserve it.
- The other grade that I didn't deserve was my A- in my conversation class. I deserved an A. The class was below my level, and I wish I had taken it earlier. There were a total of 6 people in my class, and only 2 of us ever talked. I had the largest background in French, so I was able to talk somewhat intelligently about Paris suburbs and occupation of Algeria and politics and other things. Not sure why I got an A-. Poo on my TA.
- I learned a lot in my linguistics class, but out of the microcosm of the class, the information is not useful. I can use first-order predicate logic to analyze sentences, but what good does this do me? My class was really interesting, though, and I'd take it again in a heartbeat.
- My French linguistics class was too easy. It was like an introductory class. I liked going, though, because I could offer intelligent commentary without doing the reading. The textbook was written in English by non-native speakers, and it was still in the publishing stages (it hadn't been fully edited yet), so that was kind of a pain.
- My civ class. It was average. I knew a lot of people in that class, and I participated a lot, so I guess that was good. I didn't do as much work as I should have, and my A- reflects that.
This coming semester, I'm registered for the following:
- Cinema Studies: Black Women in Film
- Cinema Studies: Animation
- Intensive Catalan
- Studies in Francophonie: Quebecois literature
- French Studies: Film
- French Studies: French Versions of America
Those last two are graduate sections that I have special permission to take. That makes me feel smart. Don't let anyone ever say that I'm not an elitist.
