My three roommates Amanda, Kim and Erica and I are all settled in to our new apartment together quite nicely! (I will post pictures soon, hopefully). It has a very different vibe than Tupper did, but I like it. This year is going to be so different! Having three roommates instead of two makes it harder to be as involved in each other's lives and we all have fairly different schedules, though Amanda and I have two classes together which is great! It's also different because we have a dishwasher in our apartment so there's no "arguing" about washing dishes, but there's also no dish washing quality time. I never thought I'd miss washing dishes but I definitely miss blaring TSwift or "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" while Kinsey washes and I dry. Also having such a big kitchen makes meal times easier as we're not fighting for counter space. Having laundry machines is also awesome...now I can use my spare change for coffee instead of laundry which is definitely an improvement. And we have closet space! Amazing! Finally, and most shockingly I think, I'm noticing that I'm no longer the first one up in the morning and first one to bed! In this house I'm the last one up and the last one to bed! It's sort of weird but I'll get used to it. :) Overall, we're all getting along splendidly and even had a fun bowling night together yesterday!
This year is much different from other years, not only because of a new apartment and new roomies but because of school itself. In the past I'd buy my textbooks and start my reading and note taking right away. I'd have full days on campus with lots of class time and some breaks in between. This year my schedule looks like this:
That's right. No class before 10am and on three out of four days I'm done before noon. And three day weekends! Yahoo! I have three classes that have scheduled class time. My fourth is my senior honours research project that I'm starting this week in McGill's Language and Memory Lab on bilingualism so I'm sure most of that empty space will be filled up with time in the lab but for now... WOOHOO!
Another difference from previous years is that two of the three classes I'm taking are seminars. That means that they have about 20 people in them (instead of 120) and have no midterms or finals. My grade for those courses entirely depends on presentations and class participation. My homework during the week will be to read and critique research papers and prepare to make presentations and contributions to discussion in class. In a way this is great - no cramming for midterms or finals! But on the other hand this is terrifying - I spent the last three years perfecting my multiple choice exam skills and now in my final year they're going to make me throw that all out the window and actually force me to think on my feet!? ...shoot. But I'm hoping for the best and reminding myself that these are actually important life skills that I will only learn by practicing...and we're all in the same boat!
My non-seminar class is an anatomy and physiology class through the department of kinesiology. (For all of you who know about my struggles to satisfy this requirement for grad school, it all worked out! I was able to get out of the hard physiology course and into this one!) I'm going to love this course, I just know it. First, because I just really like anatomy and physiology and secondly because the professor said, "I don't want anyone to be nervous. I want everyone to have fun in this course!" (most of the students in this course want to be Phys.Ed teachers) and then proceeded to tell us stories about her son. Waaaay better than the physiology course I was in with 700 future doctors. And thirdly because Amanda's in it with me! Yippee!
So that's it for now. I'm enjoying my three day weekend. I got to spend some time with my girl Katelyn who lives less than 5 minutes away and also with Kinsey which was such a treat. I went for a run with my friend Kirsty who just got back from 3 months in South America and who kicked my butt into shape. Yikes, and she's not even training for the half! Though she has run it before. I think she's a natural runner. I on the other hand most certainly am not...four months of training and I still dread every run.
Anyways, hope everyone's having a good start to the school year! Happy September!
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