Okay I have a distinct feeling that many if not all of you who check in here are aware that is basically a chronicle of my experience here. That being said, some things are awesome, others are normal and some just stink because that's life. So, in the spirit of reality, I must have a mini-rant before I do some catch-up posts of far more enjoyable times.
Apparently "those" days still happen a in foreign country, surprise surprise. Basically it's Friday, and mostly Fridays are good days. Today, not so much. Essentially I worked until too late, or early, mostly because I couldn't fall asleep, then of course I was groggy and out of it this morning so I ate and went back to bed. Fine except for there went my work hours (no hard thinking needed for that one) and went to class which was the MOST USELESS EXCUSE FOR A WASTE OF TIME I'VE HAD SINCE I'VE BEEN HERE! Ahhhh that felt good. I honestly don't know what the F*** the point of this class discussion section is. I really really really don't. I've rarely felt more annoyed (although there are a select few Middlebury classes, actually two total where the discussions served little or no purpose and some of you will remember very well from my rants which those are), in my academic career. Why is today so bad? Well it confirmed my worst fears that I, and I alone, will be responsible for passing this class. There is NO help from the pathetic excuse for a class teacher. None. I wish I could describe this in a sensible, non-ranting sort of way, haven't figured that one out yet. Basically the lecture was done by a guest lecturer that was AWFUL, no method to madness as in, so disorganized, rushed and poorly outlined (ugg). Then the readings were mostly absurdly poor, writing and organization (seeing a pattern? yeah), and finally the class discussion was classically unhelpful. It's one of those sitautions where there is no real discussion, but a bunch of weird questions and poor student answers which are then a) not corrected really, but b) not agreed with a whole lot either. So you don't know exactly what you're supposed to get out of the readings because the discussion has no basis on the reading content. Or rather, you come away with little to nothing certain. I did read, in fact I read everything, but I answered a question, and then he had some response about yes I was right, but we needed to look at other religious factors for secularization that might contribute to the theory. Great, fine except the ones he mentioned were NOT the primary ones in the reading and he asked for the general theory which I'm pretty sure I gave, but he didn't actually confirm that. So what am I left with? Did I have the idea right? If I didn't, what is it? If I did, then how do the other aspects (which he wasn't clear on) contribute? Then of course he asked the same question with different wording and got the same answer from someone else and was like, oh okay. I fumed silently for thirty five minutes. A waste of my time.
The final insult here is that I have a 2500 word essay due in like 10 days for this class and I wanted to do religion and politics, the problem is this ENTIRE week, well fifty minutes of lecture, poor readings and pathetic discussion have done nothing to further my understanding of the subject and therefore my interest in writing a paper (high before) has significantly declined, but I don't have time to spend figuring out WHAT to write about...rather I need to read and theorize, and outline and frame and construct and argue....gerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Okay I think, well hope, I'm done with class ranting. To console myself I went to the Russell Square cafe (where the staff totally knows me), and read about globalization so I can put together my presentation tonight (thank you Joseph Stiglitz for your pompous arrogance about your brilliance and yet your incredible critical analysis of where the US/IMF/World Bank and WTO have all screwed up with every country's economies except the G-7/8 which makes my life suddenly easier), for my IR class. Then I read 26 pages on the public opinion of the EU(in like thirty minutes, thank you multiple cups of coffee).
That was my less than satisfactory day. Now the debate in my mind is: to go to pub with friends and hope that lifts my mood or to buckle down and work more. I've worked so much in the last six days I'm about ready to scream, but with the work load for the next two weeks it won't get better if I screw around. Oh balancing life. Anyone wanna buy me a get out of jail free plane ticket home for 24 hours? Joking, but 21 days and counting........I want Turkey soup....
Okay done with this post. I'm going to back-track to a few recent events in separate posts and then get back to work.
Cheers
