| | After a long and relaxing winter break (where I decided I would turn my brain off so that it can rest and reboot), here I am, back at Smith.
The beginning of a semester is always wonderful! Although I am always nervous about the stresses of the semester to come, starting new classes is one of the most exciting things in my life. I know, I'm quite the nerd. This semester I am taking Intro to the Study of Women and Gender (SWG) because I declared my minor last semester. I had taken multiple SWG classes, but not intro, so now I need to go back and take it. I'm also taking a seminar in the SWG department about Sex Trafficking. This is going to be a tremendous amount of work, but I love the professor and it is going to probably be one of the most interesting classes I've taken at Smith. I'm also taking my last requirement for my Sociology major (other than a senior seminar), which is such a relief. It is called "Research Methods" and is a continuation of quantitative statistics which I took last semester and loved.
However, what I am most excited about is my fourth "class," which is a special studies in the Sociology department. I am one of four undergraduate research assistants helping two very prominent researchers in the field of sociology with their current study. I will have a "class" which is more like a meeting to discuss relevant publications and problems/interesting occurrences in the data every other week and will spend 2 days/week (6-10 hours) doing data entry. The study is looking at the intersection of gender and class and how this affects the work schedules/hours of workers in the medical field. I feel so fortunate to have found and been accepted to this position because it could not be more perfect for me if it was my own study.
It is also nice to see my friends again. We haven't really spent a lot of time together yet, because everyone is busy figuring out their schedule, but it snowed today (like 8-12 inches apparently) and hopefully we will go outside and explore in the snow this evening. Worst case scenario, we wait until this weekend to really spend time together. One amazing thing is, my friend Eliza, who spent last semester abroad in Scotland, has returned. Eliza, my friend Sara, and myself all had lunch together and it was so nice. I was worried things would be weird, after not having seen each other for over 6 months, but it wasn't. It was quite nice actually and we have plans for this Saturday.
As of right now I have about 400 pages of reading to do for this weekend, so I am going to take a bath. Yes, you heard me, a bath. I know people think, ew, bath's are dirty at college. But they aren't here. They get cleaned daily and if you just wash it out before you get in there is nothing to worry about. Also, because everyone thinks that they are so dirty, no one uses them and therefore they are clean for me to use! When I was looking for colleges, that was one of the major things I wanted. I wanted the house I lived in to have a bath tub. I take baths every night at home and didn't want that to change at college. There is fit for every one and everything. Just look for it and you'll be happy.
I'll write more as the semester progresses and there is more to say. ADIOS! |
