When I started this blog I was planning on steering away from the self-indulgent whinefest model that most take, but today's entry is an exception. Sorry!
The weather here has turned into pure, icy shit and my classes are superlame. I've realized that learning Old English is really hard and that I've neglected to do it. That and it's getting hard to force myself into actually working; my initiative has just gone out the window. Was it naive of me to think that we'd be reading translations of Old English and analyzing them, rather than translating them? Maybe. Either way, it's a shame because analysis takes a backseat to technicalities like syntax and gender. Being an English student, these things should be easy for me, but I'm really only an English student out of convenience - my plan committee wouldn't let me be a "liberal arts focus" because, though they acknowledged that I wasn't flaky some people chose that focus just because they were flaky and... they wanted to treat flakes and non-flakes equally. Or something? Alls I know is that Griff Maloney got the ok to be a liberal arts student and I didn't, so...
All that's fine, though, cuz I sure do like being an English major and readin' and junk. It's just that being out of my comfort zone and learning about verb clauses and the like is a real pain in the ass right now (whhiinne). How can I keep my mind from going somewhere else when this stuff is so boring! Can someone just put it all in a Schoolhouse Rock song or something?
Also frustrating: I finished The Way We Live Now (yay!) only to come to class and find that literally no one else had read it... and it was ok! (boo!) Not like it was ok because I misunderstood the directions, but just that the professor did not care. Are you telling me that I read a 750+ page Victorian novel about speculative capitalism just for shits and giggles? Yup.
Why? Because my Televising the Victorians class is not a class on adaptation (as it was billed) but a fake film studies class for lazy lit students who want to pretend they're film students but they don't want to read or take real film classes. And that includes my professor who throws out terms like mise en scene that he found in his jumbo film terms dictionary. All of the film knowledge this guy has shared with us comes verbatim from this stupid film terms book and not from actual film - which is fine, because my classmates haven't heard of films like Gone With the Wind. Not that they necessarily should, given that this is an English class, but we're not studying books here either, apparently.
So what are we studying? Amateur theories about how prop-placement and shot distance reflects character and motivation. Seriously. "In this shot they're seen together, indicating fellowship, only to be shot in seperate close-ups next, representing a fracturization of their relationship." Argh! No!
Mostly I'm just looking forward to going to Spain with my mom. We're both pretty exhausted and a break will be really nice. I'm definitely ready for the next and last phase of my overseas adventure. My plan is to grin and bear it and just gun through the remaining work I have, but it's a bit like pulling teeth. Which I guess means that my grin won't be that attractive when I'm done. (har har hurrrk) Send me a message and cheer me up!
Hey, while I have your attention, how about this funny video?:
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10 comments:
I had approximately 18 bajillion experiences like that in Paris. So I just stopped going to school! (I'm kidding...kinda). One time my friend Bianca was reading Harry Potter during one of our [completely irrelevant) art history lectures and she looked up and said, "Wait, I can just do this somewhere quiet" and walked out.
Also, don't feel bad. This was neither super whiny nor self-indulgent. And even if it were, that's kinda human and I don't thing anyone else would have minded it either. This is not an open invitation to talk about your feelings all the time, mind you. Let's keep that shit to a minimum.
Thanks, it's really nice to hear that your French school was just as hands-off as my Irish school. The really frustrating thing is that I'm stressing about being under-stimulated. The teaching is so vague and scattershot that I'm not sure what I'm supposed to retain and my whole grade hinges on a test and essay at the end. I'm used to being really interested in my classes, but I feel like these are turning me into an Old English parrot/robot.
Yeah, I'm just self-conscious about being exhibitionistic with any semi-serious frustrations. It feels very middle school livejournal. Plus it's more fulfilling for me to actually have conversations with friends like you. But this morning I definitely needed to vent. Livejournal style.
I love that 'Griff Maloney' is a tag for this post.
It seems like i'm constantly asking myself: is this what my education should be like? shouldn't i be learning something more or different?" and what i'm beginning to realize that the ideals we set up about what our education should be are just the ideals and hopes and expectations we have about what we should/will/ and want to learn for ourselves. I am a curious person and i hope someone will answer my questions. Its about as dumb as when i was in 3rd grade and i asked my teacher what a word meant and she told me to look it up in the dictionary. life is continuously teaching me that you have to find a way to fufill your own expectations and not rely on anyone else and that goes for education. Does this make sense? ive had a few drinks but i mean it. it probably didn't make you feel better either. and it wasn't funny. basically we are going to be 8 year olds for the rest of our lives asking people questions about what it all means and theyre either gonna lie to us, tell us a stupid answer, or tell us to look it up in the dictionary, and on very rare occasions give us the answer we are looking for. you know what the answer is? america, wikipedia, cheap beer, and friends. done and done. i love you.-chris
ps. people are dummys. but you know you aren't alone. you got best friends in san francisco, portland, chicago, baltimore, etc. and we got smarts they ain;t even written books about yet. for instance, i know how to make a perfectly round ball out of hair and that you can cast rice. rachel knows cheese cake secrets. sally can edit all the sad parts out of movies. sean can entertain himself for hours. keith can out crazy us all. lauren can play us sweet banjo songs while rolling a cigarette while dreaming about boys. eva can answer the phone at the metropolitan museum of art while embroidering a pillow. and we all love you like crazy. and there are more of us out there loving on you! -cmm
Christina-
That was amazingly sweet! I teared up a little bit- I miss you all so much!
Aww thanks Christina,
what we had talked about earlier regarding appreciating Bennington has just come home to me more and more. At least from an educational standpoint. The people can still be kinda poopy.
And I really appreciate having friends all over the continent. It means a lot.
Love you too!
PS. imagine only watching movies Sally had edited the sad parts out of. It would be crazy!
If its any consolation, I also hate school.
That actually is consolation. Misery loves company.
i'm going to re-edit "link" into a rom-com.
also, i love you too!
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