First Day of Class

Today was the first day of the antepenultimate semester ever, of my life. I'm only taking one library science class this semester, and we don't meet until next week. It's a class on metadata, which intrigues me because metadata is cool and cutting edge, and it excites me because I know it'll be good for my career, but it scares me because I honestly don't have more than a very shallow idea of what it's all about.

Today I had a European studies class on migration and citizenship, which was cool because the students are from all kinds of majors and backgrounds, but also kind of intimidating because those majors are all things like geography and political science and international studies, which I think are cool, but I also know nothing about. I think I'll enjoy the class as long as I don't say something that betrays my ignorance in a horribly embarrassing fashion.

I expected my other class today to be an equally mixed-feeling experience, but in fact I loved it. It's a class on Spanish Golden Age drama, which is something I studied a little while at BYU and is one of FoxyJ's many specialties. I was worried about taking a class in Spanish when it's been almost three years since my last one, and I honestly don't speak Spanish very often anymore. As it turns out, though, I felt quite comfortable jumping back into Spanish literature--almost embarrassingly so, actually, as two or three other students and I pretty much dominated the discussion. (As a side note, I'm bothered by the knowledge that male students are called on by teachers twice as much as female students because just about every class I've ever taken has had twice as many women as men but it's always always always the guys who do all the talking. I'm bothered by this not only because of the cultural values it points to but because it makes me feel like I should talk less, but then I feel awkward because the professor is sitting there waiting for someone to say something and I have something to say, so I do, and then I feel guilty because I'm one of the four guys in the class who are dominating the discussion while the women keep their thoughts to themselves. Sigh...) At any rate, I felt confident and I had fun talking about literature, which is one of my favorite things to do.

Oh, and by the way, there's a reason BYU's Spanish program is considered one of the best in the nation and UW's isn't, but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying a few Spanish classes while I'm in the Library and Information Science program here, which does have a pretty good reputation.