Back to Cool

So it's that time again. After a fun-filled weekend, it's strait back to the grind. The transition back into classes wasn't too bad this time, not like last Spring, just getting back from AIT. I'm prepared for college life again. Although after this first week, I kinda have to ask: are my teachers?

First thing in the morning is Arabic, five days a week. Perfect way to start out the day. (Taste the sarcasm dripping from my lips.) Actually, it's not really that bad. I guess if we learn languages with an infantile part of the mind, then first thing in the morning actually sort of works. The only downside is that homework absolutely has to be done the night before. I get sick reading or writing on the bus, and there's about 10 minutes in between the bus and class in which to do stuff. Maybe enough time, if I forgot to write my name on something. That said, I've got about half of the alphabet down after this week, and starting to recognize the greetings that Oustad (Professor) Aissa throws at us. This may end up being my focus for the semester: Oustad says that if we're not putting at least 3 hours a day into Arabic, if we aren't sick of Arabic by the end of the day, then we're not doing enough. Arabic cannot be learned by intelligence, only by work. That could be good news or bad news, and only time will tell which it is.

Physics 2 shouldn't be anything too out of the ordinary. So far Professor Pollock seems to phrase things very formally, maybe too well for our good. He's good for a lecture, but for actual learning it looks like I'll be relying on the text and the Help Room.

Algorithms was supposed to be the fun class, but oh, no. They couldn't do that, could they? Give me an enjoyable compsci class? It's compsci alright, but so far it looks like it belongs in applied math. I'm learning math induction and proofs by the seat of my pants. It almost feels like I'm missing a prerequisite, but no, I checked. Maybe I just shouldn't have promptly forgotten all that calculus I absorbed over the summer.

To sum it up, so far so good.