Semester 8, Day 2

Well, day 2 of school has come and gone. It's been a long day. Good, but long. I have to say, it's been a long time since I've been outside before the sun comes up. But, if you want to get to an 8:30 class on time and you're taking the bus, that's what it takes. At least it was easier to tell when the bus was close by. (Thank you orange route information on the top of the bus!)

First off, I got to learn about drugs. No, really. My big chemistry class for the semester (in fact, my only major-required class) is medicinal chemistry. And it just happens to be taught by one of my *favorite* (note the sarcasm) teachers: Skibo. (In class I may refer to him as Professor or Dr. Skibo, but in my mind, he has no such title.) I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with him (again, in my mind--I don't think I can be mean to him in person. I'd be too scared.). Ok, so maybe he's not really that intimidating, but his classes are hard. I had him for o chem my sophomore year. Let's just say I have never been as happy--or worked so hard--to get a B in my life. But, I'm determined that this class is going to be awesome. Really, how many people get to go to class and learn about meth and cocaine? (Those were definitely in our slides today. No joke.) I'm actually really excited to learn all of this stuff. Now, I may need to be reminded of this excitement, oh, around February 21st, but maybe I'll actually keep up with the reading and "optional" homework assignments this time. Maybe.

Enough about that. Today, I also went to my ballroom dancing class for the first time. "Wait, ballroom and med chem?" you say. Oh yes, my friends. This is what happens when you take no elective classes for 7 semesters and suddenly have 9 credit hours of electives to fill. And you're me. I come up with some weird combinations. Food, clothes, class schedules, you name it. Anyways, I was super worried about this class. I know, probably silly, but the thought of taking a dance class at ASU with absolutely no one I knew was a bit scary. Oh, and the syllabus made it sound like it was going to be this really intense class. (It said we would have to draw out notations of each dance step. Psh.) Turns out, the class is AWESOME! I had so much fun--I don't think I've laughed that much in a long time. My partners probably thought I was crazy (actually, I'm pretty sure one did for a while), but I had fun. Hooray for a classroom full of people who have no idea of what they're doing!

Well, I hope I haven't bored you all to death. I'm sure I'll have all sorts of great stories for you once my classes really get going. Good luck to everyone starting out a new semester! (Or job or something else. You know.)

Dr. Carpenstein out.