So, school is starting again.
Last Semester—
Well, I made it through a semester of school with a 5 unit class. Toward the end, I completely lost concentration. Talking to some of the other students after the written portion of our final, while waiting for the oral portion, I realized I wasn’t the only one whose focus diminished as the class wound down. I didn’t get all of the final homework done because I just wasn’t willing to stress myself out. And I never think I study enough, so I can’t really judge but I do know that the material got a little overwhelming with passe’ compose (past tense) and indirect objects and pronouns. Might have been a participle in there, too.
The last few classes before the final were pretty fun. One night, Abeer played us French music from several websites, both classic and contemporary. Some were on Youtube, complete with lyrics, and some were from this website: http://www.famousfrenchmusic.com/ The next to the last class, we had a potluck with lots of quiche, baguettes, fromages and, yes, snails. And no, I didn’t try them! We also watched the film Coco Avant Chanel, a biography of the early years of Coco Chanel. Thank goodness for the English subtitles!
I didn’t think I’d do well on the final test because a big part of the grade was two written paragraphs (not my strong suite). So, I was on pins and needles to see my final grade. The student portion of the college website was down for maintenance from mid-December to well into the new year, causing me no end of neurotic grief—I’d log in several times a day, because after all, it has to come back up SOMETIME… I was sweating a B, hoping those last few unfocused weeks hadn’t thrown me down to a C. When I was finally able to access my grade, I hesitated clicking on the screen that would tell me what might plunge me into depression. But I did and found an A! That night, I took The Husband out to dinner at Mimi’s Café, where we indulged in crepes, brioche and baked brie. Tres excellent!
And, yes, I’ve kept up on my Memorize Words app on my phone, learning more French words. I signed up for Nextissue.com, a magazine subscription app that includes a few French titles and bought a copy of Les Trois Mousquetaires for 50 cents, so I have plenty of reading material to practice!
Next Semester—
My parking sticker is firmly affixed in the left hand corner of my windshield. My book is purchased ($41.75 compared to last semesters’ $167!). The Husband came with me to get the semester sticker on my student ID. And when we looked for my new classroom, I realized it was my OLD CLASSROOM! The very same classroom where I took French. So, should I sit at the same desk or a different one?
This semester is College Writing. I’ve skimmed the book a little and it looks far less dry than I thought it would. The last time I took a class that I had to write papers for, the internet was in its infancy and microfiche ruled. I notice that this book has a lot of references to websites and social media. Should be an Erudite adventure (OK, I’m reading Divergent…).
Taking a Saturday morning class means getting up earlier than I do for work :-) I hope it’s interesting enough to keep me awake! Friday nights I’ll have to put together my Survival Kit-diet soda and a mid-morning snack! At least I shouldn’t hit traffic on the way and the parking lot might not be as crowded.
I did my due student diligence and looked up the two teachers with Saturday morning classes on Ratemyprofessor.com. The woman had such horrible reviews--nasty, boring, liked to hear herself talk… The man, Brandon Rocke, looks young and has a master’s degree in creative writing. His page in Ratemyprofessor.com was small but positive. Not only is this class about writing for college assignments, it’s also about researching and critical thinking, so I’m hoping he’s got a lot of interesting things to impart every early Saturday morning for four hours!
I’m really eager to start writing. It’s something I haven’t given much time to lately and it’s one of the things I’ve always loved to do. So I have high hopes for a good grade but more than anything, I’m looking forward to the challenge of writing assignments and the thought processes of putting words together and building a cohesive story.
The Future
I really don’t know where I’m going with this whole education thing. Some days I just want the knowledge and plan to just take the subjects I want to know more about. Other days, I really do want to walk through a college campus in a choir robe and a mortarboard worn at a jaunty angle. But I have plenty of time to figure all that out...
By the time my French class ended, I was so ready for a break and for the first few weeks, I was glad to be away from the pressure of homework and finals. But a week or so into January, I started to anticipate Going Back to School. Gotta get to bed early tomorrow. It’s a School Night!
Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.
Ray Bradbury
Since I can’t seem to write a proper blog entry, I’ll try doing a quick list of thoughts:
1. Going to school at night is very difficult. By the time 7pm rolls around after a full day of work (which has been very stressful lately), I’m pretty much brain-dead. Our teacher, Abeer, expects a lot of class participation. Normally, I’m the quietest one in the room, so add that pinch of lethargy and you’ve got me hiding under the desk!
2. Next semester, I’m going to try to get a Saturday morning class and see if that works better. Even though it would be 4 hours instead of two 2 hour classes at night, I think that might be easier.
3. I can’t hear French. OK, I can’t comprehend (comprends) French that well when I’m listening to it spoken. I’m such a visual person that I seem to need to visualize the words but I can’t understand it well enough to do that yet. I don’t think we’re expected to be able to do a complete, understandable conversation with French 1 (Thank God!) but we do have oral portions of our tests that Abeer has had to slow down to 78rpm for me to understand… Last night, I took the final part of our latest test with Abeer asking questions and me answering--not too bad but she still had to repeat and mime some things. LOL! She really wants me to succeed.
4. I can’t hear French and I’m trying not to stress about it. It’s my weakest thing and that’s ok. I’m not taking this course for anyone but me and I’m good with this. I’m trying to listen more to the video’s on our Supersite (our homework site) from now til the end of the semester because I want to do my best to understand it but I don’t want to get to that point where I’m giving myself anxiety attacks. Also, Tutor Joel suggests listening to spoken French while reading the script of what’s being said, so I can associate the words with the sound.
5. Now that I have a beginning knowledge of French, I’ll continue to read a lot and use the second half of the expensive textbooks to continue educating myself. I subscribed to some Etsy newsletters in French and in planning a trip to Paris and Normandy in 2 years, I log onto French websites and attempt to read those. There are plenty of places to ready French, so I’m not worried about running out of interesting things to translate.
6. I bought a Memorize Words app for French. It starts with flash cards of new words, then tests you on those. Then you can move on to concentration, word match, word find, Invaders (match the article to the noun before the noun dropping from the sky blows up the city!) and even Hangman games in French. It will keep me interested after class is over.
7. I don’t enjoy doing homework but neither do I loathe it. While doing the sometimes endless homework on the website and in the workbooks, it amazes me when I’m on a roll, making an effort to finish just one more assignment. Ok, now maybe another one, I mean as long as I have the books out and I have the French mindset goin’ on. It’s my personal mental challenge.
8. Love my Kindle! I think I’ve mentioned before that the French-English dictionary wouldn’t let me search on the Kindle app on my phone but it does on the device itself. It’s come in very handy!
9. Not sure how I wound up with an 82 out of 80 score on my last test but I’m happy with it. Unless I totally mess up the next one or two quizzes and the last big test of the semester, I should come out with a good grade for my first college class. Not bad for an old girl!
10. The Spring Semester catalog came out today. Yes, there’s a Saturday morning College Writing class I was thinking of taking. But there’s also a History of Art: Impressionism to Present online class that I want to take. And there’s philosophy… And geography… And Literature… Why can’t The Husband and I find a Sugar Grand-daddy who’d take us under his wing and grant us the gift of unlimited leisure time???
11. I feel like I’ve been in a cocoon in this class. The teacher really does want us to succeed and the majority of the kids are funny and nice to each other. When someone’s stuck for an answer, they start whispering to help them. We all laugh at our wrong answers. I never feel judged or stupid, even though I do feel “senior” sometimes, just by virtue of my advanced years. I don’t know if I’ll feel this safe in future classes.
12. Less than a month left of school. With all the craziness at work (the company I’ve worked for for 25 years was bought out in late September, worked a lot of over time and double time) and a few other stressors, it’s been a wild ride. Two nights a week at school, most Saturdays (and some Sundays) devoted to homework, Wednesday nights out doing wash (washer broke down weeks ago…), then throw in some quality time with The Husband and The Cats. Whew! Just gotta get through these last few weeks and I get 6 weeks off. I’m planning to celebrate with a new tattoo!
It is not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true selves. The domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, who may not be who we essentially are.
Alain de Botton
