Rachel K. Discussion

The discussion section for my Intro to Globalization class is very fortunately full of non-freshmen. Nobody talks very much, but it's nice to have an hour to talk about the things we've been reading in a relaxed room in a beautiful Paccar Hall.

Paccar Hall at the University of Washington 

The TA is very sweet and has never been a TA before, which means she will hopefully be forgiving on our participation grades! 

My geology lab is early in the morning on Wednesdays and so far it's a little weird having a group of 5 freshmen, but they are all really nice and we've been doing better with each lab every week! So far we have learned about topography and minerals. Hooray! 

It will never matter how old I am. This will always make me giggle.

The air is very chilly and crisp and it's beginning to feel like Autumn at last. I'm excited to be going to classes every day and to have a little more purpose in my life. I also have a sore throat and feel totally under the weather, which PROVES that I have joined the masses in an enclosed germ box for the sake of higher learning! 

Sure it looks beautiful, but think of how many GERMS are here!

My greatest successes so far have been locating a quiet study area in Allen Library and finding cheap and healthy lunch alternatives on campus. For under $4 I can get yogurt, baby carrots and a tuna cup with crackers! My greatest challenge so far is having no water fountain in Kane Hall where the geology lecture takes place. Maybe someday...

Rachel K. Classes

First day of non-matriculated classes at UW and my first day of math class at SCCC! I am psyched! I haven't gone to school in over four years now. Moreover, I never took a math or science class the whole time I was in college, so this is all very new and exciting.

Red Square on the first day of classes at UW

There were SO MANY PEOPLE AT UW. Red Square was completely packed with people and vendors and sororities or fraternities. It was a mad house and it was completely overwhelming. I always thought RIT, my Alma Mater, was a big school, but UW is about 7 times larger. My Introduction to Geology 101 course was held in Kane Hall, which holds about 600 people and was at maximum capacity. I have never been in a lecture with this many people before, and it is really distracting with the amount of students who are on their laptops or phones looking at facebook.  The professor, Terry Swanson, is a guy from Alberta who loves geology and is very used to teaching freshmen. He even went as far as to say he doesn't mind it when students sleep in class. I feel old.

My next class, which I was fifteen minutes late for because I got completely lost, ended up being cancelled due to the professor's illness. Dr. Joseph Hannah is the professor, which I know because I met him when he signed my form last month. This class seems very interesting, but I can't read the syllabus until I am completely accepted into the class, and I am still a second class citizen non-matriculated student, so who knows when that will even be! All I know is that this class is smaller, and I'm hoping it will be less distracting (facebook wise.)

The bus ride between UW and SCCC is really pretty and goes through the nicer parts of Capitol Hill. The math class is in the SAM building (the science and math building) where the bathrooms have tiles with illustrations of bugs on them! The math professor, Andrea Levy, is a total pro and I can tell that she is a veteran teacher. I'm looking forward to learning from her. This is the only class so far where I feel like I am going to make any friends since more of the people in class are my age and are going into teaching. It was also 1/3 the price of either of the UW classes (blargh!)

That's the update so far on school. Here is hoping I remember how to do homework.