Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Reaping the Benefits of St. Ben's
So next week is midterms. That means this week everyone has been freaking out about tests -- as if we haven't already been in school and taking tests for 17 years. My 3 happen to be packed into 2 days which is a pain in my butt, but I would rather have them over quick than drag out this process.
So for Law, we're going to be given a set of circumstances and then have to decide which of the federal laws we have been talking about for the last 6 weeks are applicable, apply them and argue and outcome. Pretty standard for a law class and pretty much what we've been doing in class all semester.
For Architectural History, we've got two sets of comparisons, an essay, and some slide ID. Again pretty standard for any Art or Architectural History class. The part that get tricky is that we've been inundated with info for this class including 2 new styles within the last 2 class periods. And Bob wants us to go beyond what he calls "comparing in isolation" which would be like saying, "this building is made of brick while this other one is made of wood." He wants us to push a little farther to the point of "because this building is made of brick, it's representative of the influence of English building styles in America while the fact that this building is made of wood is indicative of the fact that Americans were developing their own building traditions based on available materials." Now don't I just sound like a genius :)
But people have been complaining up a storm! Geeze Louise! They were all just memorization robots in undergrad! From what I've gathered, they went to the "here are a bunch of dates and events, memorize because there's a test next Tuesday" university where as my history undergrad experience (and CSB|SJU experience in general) was more focused on the reasons for events based on the socio-historical context of the time. Much more critical thinking, much less regurgitation.
Before coming to grad school, I was worried about the level of academic rigor, but kept hearing that CSB|SJU had prepared me better for this experience than I knew. I was a Doubting Thomas, but they were right.
That's why I have no qualms about taking a study break to vent/write this post because I spent the last 4 years learning how to study for these kinds of tests. Yeah, I'm stressed. These midterms count for a large portion of my grade because we don't have regular assignments, but I see no reason to go catatonic and lock myself in my room only to emerge Monday morning looking like a feral dog.
So now it's back to the 120 flashcards of random buildings and trying to keep the NHPA, NEPA, and Section 4(f) straight in my head, but come Monday and Tuesday, I'll be a cool cucumber. Thank the Lord for CSB|SJU.
So for Law, we're going to be given a set of circumstances and then have to decide which of the federal laws we have been talking about for the last 6 weeks are applicable, apply them and argue and outcome. Pretty standard for a law class and pretty much what we've been doing in class all semester.
For Architectural History, we've got two sets of comparisons, an essay, and some slide ID. Again pretty standard for any Art or Architectural History class. The part that get tricky is that we've been inundated with info for this class including 2 new styles within the last 2 class periods. And Bob wants us to go beyond what he calls "comparing in isolation" which would be like saying, "this building is made of brick while this other one is made of wood." He wants us to push a little farther to the point of "because this building is made of brick, it's representative of the influence of English building styles in America while the fact that this building is made of wood is indicative of the fact that Americans were developing their own building traditions based on available materials." Now don't I just sound like a genius :)
But people have been complaining up a storm! Geeze Louise! They were all just memorization robots in undergrad! From what I've gathered, they went to the "here are a bunch of dates and events, memorize because there's a test next Tuesday" university where as my history undergrad experience (and CSB|SJU experience in general) was more focused on the reasons for events based on the socio-historical context of the time. Much more critical thinking, much less regurgitation.
Before coming to grad school, I was worried about the level of academic rigor, but kept hearing that CSB|SJU had prepared me better for this experience than I knew. I was a Doubting Thomas, but they were right.
That's why I have no qualms about taking a study break to vent/write this post because I spent the last 4 years learning how to study for these kinds of tests. Yeah, I'm stressed. These midterms count for a large portion of my grade because we don't have regular assignments, but I see no reason to go catatonic and lock myself in my room only to emerge Monday morning looking like a feral dog.
So now it's back to the 120 flashcards of random buildings and trying to keep the NHPA, NEPA, and Section 4(f) straight in my head, but come Monday and Tuesday, I'll be a cool cucumber. Thank the Lord for CSB|SJU.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Grow it. Row it.
So this weekend in Vermont was quite possibly the most beautiful of them all since I arrived. High 70s and sunny the whole weekend. Unfortunately, I had to be at a retreat for my work study job all day Saturday while some of my friends went hiking, but I guess that's part of being a grown up. Can't play all the time. But Sunday was fun time!
Every year for the past 4 years, Burlington has held a pumpkin regatta. The premise here is that people grow GIANT pumpkins, carve them out into boats, sit in them and then paddle around on Lake Champlain as they race other crazy pumpkin dwellers. We finally found the races after a frustrating and excruciatingly long quest to find a parking space, but it was worth it. The first race we saw, one of the competitors was struggling so she decided to hitch a ride on the strongest paddler and just let him drag her to the finish line. It was working pretty well for a while, but then close to the finish line, her pumpkin started to take on water and then it was sinking. So she jumped ship onto the other guy's pumpkin. Good idea in theory, but it's amazing that a pumpkin can support one person and impossible that it'll support two, so they both went down. Good thing it was 80+ degrees so it probably felt good to get in the water anyway.
It was just hilarious to watch these people racing pumpkins and see how seriously they took it! And the crowd was intense too! We wandered around a little in between races, got some pizza and marveled at all of the dogs that were everywhere. I need to get a dog.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Church Street -- a 3-4 block long pedestrian shopping area. And then went back to the apartment to watch some football and make the most delicious, random-contents-of-the-fridge dinner ever.
Every year for the past 4 years, Burlington has held a pumpkin regatta. The premise here is that people grow GIANT pumpkins, carve them out into boats, sit in them and then paddle around on Lake Champlain as they race other crazy pumpkin dwellers. We finally found the races after a frustrating and excruciatingly long quest to find a parking space, but it was worth it. The first race we saw, one of the competitors was struggling so she decided to hitch a ride on the strongest paddler and just let him drag her to the finish line. It was working pretty well for a while, but then close to the finish line, her pumpkin started to take on water and then it was sinking. So she jumped ship onto the other guy's pumpkin. Good idea in theory, but it's amazing that a pumpkin can support one person and impossible that it'll support two, so they both went down. Good thing it was 80+ degrees so it probably felt good to get in the water anyway.
It was just hilarious to watch these people racing pumpkins and see how seriously they took it! And the crowd was intense too! We wandered around a little in between races, got some pizza and marveled at all of the dogs that were everywhere. I need to get a dog.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Church Street -- a 3-4 block long pedestrian shopping area. And then went back to the apartment to watch some football and make the most delicious, random-contents-of-the-fridge dinner ever.
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