All posts by Becca

Fall 2013 Semester Review

Now that my grades are in and the semester is completely and forever finished (hallelujah!) it’s time for the review of my classes. I took five classes this semester for 15 credits, and was finally able to get into some of my core business classes, which was nice. I did have a few difficult classes, but I also had some easy ones so it easily balanced out.

Accounting 210
I had a really wonderful professor for this class, so I actually kind of enjoyed it. Not remotely enough to even consider majoring in Accounting, because let’s be honest, I would probably shoot myself if I did. Even though I had a great professor, it was a difficult class. I think because it was such a large class size (about 160 students) and it was the first time the class was taught with so many students, it was more challenging. Overall though, I did enjoy the class and felt like I’ve taken away a lot from it.

Credits: 3Grade: A

Economics 202
I really don’t like economics, and this class just confirmed that even more. It was a relatively easy course – though I really don’t know why because I was lost about 90% of the time and just guessed most of my way through the homework. I guess I’m a good guesser? I also managed to somehow ace most of my tests – again, more miracles.

My professor was a nice guy, but he was extremely boring. He also used the word “irregardlessly” entirely too much. First off, that’s not a word, and secondly, it’s not a word. So that was kind of annoying. But I would take him again, because he was really great working with students and did really care about how his students did. I did have some confusion with one assignment and he gave me more than adequate help on it. He also accidentally misgraded one of my tests and when I asked him about, was really apologetic and fixed it right away. Awful class, but a great guy.

Credits: 3
Grade: A

Physics 140
I told myself after I took physics in high school that I would never, ever take another physics class in my life. I literally had nightmares about that class. But I needed another science credit for my degree and this class isn’t really a physics class – it’s really a physical science class. And as I hate science, I can totally do ninth grade physical science. In college. And online.

I hadn’t taken an online class before, so I was a little nervous, but I really liked the way that my professor set it up. She was very organized and very thorough, and gave you enough time to finish assignments considering it wasn’t in an actual classroom and didn’t have specific meeting times. If all online classes were set up this way I would definitely take more. I really enjoyed being able to listen to lectures in my pajamas in my bed.

Credits: 3
Grade: A

Political Science 210
This class should really be entitled Communism 210 because my professor was definitely a commie and definitely hilarious. Coming into the class, I was pretty nervous because I don’t like talking about politics and I don’t like politics. My professor gave a really interesting spin however on American History and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t agree on most of his points, but he made really strong arguments and gave a lot of valid points that makes you really reconsider what you think about pretty much everything in politics.

It was also really refreshing to be taught by someone who is outside of the American political debate – or more specifically, is neither a Republican nor a Democrat so he just present facts, not biased arguments. He wasn’t on anyone’s sides in debates so it made debates actual debates and not party-bashing. The coarse work was really light as well. We only had three exams, a little bit of participation, and then the final that made up our grade. The exams were online and open note, but they were extremely long (first one was 164 questions…) and extremely difficult. It was nice, however, to not have to worry about homework and assignments.

Credits: 3
Grade: A

Computer Applications in Management 202
This was my blow-off class, to say the least. We worked with Excel and Access, which I was already fairly familiar with. Our professor would take us step by step though tutorials, and then the assignments would be exactly the same, so you would have to try to not do well on them. Her reviews for tests were exactly like the tests as well, so those were also easy.

Even though everything was so easy, I still learned a fair amount. My professor was very kind and also very understanding that to a lot of students, this was easy so she was flexible with people working ahead and/or working on other things. She was also very patient with students who didn’t understand, which we had several of.

Credits: 3
Grade: A

Overall this semester, I made a 4.0 which I’m really proud of. I’m especially proud of that because I also managed to achieve that while working 30+ hours a week and having (somewhat of a) social life. Let’s hope that next semester will go just as well!

Hey there, 2014

New Year’s Eve is always an extra party for my family because New Year’s Day/January 1st is my mother’s birthday. Ever since I can remember, my family always had friends over and we ate all kinds of junk food and stayed up till midnight. I invited Andrew and my friend Jacqueline over as well and we hung out in the basement with my brother Steven while the old folks stayed upstairs, haha.

Our hangouts are always pretty lazy for New Year’s. We all piled our plates with toasted raviolis, queso dip, meatballs, little smokies, and leftover Christmas cookies and candies. Steven got me Fight Club for Christmas – partly as a joke because I hate Brad Pitt – so we started with that movie.

Once it ended, we talked about high school and all the pranks we pulled on our teachers and how much Andrew and Jacqueline copied off of me for homework assignments and all the pranks he still does to a teacher that lives up the street from us. It was really fun but also a little nostalgic; am I really that old now to be talking about high school like that?

After midnight, we all started acting a little weird. Sometime around 4AM Jacqueline said she was stronger than Steven and leg wrestling matches ensued. Andrew beat everyone, which was hilarious.

But mainly we just talked – I can’t even tell you what about. Well, it was mainly Jacqueline and Steven that talked and me and Andrew occasionally interjected. I had had a little bit of wine and was feeling really sleepy. I must’ve dozed off because when I woke back up a different movie was in. I fell asleep again. I found out later they watched two more movies and didn’t go to sleep until like 10AM, haha. It was kind of weird seeing my friend and my brother talk so easily and openly with each other. There’s a five year gap between me and him, so my friends weren’t his friends and his friends weren’t mine. Then again, it was probably just the alcohol.

It was a fun night and a good start to 2014 being with friends and family.

Last year I had three goals for 2013: 1) to read 52 books, 2) to get a 3.5+GPA and 3) to blog more. I can happily say that I did read 52 books in 2013 and I got a 4.0 for both semesters. As for blogging more, I’m not sure if I blogged more, but I still blogged, so that should count, haha. This wasn’t a goal, but I actually lost weight and stayed pretty healthy, so that’s just an extra bonus. :)

I feel that 2014 is going to be a difficult year for me: Andrew will be staying in Kansas City this summer while I go home to Saint Louis, which is going to be very hard for me; I need to find an internship for the summer and fall (and hopefully throughout the rest of my college career); I’ll be entering my junior year where I should probably figure out what I want to do and my minors and emphases and whatnot; I’m a little scared.

I guess you could consider those things goals in themselves, but I feel they’re just life things, not something I need to write down and commit to for 2014. Either they’ll happen or they won’t. That’s life. (I’m sorry. I’m going to stop being cynical now.)

So. This is my goal for the year:

1. Read 52 books. I did it last year, so I know that I can do it again. Plus I love to read, and sometimes with school and work, I don’t make time for it and I want to make time for it. I’ve already finished Legend by Marie Lu – which was excellent and I would highly recommend – and am halfway through Prodigy, the second book in the trilogy. I love reading.

Happy 2014!