This is as good a time as any to give my general update on my last semester of school ... *ever*. crazy. By now, the only classes I actually needed to graduate was my studio, and, to finish my math minor, an upper-level math course. But I still needed to be full time (ie at least 12 credit hours), so I ended up taking studio (obviously) (5 hr), non-euclidean geometry (3 hr), painting (3 hr), and then to round it off, country western dancing (1 hr). I already had my art and my PE credits, but I've always wanted to try painting since I knew I'd never actually try oil painting on my own and since I really liked my watercolor class so much. As for PE, they're easy, 1 hour courses that only meet once a week and have no homework, and you can take as many as you want from dozens of options. But I must admit, I never thought that I'd have taken two extra PE classes by the time I graduated, lol.
I'll start with Country Dance - having lived in Texas for nearly twelve years, I figured it was about time I learned how to country dance, esp. since it seems so essential here, it's just something you do for fun. In class, we learned the basics of Cotton-Eyed Joe and the 10-step (two dances that are danced side to side with your partner), and Country Waltz, Polka, Two-Step, and Jitterbug. It was a bit easier coming into this one after having taken ballroom dancing last semester, partly because several of the dances were similar (jitterbug had similar steps to swing and the waltzes were practically identical except that in country waltz, you don't have to be quite as formal/graceful) and partly because I was familiar with how the dance class was run (ie dance tests every other week and constantly having to switch partners, who may or may not really understand what's going on). Plus, it was so much fun being able to take what I learned from class and use it on the dance floor when Danny and I would join a bunch of friends and go to the Hall on Thursday nights (only one dollar entrance fee on Thursdays). I really liked this class, for the most part ... the final was simply awful because I got stuck with the one really arrogant guy and a terrible dancer - bad combination. But otherwise, I really enjoyed the class and did well - got my A.
Geometry - I've definitely had mixed feelings about my math minor. The first two classes, Calculus 1 and 2, were a breeze, mostly since I had it in high school and it always came easy to me. The next class, Abstract Discrete Mathematics, was pure awful, one of the hardest classes I've ever taken, and my one and only C. ever. Waaay too much theory and proofs and symbols for me, no numbers at all, plus a teacher who was clueless. The fourth class was Linear Algebra. Once I got into it and remembered my basics of matrices, I enjoyed this class. It was more of a challenge for me to understand than calculus, but it was back to numbers and with a good teacher, and I did pretty well, managing to scrape an A. So, to my last class. When I started my minor, I made sure and mapped out what classes to take now so that by the end, I'd have lots of options... of course, along the way, all the courses got revamped, including getting new pre-requisites, which meant that now, the only two classes that would fulfill my math minor requirement and that I could even take were either Linear Algebra 2, or Non-Euclidean Geometry. *Sigh* I liked Linear Algebra, but one section of our class was practically impossible for me because I hadn't taken Differentials class before, but I scraped by. Linear Algebra 2 is almost completely based on that section ... so, I decided, let's take geometry! lol.
The class was ... better than Discrete Math, but worse than Linear Algebra. The teacher was good and knew what he was doing, but I didn't. For those who don't know, Non-Euclidean Geometry basically tells you that what you thought was geometry back in high school is only one theory of geometry - here are the other ways you can look at geometry, and then proceed to give you all new definitions to things that were defined differently in high school. A little much to grasp all at once, but it was more interesting that discrete mathematics (I had zero interest in that), so that helped in making it easier to understand ... will I ever use it again? ... will I actually remember any of it? highly doubtful, but oh well. I got a B in the class, so I'm good.
0 comments:
Post a Comment