Days 16, 17, and 18- Week 2 of class

So, the past 3 days have been fairly uneventful. They have consisted of me going to class, and trying to get some travel planning done, all while reading, studying, hanging out with new people, and deciding what i am going to take senior year when I return, in addition to research opportunities, financial aid headaches with the university, and...
Well, you get the point.
So, let's talk about classes, shall we? My most enlightening and enjoyable class thus far is...
American Civil War. The teacher is a New Zealander, and is damn good at his job. He speaks in a way that keeps you at rapt attention. I would love to record his lectures, but we aren't allowed. He teaches the class much differently than at home. The outside perspective is doing significant good for my understanding of the historical period. On Tuesday, I got guilted into becoming the class representative for my history class- it isn't hard, it only requires one day a month to go to some meetings, but it will look good on my CV (Curriculum Vitae, or resume, for you uncultured heathens out there). I also joined the magazine committee for the student village (where I live), which basically consists of me taking tons of photos.

My photography class will be fun, but we haven’t done any photos yet- we know how to work our cameras, but currently we are only working with photograms. A photogram is like a photograph. When you use the darkroom equipment to make a photograph from film (you use something called an enlarger), light passes through the film and hits the paper, exposing parts of it. Well, when you want to, you can just not put in any film, and place objects over the paper. For example, I put a spoon over the paper, and expose it. The paper turns black when developed, except where I put the spoon, which stays white (as it was not exposed). The results are interesting and high contrast images that are very easy to make. They allow us to learn our darkroom technique before we try on film.

My biochemistry class is a mix of boring and hilarious. The closest personality I could match my professor with is that of the mad scientist Walter from the tv show ‘Fringe’. He is very serious, and takes his job seriously, but he is old and absent minded, and inadvertently says the most hilarious things without realizing how funny they are.
Example:

He refers to babies as ‘it’, not he or she. When describing how babies need to be flexible to come through the birth canal (no idea what bearing this has on biochemistry, mind you) he gives a practical example. If an old person falls, they are likely to break something. If you are changing a baby’s diaper, however, and it falls off the table, it won’t break. It’s elastic! However, babies have to harden quickly, or they will be eaten by other, baby-eating things.

So those are my classes. Much more work than I anticipated.

Only other 2 things I can think of is that last night (Tuesday night) we had a horror night for our block, and watched “strangers”. The movie wasn’t great, but it was a good bonding experience and my entire pod of 6 people showed up. I feel like it was a good way for us all to get to know one another better, and I almost feel like we are a little family. Also, we consistently laughed at the Chinese guy behind us (who went caving with us) who screamed like a little girl at each jumpy moment. Ahh, good times.
Well, I have to go to dinner. That is all, for now. Until later, keep reading!