Tuesday, May 12, 2009

One down, many thousands of dollars left to go

Hooray! Yay! Wahoo! Woohoo! Yippee! Yeehaw! Bada-bing, bada-boom! And all the other sounds of excited celebration!

I have completed my very first semester of my graduate career! I am now 10 credits closer to being a MN licensed teacher and a person with an MA. As if that isn't exciting enough, I am also done with GED 7875: Schools and Society!

On the last night of this hellish class, we had a potluck. While most people brought either desserts or veggie trays, there were some substantial parts of a meal, and there was a few hot dishes. (Clarification: I do not mean "hot dishes" as in casseroles. I mean "hot dishes" as in food items that are meant to be served above room temperature.) All of the food was placed on the table in the front of the room. Then, we were told to sit at our tables, and the prof began to speak really slowly and boringly about things we already covered. Also, he really wasn't giving any information, more just reading questions we had written and then saying "yes", "no", or, my favorite, "it depends". This is really not helpful at all. Worst of all, he was standing right in front of all the food.

For an hour we listened to this man talk uninformatively to himself as we watched our food get cold. During this hour of torture, this man had the nerve to comment on our attentiveness. He mocked our blank stares, ignored our glares, and seemed unable to interpret our absent clicking of pens, eye-rolling, and audible groans.

We did eventually get to eat, but by then the food that was supposed to be hot was cold and the food that was supposed to be cold was room temperature. I love samosas, but they are really not meant to be served cold. In fact, they are rather nasty cold. I tried to eat one anyway, because the poor man that brought them was so excited to share with us, and he had gone through a lot of trouble to bring them to us hot.

I guess it was a good thing no one brought ice cream.

Fortunately, it is over. And don't even get me started on the lecture my Exceptionality prof gave me on my "feelings". Apparently I am not allowed to feel that my peers are disrespectful. Even when they are. Apparently, it is not appropriate to judge people by their behavior. Well GEEZ! Ok. I'm done.

Now, happily, I have 2 1/2 weeks before my second semester starts up. And I'm sure that will be delightful.