What we learned: 2018 edition, part 2

Freshman year of college, Part 2

Quick, before we drop Younger Daughter off for her sophomore year of college, here’s what she learned during spring semester of her freshman year.

SECOND SEMESTER

- - - - - Rhetoric with Bitzer and Burke, Oh my! - - - - -

YD: On to second semester.  I had my Rhetoric class!  In which I learned about Bitzer and Burke and the awesomeness of my T.A.  He was so epic. He was amazingly epic.

Me:  (to my Husband) “He was so epic.” That’s what we have to say about people now.

Husband:   Did you fill out a student evaluation?

YD:   I did.  He was also unfortunately the one who recommended that I go to that speaking competition.

Me:  You should go to the speaking competition.

Husband:  No, you shouldn’t.

YD:  Thank you, Dad.  Thank you for being on my side.

Me:  But you speak for the Lorax! 

YD:   Do I?

Me:  Yes!  Don’t you remember when you got the Lorax Award at Girl Scout Camp?!

Husband:  The trees have got to learn to stand up for themselves.

YD:  They should grow some roots and a spine!

Me: (pulling us back from the brink of punanity) So, Rhetoric.  What else?

YD:  We learned this whole cool thing about behavioral interactions. It was this idea that humans can change their opinions based on who is talking to them and not just based on the facts at hand, and it’s a really cool thing. 

Me:  Humans are totally unreasonable.  Totally susceptible to influence.

YD:  It’s so cool to learn about influence and how to use it.

Husband:  (defiantly):  Not me! You can’t influence me!

YD:  It’s actually been proven that that makes you easier to influence. 

- - - - - O-Chem, the overflowing unloved class - - - - -

YD: We had the second half of the Phages class, in which I learned that it is physically impossible to make teaching annotation interesting.

O-Chem was a bit of a different thing.  I learned that my brother is the most fantastic amazing older brother in the universe, even though I knew that already. 

[Her brother, while searching for a job as a chemical engineer, is doing a bang-up job as a tutor in many subjects, science and math.  He provided O-Chem tutoring to his sister gratis.]

The O-Chem professor was so passionate, and so into it!  You know, the chemistry department has one of the smallest group of graduating majors but O-Chem takes up these huge classrooms because everyone needs it for their bio majors, and none of us want to be there.  That guy was so sweet.  I feel bad for him. ….

- - - - - We Heart Genetics - - - - -

Then we had the Literature of the Americas class, in which I learned it is relatively easy to sweet-talk your professor if you are actually interested in what they are saying. 

Me: (to my Husband) Do you concur, Professor?

Husband:  No.  I am not subject to influence.

YD:  I learned that you really should stop talking whenever you really didn’t like a book and your professor really liked a book. 

At Bell Choir I found that you can have friends and they can be great people, and then they will graduate.  And then you will have more friends. 

Genetics!  Genetics is so cool!  I won’t go on a rant like I did last year. (Nevertheless, YD’s speech pace speeds up and tone goes up with excitement.) It was just like, like, I love genetics!  I love everything to do with the genome!   

[There followed a massive, excited speech about genetics.]

…. And we learned about telomeres and all this cool amazing stuff.  It was SOO cool.  And I got an A.  Which I was very happy with because I was convinced I was going to get a B. 

Me: Okay.

YD:   I went on a rant again.  I’m sorry.  (happy sigh)

And I continued with my lab work in the second semester.  In which I learned that it is okay to move on. 

Me: What do you mean?

YD: I mean, even if you spent a lot of time and effort getting to where you are, it is okay to move on from it.

- - - - -

And so, Dear Reader, in three days we move on to sophomore year!

That bell choir played some pretty complicated music.

(You can read about First Semester here.)