Reflections at the End of Junior Year
I've somehow finished my third year of college. It seems that each successive year has gone by faster. No doubt senior year will fly by before I've noticed it has begun, but I will try to make the most of it. The passing of time isn't bad per se; part of me wants to move on to higher things (i.e. grad school and eventually my own career), but I also feel like I never do enough with the time, and at any rate it's never coming back, so I don't want to discard it hastily behind me.
Class-wise I was happy with this past semester. I also seem to have done well, getting A's in all four classes, and bringing my GPA back up to 3.9.
Solar Physics was the first tutorial I took and though it was a fair bit of work as I had expected, it wasn't particularly hard. It was a good overview of how the sun works and what things are still being studied, though it was a bit more general and used less math than I expected for a class with physics in its name. The work for the class basically consisted of doing a lot of readings and then summarizing what we learned in power point presentations. I learned a fair bit this way and certainly gained experience giving presentations, but I feel like more discussion would have been nice an perhaps some more in depth study of some topics, though one can only cover so much. Regardless, it was nice to take an actual astronomy class, since I am doing the astrophysics major but have taken more physics than astronomy as part of that. I will have one more astronomy class next spring, which will complete that major.
Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics was my last pure physics course (i.e. not astrophysics) that I will take at Williams. It wasn't as hard as fall semester's quantum mechanics, but I liked learning how the physics we've mostly studied in terms of one or two particles applies to macroscopic matter, something that seems particularly relevant to both astrophysics and geology.
Syntactic Structure of English was an interesting course that seemed to combine elements of both Div I (English/languages/humanities/etc.) and Div III (science and math). It certainly gave me an appreciation for how complex the language can be and how a full description of the rules goes far beyond the basic grammar we learned in pre-college school. I do wonder, though, how much the rules we find are really used by our minds in forming sentences and how much they are just a formalized description of what our mind does by a less formal process. In particular, we spent the later part of the class developing a series of transformations by which some sentences are formed from an initially different deep structure, and it's hard to say whether the mind really goes through the same transformation process in forming the sentences or just forms the surface structure from the beginning. Regardless, it was interesting to think about, and I'm disappointed that Williams is getting rid of linguistics next year by not giving tenure to the one professor who teaches the subject.
Zen Buddhism History and Historiography was another interesting elective course, particularly as it gave me a lot to think about philosophically. I particularly liked Buddhism's ability to create a religion not focused on God. Buddhism is not atheistic per se, though I think it can be, but in most versions, including Zen, any gods or similar beings are not the source of ethics or enlightenment or salvation or anything like that, only one part of a wider reality that they did not create and do not rule. I also rather liked the Buddhist view of self, seen as a progression of selves moment to moment related by cause and effect rather than any actual enduring and unchanging thing. This seems to address some of the difficult philosophical problems that arise in more standard views of the self. Also (I don't know if this is quite the way Buddhism sees it, but I think it's similar, and anyway it makes sense to me), I think this view of self helps with understanding the individual's relationship to the world, since the mind and body one generally thinks of as oneself are the things most directly connected by causality to one's past self and thus have an important distinction, but the rest of the world is also affecting and being affected by this self, so the world is in some ways a part of the self and vice versa, which I think can be used as part of the foundation for an ethical system that demands concern for the world and other beings. On the other hand, some aspects of Buddhist thought were less appealing to me. Seeing attachment as the cause of suffering makes a lot of sense, and I do think we should avoid being too attached to things, but I'm not quite sure if one can give up all attachment and still be motivated to do good. Also, I find the Buddhist idea (often quite strong in Zen) that nothing is ultimately real or true to be problematic. As a scientist trying to understand nature, I'm more inclined to look for a form of enlightenment that comes from fully understanding the world than from denying it.
Well, those were my classes from spring semester. For next fall I'm signed up for Stratigraphy, Logic and Language, Divine Kingship in the Ancient Mediterranean, and of course my Senior Thesis in Geology.
I've continued to enjoy fencing as a nice break from classes, but I've been a bit disappointed with the low attendance this past semester, especially since two of the most regular attendees (and two good friends who I'll miss) are seniors graduating this spring. On top of that, our coach is moving away and I don't know if I'll be able to find another for next year. We don't need one to practice, but it is useful to have someone who really knows what he's doing come in sometimes to help us. Hopefully, I'll be able to find someone else for next year, and hopefully we'll get a nice influx of freshmen to build up the team a bit.
As for now, school is over. I got home last Sunday. On Tuesday and Wednesday I went up with Michelle to visit James and Amber, which was quite nice, though it was way too hot. I'm home now until July 11th, when I go off to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming for five weeks to do the Keck project that will become the basis of my thesis. I'm looking forward to that, but in the meantime I hope to use the next few weeks to start thinking about, writing essays for, and possibly visiting grad schools as well as to relax a bit and read and write and things like that. I'd also be happy to find a time to hang out with any of you who may be around during the next month or so.
No doubt this summer will fly by fast too, and without me getting nearly everything I intend to done, but hopefully I'll manage a decent bit.
Class-wise I was happy with this past semester. I also seem to have done well, getting A's in all four classes, and bringing my GPA back up to 3.9.
Solar Physics was the first tutorial I took and though it was a fair bit of work as I had expected, it wasn't particularly hard. It was a good overview of how the sun works and what things are still being studied, though it was a bit more general and used less math than I expected for a class with physics in its name. The work for the class basically consisted of doing a lot of readings and then summarizing what we learned in power point presentations. I learned a fair bit this way and certainly gained experience giving presentations, but I feel like more discussion would have been nice an perhaps some more in depth study of some topics, though one can only cover so much. Regardless, it was nice to take an actual astronomy class, since I am doing the astrophysics major but have taken more physics than astronomy as part of that. I will have one more astronomy class next spring, which will complete that major.
Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics was my last pure physics course (i.e. not astrophysics) that I will take at Williams. It wasn't as hard as fall semester's quantum mechanics, but I liked learning how the physics we've mostly studied in terms of one or two particles applies to macroscopic matter, something that seems particularly relevant to both astrophysics and geology.
Syntactic Structure of English was an interesting course that seemed to combine elements of both Div I (English/languages/humanities/etc.) and Div III (science and math). It certainly gave me an appreciation for how complex the language can be and how a full description of the rules goes far beyond the basic grammar we learned in pre-college school. I do wonder, though, how much the rules we find are really used by our minds in forming sentences and how much they are just a formalized description of what our mind does by a less formal process. In particular, we spent the later part of the class developing a series of transformations by which some sentences are formed from an initially different deep structure, and it's hard to say whether the mind really goes through the same transformation process in forming the sentences or just forms the surface structure from the beginning. Regardless, it was interesting to think about, and I'm disappointed that Williams is getting rid of linguistics next year by not giving tenure to the one professor who teaches the subject.
Zen Buddhism History and Historiography was another interesting elective course, particularly as it gave me a lot to think about philosophically. I particularly liked Buddhism's ability to create a religion not focused on God. Buddhism is not atheistic per se, though I think it can be, but in most versions, including Zen, any gods or similar beings are not the source of ethics or enlightenment or salvation or anything like that, only one part of a wider reality that they did not create and do not rule. I also rather liked the Buddhist view of self, seen as a progression of selves moment to moment related by cause and effect rather than any actual enduring and unchanging thing. This seems to address some of the difficult philosophical problems that arise in more standard views of the self. Also (I don't know if this is quite the way Buddhism sees it, but I think it's similar, and anyway it makes sense to me), I think this view of self helps with understanding the individual's relationship to the world, since the mind and body one generally thinks of as oneself are the things most directly connected by causality to one's past self and thus have an important distinction, but the rest of the world is also affecting and being affected by this self, so the world is in some ways a part of the self and vice versa, which I think can be used as part of the foundation for an ethical system that demands concern for the world and other beings. On the other hand, some aspects of Buddhist thought were less appealing to me. Seeing attachment as the cause of suffering makes a lot of sense, and I do think we should avoid being too attached to things, but I'm not quite sure if one can give up all attachment and still be motivated to do good. Also, I find the Buddhist idea (often quite strong in Zen) that nothing is ultimately real or true to be problematic. As a scientist trying to understand nature, I'm more inclined to look for a form of enlightenment that comes from fully understanding the world than from denying it.
Well, those were my classes from spring semester. For next fall I'm signed up for Stratigraphy, Logic and Language, Divine Kingship in the Ancient Mediterranean, and of course my Senior Thesis in Geology.
I've continued to enjoy fencing as a nice break from classes, but I've been a bit disappointed with the low attendance this past semester, especially since two of the most regular attendees (and two good friends who I'll miss) are seniors graduating this spring. On top of that, our coach is moving away and I don't know if I'll be able to find another for next year. We don't need one to practice, but it is useful to have someone who really knows what he's doing come in sometimes to help us. Hopefully, I'll be able to find someone else for next year, and hopefully we'll get a nice influx of freshmen to build up the team a bit.
As for now, school is over. I got home last Sunday. On Tuesday and Wednesday I went up with Michelle to visit James and Amber, which was quite nice, though it was way too hot. I'm home now until July 11th, when I go off to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming for five weeks to do the Keck project that will become the basis of my thesis. I'm looking forward to that, but in the meantime I hope to use the next few weeks to start thinking about, writing essays for, and possibly visiting grad schools as well as to relax a bit and read and write and things like that. I'd also be happy to find a time to hang out with any of you who may be around during the next month or so.
No doubt this summer will fly by fast too, and without me getting nearly everything I intend to done, but hopefully I'll manage a decent bit.