Borders
This is sort of an abstraction... but I've realized that all of my classes this quarter involve, in some way, the examination or use of borders and boundaries, and in some cases crossing them, in others, tearng them down.
::GE Seminar 70C "Progress or Peril" - A technology/science and ethics class, where we debate a lot about how and why lines get drawn in the ethics department and what constitutes science that is ok, and what is crossing the line. And I'm also reading Cheaper By The Dozen. Don't ask.
::German 61A "The Cultural History of Berlin" - This one's pretty literal. I mean we look at a lot of maps, figure out a lot of borders, and we're reading about / will be spending an inordinate amount of time on the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain and so on and so forth. This may seem like a really random class... and it is. It's almost entirely digital and the professor must be like 5 years older than me, max, and it's insanely fun, regardless.
::History 2D "Science, Magic and Religion" - Exactly like it sounds. So far, we've been defining those three categories, and our first discussion section comprised of setting up the boundaries between them... turns out they have a lot in common and there's a lot of overlap. Makes for tremendous debates. Also, been making some cool friends in there; this one girl looks like a cross between Jennifer Bush from back home, and that girl from the OC, which is very disconcerting, thinking you're recognizing two people at once. And our professor... I'm convinced she's a believer in, if not a practicer of, arcane magics. She certainly dresses like it. Or like something anyways. I mean, how many PhD carrying college professors do you know who come to class in green bell-bottoms and torn sweaters one day, and black lace miniskirts the next?
::Theater 30 "Writing for Comedy" - Ok, this has very little to do with boundaries of borders, except for following the easily breakable rules of stage and screenwriting. But I mean... we got to watch Elf in class. I fucking love this school.
In other news, San Diego continues to amaze me. After a night of go cart racing (DeAndre is such a punk; as soon as I passed him, he rammed me into the side of the track and EVERYONE passed me by *shakes menacing fist*) and playing lazer tag against girls (whose highest score was 125, which is amazing compared to my modest *coughsix-hundred-twenty-fivecough* total), Alison and I woke up at 5.10am and hit the road to SD. The UCSD campus is stunning, right by the ocean, FLAT, easy to navigate and really laid-back and welcoming. I was thoroughly impressed, especially by the speakers. Like the one guy who worked for the FBI as an undergrad and then joined a local SWAT team. All in all, I think that, had I applied/gotten in to UCSD, based solely on the impressions of that trip and my first impressions, I'd probably be there right now instead of here. That's not to say I would ever want to switch, I mean I think I go to the most amazing school on the planet, but I'm just saying it wouldn't be too bad.
And then we ventured to Downtown, which is architecturally amazing (I especially like the twin towers) and clean, with a ton of character to it. After some keen navigation and steep hills and one-way near-disasters, we circumnavigated the main part of town and got out to Coronado Island, which is similarly gorgeous, and kicked it on the beach. All in all, a very cool, very happy place, where I could see myself spending a lot of time. Summer plans anyone?
::GE Seminar 70C "Progress or Peril" - A technology/science and ethics class, where we debate a lot about how and why lines get drawn in the ethics department and what constitutes science that is ok, and what is crossing the line. And I'm also reading Cheaper By The Dozen. Don't ask.
::German 61A "The Cultural History of Berlin" - This one's pretty literal. I mean we look at a lot of maps, figure out a lot of borders, and we're reading about / will be spending an inordinate amount of time on the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain and so on and so forth. This may seem like a really random class... and it is. It's almost entirely digital and the professor must be like 5 years older than me, max, and it's insanely fun, regardless.
::History 2D "Science, Magic and Religion" - Exactly like it sounds. So far, we've been defining those three categories, and our first discussion section comprised of setting up the boundaries between them... turns out they have a lot in common and there's a lot of overlap. Makes for tremendous debates. Also, been making some cool friends in there; this one girl looks like a cross between Jennifer Bush from back home, and that girl from the OC, which is very disconcerting, thinking you're recognizing two people at once. And our professor... I'm convinced she's a believer in, if not a practicer of, arcane magics. She certainly dresses like it. Or like something anyways. I mean, how many PhD carrying college professors do you know who come to class in green bell-bottoms and torn sweaters one day, and black lace miniskirts the next?
::Theater 30 "Writing for Comedy" - Ok, this has very little to do with boundaries of borders, except for following the easily breakable rules of stage and screenwriting. But I mean... we got to watch Elf in class. I fucking love this school.
In other news, San Diego continues to amaze me. After a night of go cart racing (DeAndre is such a punk; as soon as I passed him, he rammed me into the side of the track and EVERYONE passed me by *shakes menacing fist*) and playing lazer tag against girls (whose highest score was 125, which is amazing compared to my modest *coughsix-hundred-twenty-fivecough* total), Alison and I woke up at 5.10am and hit the road to SD. The UCSD campus is stunning, right by the ocean, FLAT, easy to navigate and really laid-back and welcoming. I was thoroughly impressed, especially by the speakers. Like the one guy who worked for the FBI as an undergrad and then joined a local SWAT team. All in all, I think that, had I applied/gotten in to UCSD, based solely on the impressions of that trip and my first impressions, I'd probably be there right now instead of here. That's not to say I would ever want to switch, I mean I think I go to the most amazing school on the planet, but I'm just saying it wouldn't be too bad.
And then we ventured to Downtown, which is architecturally amazing (I especially like the twin towers) and clean, with a ton of character to it. After some keen navigation and steep hills and one-way near-disasters, we circumnavigated the main part of town and got out to Coronado Island, which is similarly gorgeous, and kicked it on the beach. All in all, a very cool, very happy place, where I could see myself spending a lot of time. Summer plans anyone?