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So, as I've mentioned before, work has been nuts. I've been keeping myself a little bit more sane by listening to university lectures downloaded via itunesU. Turns out, it's a lot easier for me to concentrate on my stuff while I'm listening to them. But my job requires a lot of mind-numbing data entry, so I guess it isn't that surprising.
And more than anything else, it reminds me just how much I miss going to university lectures. It's something I always really, really enjoyed. Well, okay, most of my classes weren't lecture-based; they were discussion-based. This is because my university was small, and most of the literature classes were really small. But y'know what I mean.
I've been rotating through these:
-Ancient Greek History
-Epidemics in Western Society
-Early Imperial Russia
-France Since 1871
So far the Ancient Greece one is pretty basic stuff, but it's nice to have a refresher since I haven't touched anything related to the subject in a while, and I've run into a few things that I'd either forgotten or never learned in the first place. It's weird but I... think that even though I took Classics as a minor, I never did an intro Ancient Greece course when I was in school. I'm pretty sure that the broad overview classes I took were Rome, and then Egypt, and that the Greek stuff I learned mainly from the Ancient Greek Art and Architecture course (which was fucking amazing; I loved it) and also from the Epic Literature course (woohoo Homer :D ). But I don't... really remember. Hmm. :|a
The Epidemics lectures have started with the Bubonic Plague, and most of it's a refresher of stuff that I read about in John Kelly's The Great Mortality. But after that it moves on - I just haven't gotten to that part yet - to smallpox and cholera and all that fun stuff. I really wish I would have been able to take a course like this in school, because I like learning about epidemics, and I like history-of-science stuff, and... yeah, I would've had a lot of fun with something like that.
Imperial Russia - I haven't listened to a lot of that one because the lectures are longer. The first couple involved things that I (mostly) already knew, since they were (mostly) discussing stuff like the Rus and trade routes and Swedes settling in what is now Ukraine and all that. And the lecturer enthusing at length about how big and tough these guys were. (Sounds like you have a Thing for vikings, mate). OH but then the third lecture started getting into Mongols and Tartars and a ton of stuff that I didn't know anything about, so I expect that a lot of this will be completely new to me.
The France course... a lot of the time I'm left going "6_9 What?" because most of it is COMPLETELY outside of my area of knowledge. I know basically nothing about France, period. (Er, aside from what Hugo tl;dred about in Les Mis, I guess? Which, well, fiction. But.) And the lecturer likes to go on these digressions sometimes... I think that if I had taken this as an actual course when I was in school, it'd be one of those classes where I'd really enjoy the class, but would have to pay really particular attention to the readings.
Anyway. So, yeah, I'm really enjoying listening to these. And when I'm done with them I'll poke around and find some more to listen to. Both because I miss being able to go to lectures - and also because it's an easy way to learn a few things without having to read through a brick of a history book. ... Not that this kind of thing replaces books, of course, but sometimes it takes me ages to read 'em. And history books aren't very easy to get where I live unless you order them. (The cost! The time! UGH. But I think I've complained about the lack of variety that's readily available here before).
I'm also still listening to Welcome to Night Vale. It's not bad. I think that I mostly preferred the earlier episodes (I just finished ep 28 today) but I do plan to listen to the rest and form my judgment after I've finished what's available. I find myself very Not Interested in Cecil and Carlos's relationship so far. I like Cecil! I like Carlos! But Cecil's verbal flailing just makes me go "Can we please get back to the news already?!" ... Well, okay, I mostly just had that reaction in the date episode. Maybe I just prefer them together in small doses? Well, we'll see how the rest of the episodes play out. (Mostly, what I want to hear more about is wtf is going on with Dana and the Dog Park. But since ep 30 is titled after her, I'll probably find out something soon! No spoilers, please. :D )
I've also been listening to A Prairie Home Companion. Well, okay, just the News From Lake Wobegon segments that get put up for free on itunes. I've been really, really enjoying it, and I'm so happy that there's a huge backlog of segments for me to listen to because I'm completely in love with it. It's very funny and witty, and I keep coming across cultural aspects that I identify with/recognize from my own family. That's a little odd, since there is little cultural crossover - my family isn't from Minnesota, isn't of Scandinavian descent, isn't Lutheran - but there seem to be some things that are common to small northern towns in North America no matter what the details are. Maybe. ... Also I really love Pastor Liz as a character and if I weren't so terrible about getting good ideas for stories outside my main fandom, I would totally write canon-flavour fic about her.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3331382.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
And more than anything else, it reminds me just how much I miss going to university lectures. It's something I always really, really enjoyed. Well, okay, most of my classes weren't lecture-based; they were discussion-based. This is because my university was small, and most of the literature classes were really small. But y'know what I mean.
I've been rotating through these:
-Ancient Greek History
-Epidemics in Western Society
-Early Imperial Russia
-France Since 1871
So far the Ancient Greece one is pretty basic stuff, but it's nice to have a refresher since I haven't touched anything related to the subject in a while, and I've run into a few things that I'd either forgotten or never learned in the first place. It's weird but I... think that even though I took Classics as a minor, I never did an intro Ancient Greece course when I was in school. I'm pretty sure that the broad overview classes I took were Rome, and then Egypt, and that the Greek stuff I learned mainly from the Ancient Greek Art and Architecture course (which was fucking amazing; I loved it) and also from the Epic Literature course (woohoo Homer :D ). But I don't... really remember. Hmm. :|a
The Epidemics lectures have started with the Bubonic Plague, and most of it's a refresher of stuff that I read about in John Kelly's The Great Mortality. But after that it moves on - I just haven't gotten to that part yet - to smallpox and cholera and all that fun stuff. I really wish I would have been able to take a course like this in school, because I like learning about epidemics, and I like history-of-science stuff, and... yeah, I would've had a lot of fun with something like that.
Imperial Russia - I haven't listened to a lot of that one because the lectures are longer. The first couple involved things that I (mostly) already knew, since they were (mostly) discussing stuff like the Rus and trade routes and Swedes settling in what is now Ukraine and all that. And the lecturer enthusing at length about how big and tough these guys were. (Sounds like you have a Thing for vikings, mate). OH but then the third lecture started getting into Mongols and Tartars and a ton of stuff that I didn't know anything about, so I expect that a lot of this will be completely new to me.
The France course... a lot of the time I'm left going "6_9 What?" because most of it is COMPLETELY outside of my area of knowledge. I know basically nothing about France, period. (Er, aside from what Hugo tl;dred about in Les Mis, I guess? Which, well, fiction. But.) And the lecturer likes to go on these digressions sometimes... I think that if I had taken this as an actual course when I was in school, it'd be one of those classes where I'd really enjoy the class, but would have to pay really particular attention to the readings.
Anyway. So, yeah, I'm really enjoying listening to these. And when I'm done with them I'll poke around and find some more to listen to. Both because I miss being able to go to lectures - and also because it's an easy way to learn a few things without having to read through a brick of a history book. ... Not that this kind of thing replaces books, of course, but sometimes it takes me ages to read 'em. And history books aren't very easy to get where I live unless you order them. (The cost! The time! UGH. But I think I've complained about the lack of variety that's readily available here before).
I'm also still listening to Welcome to Night Vale. It's not bad. I think that I mostly preferred the earlier episodes (I just finished ep 28 today) but I do plan to listen to the rest and form my judgment after I've finished what's available. I find myself very Not Interested in Cecil and Carlos's relationship so far. I like Cecil! I like Carlos! But Cecil's verbal flailing just makes me go "Can we please get back to the news already?!" ... Well, okay, I mostly just had that reaction in the date episode. Maybe I just prefer them together in small doses? Well, we'll see how the rest of the episodes play out. (Mostly, what I want to hear more about is wtf is going on with Dana and the Dog Park. But since ep 30 is titled after her, I'll probably find out something soon! No spoilers, please. :D )
I've also been listening to A Prairie Home Companion. Well, okay, just the News From Lake Wobegon segments that get put up for free on itunes. I've been really, really enjoying it, and I'm so happy that there's a huge backlog of segments for me to listen to because I'm completely in love with it. It's very funny and witty, and I keep coming across cultural aspects that I identify with/recognize from my own family. That's a little odd, since there is little cultural crossover - my family isn't from Minnesota, isn't of Scandinavian descent, isn't Lutheran - but there seem to be some things that are common to small northern towns in North America no matter what the details are. Maybe. ... Also I really love Pastor Liz as a character and if I weren't so terrible about getting good ideas for stories outside my main fandom, I would totally write canon-flavour fic about her.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3331382.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.