If I were to change one thing about my first year at UMD I would have tried to incorporate a little more organization into my routine. This would have helped me in many different areas. Although it didn't necessarily hurt me that I wasn't very organized, I believe that if I were more organized it would have made managing things a lot easier. Schoolwork and other activities I participated in would have been a lot easier to schedule if I had done a better job planning my time. Doing this would have given me a better idea of how my day and week would run. This would have given me the chance to possibly get ahead in some of my classes, and the feeling of having your work done is one of the best stress relievers. Organization is also an effective tool against procrastination, the thing we all do when we're not excited about something. Procrastination was one of my big problems in my first year at UMD, be better organized and don't let it be yours.
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If there was one thing I could redo my first year at UMD I wouldn't have gone in undecided. I was interested in International Studies, but chose to enter as undecided to keep my options open. Now that I have been in the program I am sure I would have rather entered with any possible major because now I have wasted a semester, and I am still just as sure that I want to pursue that major because I have not been able to take many classes that apply to it. As soon as I chose "undecided" I was stuck into choosing a group of courses called a "learning community". That basically means that you have to take certain courses and you are required to be in a learning community seminar class that meets twice a week, and is only worth one credit. It has a lot of writing and takes up as much homework time (if not more) than most of my other classes. There is also a hold placed on your record so you can not register for classes the next semester until you meet with your advisor. This normally wouldn't be a bad thing, but if you miss that meeting you have to reschedule for later than your register time, and you can lose a lot of class openings for no real reason. Over all I think I would have been better off starting with a declared major and going from there.
Upon changing any aspect of my first semester education, that aspect would undoubtedly be the choice of a major. Because I did not chooose a major, I have been subjugated into suffering through a pointelss calss called CLA 1001.
Beloved Links: Thelonious Monk: the master of ryhthm. Minnesota Music
Had I indeed chosen a line of coursework, my generals still would be complete. I could also have a free hour between lunch and Jazz band in which to regroup myslef. With the extra time I would harvest from this action, I would be indeed motivated to explore majors on my own time with an increased conviction. I have focused on school adequately, I believe. My living situation, social interactions and general lifestyle are always in question, but their situation pales in comparison to the exorbatent suffering and mental castration inflicted up the dying embers of my sould by the CLA 1001 class, especially the instructor, whom I will call "Colonel Think."
Like a psychotic sniper, his attacks, in the form of dreary class periods, have torn into my flesh, weakening my very desire to exist and function within society. Now, the only way out of this mind numbing animal trap is to finish the job my conniving instructor started, to somehow trudge through the muck of beaurocracy and hope tomorrow I won't end up watching trading spaces with my wife, who makes me dress up in girl-clothes and smoke crack while she evily waxes my body hair and slices profanities into my skin with a razor blade. Indeed I need to find a major and someday a job.
