The First Week of Classes
The Winter Semester is here. Last week started off the semester and I felt that I was ready for the change from the classes of the previous semester. When I had signed up for classes in November and spent the subsequent weeks refining and contemplating out each class I wanted to take and each class I needed to take, I had to draw out a road map to graduation for myself. The classes I initially signed myself up for in November were the ones that I was going to be taking this semester after I was done mapping out what need to be taken and in what order, but at the same time a couple of other considerations including a work schedule needed to be added into my planning.
This past week though brought on some reflexion on if what I had decided to try tackle this semester was going to be worth it or not. I scheduled all but one class that directly or indirectly were related to my major in Statistics. That means that of the seven classes that I am taking this semester 4 are from the statistics department and 2 are from the math department. The last class is my religion class needed in part to graduate from BYU and in part in order to attend my current ward.
Isolating out my actual schedule, this is the first semester that I am not in the same class every day of the week; I am on campus everyday of the week, but I am not in the same class. I like the layout of the week and at the same time I am not to fond of how it worked out.
I end up having classes from 8 to 11 each day of the week, after which I go to work from 11 to 2:30 [Tuesdays it's 3:15] at which point I walk back up to campus to go to an afternoon class. After that class I will walk down to work and work for an hour or two each evening. That process is done Monday thru Thursday. On Friday the operation is different, that is my 'half day' I go to class from 8 to 11, but at the same time I go home to do homework or what else.
Over the last week I have been working refining my schedule for the semester. Every semester I get to sit down with my boss/supervisor and review the previous semester's work and go over what the current semester will entail. On Wednesday I did a quick sit down with Mark, my boss, and went over what I was expecting to work over the next semester so he would have an idea of when to expect me into work and when I would be around. I dont think it was 24 hours after that point when that had to be revised, one of my statistics classes require that I attend a lab for another stats class this semester and until I am informed which of my preferred times that I will be assigned a lab to attend it is up in the air on whether I need to adjust my temporary work schedule or not.
Additionally, I have found it a good thing to set aside time each day for homework and other activities that I want to do. I set aside a certain time for each of my classes to do homework, I came to a discovery that each of time slot in my mind to do homework in needed to be slightly longer, not that the material was harder than expected but rather the homework assigned was significant enough to demand more of time than I thought I would need.