My First Day of Class

Today was the first day of class! Unfortunately (to me), my first class wasn’t until 1:50 this afternoon, so when people asked me at lunch how my classes were, I wasn’t able to give them an answer! (And because I also have an evening class on Mondays, my answer to that question was pretty much the same at dinner.)

I guess it’s not such a bad thing that I had to wait for my first class though. I actually got up at around 8:30 this morning to work on unpacking more of my things and to go print out some course materials at the library. After a little downtime, I went to Decker to check out the annual Welcome Week poster sale and then had lunch with a couple of friends in Glar.

On my way back to my dorm from lunch, I stopped by the brand new Center for Experience and Opportunity (CEO), which is still under construction, and was able to say hi to Jim Mayola, who officially is CEO’s Associate Director of Student Employment and Employer Relations. (I know him better as the really awesome and helpful guy who worked for what used to be Career Services on campus.) It was nice to chat with him, as it is to chat with a lot of people on campus, and because I told him that I had class right when CEO would be giving away cupcakes in Kriel Lounge by Glar, he let me have one early.

At 1:50, I finally had my first class, Grammar and Usage. The instructor is very friendly and enthusiastic, and I think it’s going to be a great class. I’m an English major, but grammar was my first “love” within the realm of English, so between that and the fact that I’m actually pretty good at math, I think things are going to go smoothly.

After class number one, I stopped to chat informally with my adviser, English professor Dr. Becky Carpenter. Becky was my First Year Seminar (FYS) professor last year for a class called Gender, Literature, Culture. She’s a wonderful professor and person, and I was glad to be able discuss my summer and other random things with her.

My afternoon didn’t end there! After I left Hill Hall, where the English department is located, I returned to the poster sale to continue to look through posters, and this time, I left with three. My walls are so much more cheerful with the new posters, but I still need to hang up all the smaller wall decorations I collected over the past year. (Not to mention, I still need to finish unpacking!) I also walked to Rite Aid to get some things that I had left at home and managed not to pick up at Target. Rite Aid is easily within walking distance of campus, but the trip there seemed longer than I remembered; it must have been the heat. From Rite Aid, I went straight to dinner at Glar, which I left 20 minutes before my next and final class of the day.

My evening class is called “The Hero’s Journey,” and it’s taught by psychology professor Paul Mazeroff, who after one class, I can already tell is a great professor and person. The class is my SIS, which stands for Sophomore Interdisciplinary Studies. Similar to how all McDaniel freshmen are required to take a First Year Seminar, all sophomores on campus are required to take an SIS. The Hero’s Journey takes a look at the concept of the hero’s journey throughout myth and storytelling while also introducing concepts in psychology developed and made famous by Carl Jung. Though having a class that’s over three hours long is a little brutal, given the content of the course and the great professor, I think I can survive my first ever evening class!

In the meantime, I’m pretty tired after my first day, so I’m going to go easy on the homework tonight and try to go to bed as early as possible. There will be plenty more time to unpack tomorrow, and with two more classes to attend for the first time, I’m looking forward to what day two has in store!