My classes this semester are: Cultural Anthropology, Ancient to Mideval Political Theory, Creativity and Knowledge, Macroeconomics, and International Research Methods.  International Research Methods is by far my hardest class this semester; it is both quantitative and qualitative research.  We conducted our own research, starting from the beginning of the process, and utilizing two different ways of conducting research and collecting data.  It’s my hardest class because it requires the most out of me – I’ve got to be on the ball every day and the work is not “busy work.”  It’s definitely a class that I’ve learned things that I can apply to my life and my career, not just in the classroom on the assignments and tests.  That’s probably one of the things I love about the School of International Studies – every class you take towards your major has multiple applications.  You will never escape what you learned in SIS and as scary as that is haha, I think it’s great thing.  It really shows that my tuition and time are being well invested in my education.  I absolutely love my school .

My classes next semester are: Globalization, the US, and the World; Global Economic Issues; International Politics; Knowledge and Human Values; Le Cinema Francais; and eventually Cross Cultural Training I.  The first three are requirements for my major and all of which I’m excited to take.  I’m not much of an economics person but I think global issues will be quite interesting.  For economics at least .  Knowledge and Human Values is an honors course for sophomores in the honors program at Pacific.  It’s a 1-unit class that meets once a week for 50 minutes.  Le Cinema Francais counts as an honors class, an art requirement, and towards my language major or minor (I haven’t decided which one I’m going for!).  Finally, Cross Cultural Training I is a class I’ll start taking after the semester starts and I’ve been cleared to study abroad for Fall 2011.  I hope everything falls into place just fine for study abroad!

But it’s time to stop thinking about next semester and remember all  the things I need to finish this semester!  Now to study for that math test today…

I’m a sophomore student in the School of International Studies and I’m excited for these last few days of classes!

It’s started raining more these last few days – and it’s raining today – so beyond just the chill of winter I’ve been getting used to the rain.  It’s a wonderful thing to fall asleep to but I don’t like sitting in wet clothes during class.  I’m certainly glad it’s not snowing though – gotta love the California valley!

Today included, there are only 7 days left of classes – unbelievable!   It’s amazing how much work is due in the next few days and I’m not exactly sure where the time to get all done is going to come from.  However, Thanksgiving break is this week and it will be nice to spend some time with family and friends, catch up on sleep, and get some work done!  After that, it’s a full week of classes with last-minute tests, projects, essays, and review before finals week!!  I can’t believe finals are approaching.  I’m planning on working on my study abroad application, my Ambassador Corps Fellowship application, as well as some major projects during Thanksgiving break.  I need to turn in my study abroad petition packet before school ends so my program will hopefully get approved and I can apply to study in Niamey, Niger next year!  Just the thought of it makes me excited .

It’s a busy time of year here at work too – after finishing up Preview day, we had all the evaluations to tally and all the wonderful comments to take down!  Applications are rolling in and we’ve got to be on our toes every day to make sure things are properly labelled and sent to the right places.  I look forward to meeting more prospective freshman as the applications come in as well as the accepted freshman once acceptance letters go out!  2010 is coming to a great close and 2011 seems like it’s going to be one fantastic year .