I had three classes today. (Well, yesterday — it’s late.) It’s too late for me to go into a whole lot of detail, but suffice it to say that they were a lot smaller than the two classes that I had yesterday, but still quite overcrowded. My professor didn’t show up for the first class, so that’s somewhat of a mystery. For the second class, urban planning, it’s clear that the course is far too simplistic, given that I’ve spent years studying urban planning as a hobbyist. I’m working with the teacher to arrange for a more challenging curriculum, since there’s no way that I’ll get into another class at this point. My third class, political theory, was discouraging. The teacher had to lecture the class quite firmly on the need to show up to class and not cheat on the papers. We discussed this after class. Apparently, political science students at Tech are really just biding their time by the time that they take this course (it’s mostly third and fourth years, because they apparently put this off for a while, since it’s known to be difficult), and want to do as little as possible to skate by, such that they can leave and pursue their law degree. Teachers that teach this course don’t last long, due to their frustration with the lazy, cheating students. The fact that I believe that Hume makes for an excellent evening read indicates that I will likely to find this class easy, although enlightening if I want to work beyond the requirements of the class.
The problem that I’m having already is one of organization. Half of the instructions and assignments are on Virginia Tech’s much-ballyhooed website, and the other half are provided on paper in class. Then I have my own scheduling system, maintained in iCal. In order to see what assignments that I have due, I have to check 2-3 different sources. At least I bought notebooks and paper this evening, which is obviously a start. Juggling five classes, and keeping track of what work that I have to do for each, is plainly going to be a challenge until I work out a system.