Currently, I am in the middle of taking my first semester exams, which unfortunately came after winter break meaning I had to study and panic when I wanted to sleep and hang out. I'm telling you, fate hates me. Just when I thought I'd finally get to experience the college phenomenon of taking exams before break and actually having a break, I get this. And to put wound in my sa--, ahem, to put salt in my wounds (that's a saying, right?), my high school has decided to switch it up this year and changed its schedule so that exams were before break instead. The year after I graduate. Seriously?
Anyways. For the first semester, I took Body Systems, Biochemistry, Molecular Genetics, and Introductory Chemistry. Every Friday afternoon and sometimes Mondays, I had a three hour lab (aka practical). Once a week I also had an hour tutorial which is just a small group meeting with some people on my course and a lecturer in Neuroscience teaching us ... how to write essays? How to make posters? Random information I haven't found useful yet?
We don't get proper homework; instead, we have weekly online assessments due every Friday (or so) based on recent lectures. These assessments amount to 5-10% of our overall grades. Final exams count for the remaining fraction. Entirely. We do not have quizzes or tests or midterms. Just these assessments and final exams.
I am not a final exam whiz. I do well throughout the year and then hope my final exam grade won't pull me down too far. In this case, I have nothing to do well on throughout the year. And therefore, I am screwed.
My first exam was Molecular Genetics. Now, I said that my classes were not that enthralling, but when Genetics came to an end, I really was sad to leave it behind. I really truly enjoy Genetics and I would so be majoring in that if we didn't have brains. (Did I ever mention I was majoring in Neuroscience? I assume the majority of my readership knows this already.) Genetics was just full of all the basic biological functions that I love learning about -- DNA replication, RNA, protein synthesis, amino acid sequences, chromosomes, etc. And to top it off, I realized I really loved my professor. He wasn't particularly exciting or enthusiastic. In fact, he was quite monotone. But I stayed awake for every one of his lectures. (The other lecturer was Scottish and I stayed awake for his accent. I mean, for his invigorating slides on the telomeres' tendency to shorten with age.) But Lecturer Uno, it turns out, was pretty much made of awesome. In his deadpan tone, he slipped in little remarks that just killed me. In the first week, when everyone was suffering from Fresher's Flu and was coughing up lungs during lectures, he was the only one to stop his lecture and say, "Really? Does every single one of you have a cold? Really now?" which was brilliant. Later on, he told two guys to 'get a room' when one of them jokingly put his arm around the other. And last but not least, when he was figuring out an award for a girl who figured out what protein was on the front of his slides all semester long, he says, "Come to my office and I'll show you what I can do ... I'll give you the textbooks too." Made. My. Day. I really am sad that I won't have that class anymore. The exam was on Monday and it was alright. I think I passed, which is usually a good sign.
Body Systems was okay. I had a couple crazy lecturers who liked to speed through the slides so quickly that you pretty much had to acquire a skill that included writing down what was up, reading what you'd be writing next, and then guessing the entirety of the next slide to keep up. Simultaneously. Other than that, it was alright, talks of blood and air and veins and hearts. The exam is this coming Monday and should be fine if I review everything well enough.
Biochemistry was the worst class I've ever taken ever. Ever. Basically, one should have a thorough understanding of chemistry before entering this class. I mentioned that I was also taking an intro chem class. Because I did not have any understanding of chemistry. So while I'm learning the basics, Biochemistry has shoved me into the deep end, where absolutely nothing makes sense. It was horrid. The first lecturer was a kind-souled quiet woman who seemed to know her stuff but at the same time, really didn't. She was the one who told us not to consume polar bear liver because it contains so much iron that it would kill you. (Take note, Palin.) She also makes jokes that nobody laughs at, poor lady. Though, one time, she was explaining some equation about enzyme rates and yadda yadda which included the term [Et], E for enzyme, t for total, and brackets for concentration. When she read it out as 'E T,' she stopped, giggled to herself and repeated 'E.T.' and then continued her lecture. The second lecturer was a tall thin man who rambled on about processes and cycles and pathways that I will never remember or care to remember. Possibly the only thing I remember him saying in class was his explanation of entropy, which is a state of disorder. He showed us two pictures: the first was of a tidy room, very neatly organized, a small boy sat at the desk, doing his homework. The second was of that same room in total chaos, toys strewn about, things all over the floor, the chair toppled, boxes overturned. Our lecturer's glorious insight was this: "Now what I find most concerning in this second photo is that the boy is nowhere to be found. Just watch, you'll see him emerge from under the desk, a look of terror on his face, missing limbs..." Brilliance, I swear. The exam, however, was horrendous. I am quite positive I failed it. I thought that getting a 70% in any exam should be easy. I really don't think I even got the 40% I need to pass the exam on that one. Honestly. I can't even tell you how bad that went. Wait, yes I can. To illustrate, Becca got -- get this -- a NOSEBLEED in the middle of the biochem exam. Yep, a nosebleed. And there is no curve on our grades. Which is just fanfreakingtastic.
Lastly comes Intro Chem, which was a dull monotonous class on orbitals and Lewis structures and aromaticity and resonance and organic chemistry tidbits that I, as a biology student, will never use. Even the older students allotted to help us first years out didn't understand what was going on in my notes. I think that suffices for the explanation of that class. I am not looking forward to this exam.
Other than Genetics, my other favourite part of the semester was the practical section. I really love labs, which is a tremendously good sign if I want to go into research. I love microscopes and centrifuges and test tubes and pipettes -- I'm such an awesome pipetter, it's not even funny -- and GEL ELECTROPHORESIS. The blood testing was cool too! I got to see my blood cells agglutinate when put into a solution of anti-A antibodies. It was pretty sweet.
That's how I spent my first semester. This second semester is going to be filled with Molecules to Cells, Drugs: From Molecules to Man (more biochem? I shudder at the thought.), Excitable Cells, Technologies of Everyday Life, and Psychology: Intro to Brain and Behaviour. Labs will be working a little bit different; instead of a weekly lab, I'll have 4 weeks of 3 labs per week on human biological topics -- I think I get to karyotype our chromosomes! So that should all be fun fun fun.
Alright! Off to study some more so that I don't fail, which seems inevitable sometimes so maybe I should quit and take a weekend trip to France. Sounds good to me!
PS Just as a bit of a side note: although I have publicized my feelings and current mental state about university a couple posts down, I'd rather they did not somehow reach my parents who would be a bit alarmed to hear I wasn't enjoying uni. So, if you've any way that could reach them through the grapevine, don't pursue it, please. I'd like to work this out myself without their worry (and my mother's 'I told you so's). Much love.
PPS I've noticed recently that I seem to type a lot more than I planned to when I start writing. I'd say that's a good sign, that I've gotten more comfortable with the blogging and the writing and posting and all that. But if you want me to shut up sometimes, by all means, let me know. I never know what people would like to hear or not. While I'm writing this mostly for myself, I still want your input too because, well, you choose to read it. Is there anything you want me to talk about? Anything you wished I'd spew on? OOH OOH! We could -- I say 'we,' I mean 'I' -- I could have a Q&A! I love Q&As. Anyone who still reads this, ask me questions! I'll post my answers after exam time has come to a definitive, resounding, glorious end.
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