Blogging
From Abroad

Let me vent a bit about my classes…
1. In my History of Islamic Society class we have 9 people. Did you catch that, 9 people! The lecture is held in this small, basically soundproof, room. But for some odd reason my teacher still feels it’s necessary to talk with a microphone. I’m not even talking about one of those tiny ones you clip on your collar or even the microphone at the podium. I’m talking about the old school, cord attached, you gotta hold it in your hand, microphone. Why??? I mean really. Everyone could hear him if he whispered our lecture. My favorite thing about the entire ordeal is he’ll ask in the beginning of class when he has the mic. set up, “Can everyone hear me?” LOL I want to scream YYYEEEEESSSSS!

2. At WVU I purposefully load up my M/W/F schedule because I dread the T/R 80 minute lectures. So you can understand why I’m having such a hard time adjusting to my 2 hour lectures for each class. 2 HOURS PEOPLE! By the end of the 120 minute lesson I leave thinking what the heck just happened and why do I have such a detailed to-do list?!
Sometimes I’ll be daydreaming so bad that when I snap back to reality I see my teacher giving me the ‘I can tell you’re not paying attention’ look. (Darn my ambitions to sit in the front row). On Tuesdays I’ll snag extra sugar packets from the canteen and ‘take a hit’ on our 10 minute breaks. lol Sugar is pretty much the only thing that keeps me going. I try to offer it to others but they reply, “Becky, I won’t support your drug habits” haha

3. Finally class discussions are few and far between. You’ve gotta realize that students here are speaking English, their second language, so it’s intimidating to have in depth conversations in fear of mispronouncing a word or phrase. Why answer the question when you could be wrong? My teacher for China Through the Eyes of the West teacher has pretty much given up hope on debate. Yesterday during his lecture a PowerPoint slide read:

Discussion Question: Is Confucianism a religion or tradition?

But instead of addressing the class he says, “Well if we were going to have a class discussion this is what I’d ask….” Then he gave us a broad, anyone could be right, sort of answer to the question and then moved on.
Now that I’m on a roll- I hate the word digress. Something about it. I’d rather hear nails on a chalkboard then hear someone say, “Let me digress”. I think it’s one of those words that people throw out to look smarter. People, you don’t need the word digress! BLAH! So to combat my hatred I’m using it all the time…and in random phrases. “Hey want to digress to the mall?” “Let me digress and tell you about yesterday.” “I was sleeping, till my alarm digressed me from my beauty nap.”
All this talk about classes makes me wonder what study abroad students think when they come to WVU.