My religious aversion to doctors, this ridiculous Kentucky frozen tundra, and an unforgiving class schedule have probably all contributed to the fact that I've been sick for two weeks. I experienced a similar affliction last year at about the same time, but that cold (or whatever it was) only took me out of commission for a few days; it wasn't nearly as long-lasting as this. At any rate, I began feeling better at some point last week, and I assumed that I was approaching the end of my sickness. No such luck. Last Thursday night, I was in the library until three in the morning writing a historical linguistics homework. The week was tough and I really had no other option but to stay up late. When I woke up on Friday I felt horrible, again.
My Driveway
I forced myself to visit one of the apathetic doctors in the campus clinic yesterday. It took the doctor all of three minutes to ask me some questions, make fun of me for not taking any "real" medications yet (I guess NyQuil and severe cold medicine are for pansies) and write a prescription for a Z-Pak. I took this prescription (the closest thing to a medical excuse that I could receive from the clinic, apparently), tracked down some of my professors, and managed to get a few excused absences. I desperately needed the rest. Next week, I'm taking four exams, and I have to be ready for all of them.
Aside from catching the plague and losing twelve pounds, things are going rather well. I'm tutoring two kids in Latin and Greek twice a week, and we have a lot of fun. Prior to this tutoring job, I had literally zero experience with kids, so I wasn't sure how smoothly things would progress. The kids are really well-behaved, intelligent and super-motivated, so there are never any issues. I'm also enrolled in 18 credits, so I stay busy. Believe it or not, I'm in no classics courses, and I'm actually enjoying the break. I tried my best to work in CLA 252, fourth semester Greek, but I couldn't make it work. I did find out that 252 is being offered in May, so I'm thinking seriously about finishing the course at that time. The class schedule I have at the moment is an interesting mix of topics: HIS 371 (Later Middle Ages), HIS 580 (Appalachia, representin'), SOC 302 (Sociological Research Methods), LIN 319 (Historical Linguistics), GEO 442G (Geopolitics) and GEO 330 (Geography of Appalachia). I'm taking the sociology course to satisfy one of my last USP requirements. Otherwise, I needed some more hours at 300+.
Historical linguistics has been an experience. There were no requisites to enter the class, and I enrolled primarily because I knew the listed professor rather well. The historical aspect of the class also attracted me. However, my professor friend who originally planned to teach couldn't do so. That in itself wasn't a huge deal, but once the class really started picking up, I was terrified. We spent the first two weeks discussing phonetics. Aside from the limited exposure to phonetics that I had gotten through Latin and Greek, the material was all new to me. I bombed the first quiz, and I didn't know if it would be wise to continue with the class. I decided to stick with it, though, and I've done really well on everything since that point. I've just had to work three times as hard as those people who have already had linguistics courses in the past.
It's 2 AM and I should be studying. Hopefully, I'll be able to post something over spring break, which I'll be spending in Lexington.
I did post a few photo albums here:
picasaweb.google.com/shelbyuk17
