Hello everyone!
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| Blooming flowers on campus! |
The spring showers have officially arrived in Portland. The upside to the rain is that everything is blooming and it’s beautiful on campus with all the flowers and leaves growing on the trees. This past week was the first week of classes post-spring break and now we only have 4 weeks of classes left which feels unreal.
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| Dexter Lake |
I spent this weekend at the Collegiate Covered Bridge Regatta outside of Eugene, Oregon. It’s always fun to race however the weather wasn’t optimal. It would be pouring rain one minute, then windy or it would stop raining for a brief moment just long enough for you to think you could delayer. We rowed on choppy water but still did well. The race course has a wet launch which means you and your teammates have to carry the boat into the water versus the usual walking out on a dock and placing the boat in the water. It was soooo cold.
As I am starting to wrap up my spring semester I figured I would talk a little bit about what I have been doing/learning in my classes so far.
In my Exploration & Discovery class, called “Understanding How We Understand the Maya”, we are working on our final research papers. I am writing mine about this woman named Rigoberta Menchú who won a Nobel Peace Prize and has become an international spokesperson for Maya rights in Guatemala. My paper will be looking at the book she wrote about her life and the criticism from anthropologist David Stoll who claims that Menchú exaggerated and even fabricated some of the things she talks about in her book. I would like to investigate the difference between testimonio and testimony as well as look at the issues of reliability and credibility.
In my Middle East Politics class, we have been learning about Syria and had previously been discussing, at length, the Arab-Israeli conflict. This class has a lot of reading to do but it is necessary because of the long and complex history of the countries in the region.
In my American Politics class, we are starting to discuss political anxiety which is super interesting. I really like this class because it is so important given today’s politics and I think in order to be an informed citizen it is good to know why the system functions the way it does and be able to identify and think critically about the flaws too.
In my economics class, we have moved into macroeconomics which I like way better. For me, economics has been a really challenging class but it is still really interesting. I prefer macro because it actually reflects real-world things like GDP, unemployment, and inflation.
We register for fall 2019 classes soon and I am not entirely sure what I want to take. I know I will be registering for Math 105 (statistics) first as I need it for the IA major and as a GenEd requirement. I will also be taking U.S. Foreign Policy next fall as it is the next progression in the IA path of courses. This leaves two spots for classes open. I may take a history class or try to take another IA class or psychology class.
Have a wonderful day,
Sarah