It Must Be a Jacobs Thing

Hey Everyone!

Today was the second string of first classes and frankly it was a little bit more hectic and exhausting than yesterday. To start off with, I woke up at least an hour before my alarm, which wasn't fun, and couldn't go back to sleep. I spent that time mostly lying in bed and still attempting to sleep or at least rest my eyes. It was pretty boring. After a quick breakfast and gathering my supplies, I went off to my first class of the day, Statistics. I was a little nervous about the class but it wasn't too bad, as the teacher was clearly passionate about her subject (even if I wasn't), and explained things much better than I thought I would have been able to. Overall, it was pretty nice, I didn't really do much in class that was exciting besides listen to her talk about the first statistic study (which was about the cause of death in the early 1800s England, and I have a morbid sense of humor and some of those things were pretty funny).

I had an hour and a half between Stats and my next class, so I walked back to the dorms and tried to get some of the homework/prepwork for other classes done. It took me a while, even while I ate a really good sandwich via my toaster and microwave, and I frankly hope that my Organic Chemistry teacher will tell us we either don't need to know some of what was in the textbook or that I can ask questions tomorrow. It was soon time for me to head out however, as I needed to return the lab coat that I bought just in case my actual one didn't arrive in time. Thankfully, the lady at the desk was nice enough to help me figure out how to do exactly that, and I was able to arrive to my institute class a little early.

As is pure usual for seminary classes, no one really talks to you unless you already know them, so I was, for once, able to just sit in peace for the teacher to arrive instead of make conversation with people that I was probably never going to talk to again. I know it's not the best way to think about it, but I was thankful for it nonetheless. However, as soon as my teacher walked in, I knew this class was going to be fun. My first clue should have been the last name of Jacob. My history teacher from high school has about the exact same personality, even if the seminary teacher is a little less focused on communism conspiracy theories. The guy was great, and let us all know that he wasn't quite right in the head and that he hadn't been that way for a while so not to hope for much in that regard. He also made a lot of corny jokes about BYU. He seems to dislike the school, probably because, as he loudly announced, he's a "true Aggie". If you don't know what that is, I won't ruin your innocence. He's going to be a good teacher, and I'm excited to learn from him at institute this year.

A little over a half hour later I had my Ecology class, which was in the building next over, so I found a comfy place to sit in Widstoe Hall and worked on my ASL course, as we are supposed to practice if every day. It wasn't too hard and I think I can remember a good amount of sign, if I'm given enough time to think about it. I probably looked really silly doing it, as one of the signs involves sticking your tongue out while waving your hand. It was a pretty nice way to spend my time waiting, so I'll probably use that time a lot as a short study period. One other thing I did during my waiting time was sign up for an ASL lab. My Mondays are now going to be even busier. Yippee for me (*note this is 100% sarcasm*).

When I was actually able to attend the Ecology class, I have to admit. I was bored out of my mind. I didn't want to believe it, but Mason might be right. Ecosystem level Ecology stuff is super boring. I don't have the mind for talking about forest biotic and abiotic inhabitants working together. I just hope it gets more interesting as it goes. However, I do want to say this. The teacher did bring up some subjects of interests that actually had me sitting at the edge of my seat. They were just examples of ecosystems on different scales, but she did mention the ocean biome with whales and other sea life (sadly no turtles, even though I wish they were mentioned), as well as the microbiome in our body. Oh my gosh, as soon as she said that I was floored. She talked about the same research that I had discussed in my microbiology class that I took last summer (I think it was last summer at least). I was even able to talk a bit about it, as she had people raise their hand if they had heard about the subject and I was one out of three people (and the lecture had at least 75 probably more students) who did and she had us talk about what we knew. I tried not to babble too much about my class, and I want to say I succeeded.

So yeah, Ecology isn't a total bust even if I think it might be pretty boring. So that's always good. When I got back to the dorm, I mostly worked on more Chemistry prep-work for lecture tomorrow and a little bit more ASL. I know, super boring. Ah, the life of a college student (I'm being really presumptuous here that that is what a college student does but... I sort of count right?). I also talked with my roomie, but she didn't have much to say about school as she doesn't have any classes on Tuesday and only one on Thursday. We mostly just did that, with me taking small breaks to write and stuff for fun before going back to work. I'm really hoping that I understand Chemistry a bit more this year...

Dinner was good though, I got to have garlic mashed potatoes and some ginger seasoned cow meat (I don't know what it was, all I know is that it was good and looked kind of like a pork chop). I also found out the best thing ever! They have A1 hidden with all the other condiments on the table. Thank goodness! I'll probably be having that more often (*smiley face*). When Hannah and I returned to the dorms we've kind of just been doing a little bit of laying about. She's not feeling too great, so she's been taking it easy today. I just hope she's all good.

Well, tomorrows Chemistry and my Statistics Recitation, I hope they still continue to make some sense going forward. All I have left to do tonight is have a lovely chat with the fam, and then it's off to sleep for me.