School starts on Monday. It’s a bit sad. The time off always flies by, and yet it always feels like I’m just getting used to the idea of being home and available to my family when a new semester starts and I’m too busy to do anything with them. I know, I bring this up all the time, and plenty of people out there would consider me a jerk for complaining when I get regular breaks like I do. They have a point, but there’s always something to be said about consistency. Whatever your routine may be, it’s hard to have it shaken up too much. It’s hard to go from being ultra busy to not being busy at all and back. The adjustment period does not match what I’m given, in either direction.
Moving on, here’s what this semester entails: because I’ve been in Florida a year now, the school makes me file as a Florida resident in order to receive a full tuition reimbursement, but they also require that I take 12 credit hours rather than just nine. 12 credit hours is a lot for graduate school, especially when you consider the TA responsibilities that we’re given. Some professors don’t require that much of their TA’s, but some require a considerable amount. I don’t know yet how grueling my TA tasks will be this time around, but regardless, there will be plenty of other responsibilities to make me a busy man. As far as graduate seminars are concerned, I’ll be taking a class on intentionality and another on moral psychology. I’m also taking an Early Modern Philosophy course to satisfy my history requirement, but I’m looking forward to it. Early Modern Philosophy was one of my favorite classes as an undergrad, but I think I could benefit from a more advanced study of it. There are several big names from that era that I never learned about during my undergrad career, so hopefully this course will rectify some of that. Those three seminars will take care of nine of my required hours. Then I need to figure out what to do with my final three hours. Nobody recommends taking a fourth seminar. Rather, you’re encouraged to take a fluff class (my words) such as “directed independent study” or “supervised research,” which are fairly easy going. I did some of that this summer, but I’m a bit unsure of what to do now. I could do more of the same, but I don’t want to just waste my time. I think I should be researching something that could tie into a dissertation, and yet I’m wondering if that would make it too serious and too demanding. Maybe it’s better if I can do something into which I don’t have to invest much concern. I need to have my schedule finalized by Thursday, so I’ll let you know.
Until then…
You have my head spinning. It sounds like a lot to think about.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you, vacations usually got spoiled quite fast because you get home, and nothing's changed, even though you changed it all in your head.
Good luck with things....hope it all works out well.