What to Expect

I know, I know.  I had taught for more than 20 years, so I should be quite conversant with university-level exams and stuff.  Still, most likely my profs don't see things the way I do.  Besides, we're talking about subjects that I have no formal experience in.  Seriously, what on earth do they test you on a mid-term on horror fiction?  And how much memorization do I need to muster in writing a history exam?  No clue.

Am I a bit nervous?  Yes and no.  If I actually want to keep that scholarship, I need to keep an A average.  That means work, no?  Hmmmm.

I have midterms coming up in a couple of weeks.  In Canada, it's pretty typical to have a midterm and a final as the main evaluative elements (in addition to paper, etc.).  The finals at UO have to be worth at least 40%.  WTF, right?  Imagine if my BA416 final were worth 40%, hahah.  Grown men and women would have cried.  Well, they did anyway, but that's another story for another day.

So far I've handed in one written assignment for anthropology.  For sure the turnaround time won't be what I delivered as a matter of course.  I am unique, I know.  Next class day turnaround?  Who does that, except Chunski, eh?  Anyway, I probably won't know how I did for a couple of weeks...

I've also done a written assignment for history, but it's not due until October 3, so right now it's just sitting in a drawer.  I also have a term paper for that class, and it's due towards end of November.  Started on it.  Hopefully I'll have it done by the end of this month.

French.  Now, that's giving me headaches.  I don't think I'm suited for that stuff.  We'll see.  But that is one course I am absolutely not comfortable with.  I'll see how I do this term, before deciding if I'll do the next course or take something else next semester.

The horror fiction class is okay.  Lots of mumble jumble about symbols and stuff.  But Chunski can BS with the best of them.  So I think I'll be okay.  And sociology?  It seems pretty innocuous so far.

Hey, I had an insight.  Well, I don't know if it's original.  But I was reading about the Acadians and how they were expelled etc etc.  I'm not going to get into that, but suffice it to say that these folks only wanted to survive, irrespective of who their overlords were.  They were French in heritage, but they no longer had any real loyalty to the French Crown.  They lived under English rule a lot, yet they were the "others" due to their language and religion etc.  So they were straddling both sides.  And their strategy to survive was to play both sides, to go with the flow and not to commit to anything.  That this strategy eventually ceased to serve them (after a century) is beside the point.  So what on earth is my so-called insight?

I think the Acadians were like the people of Hong Kong.  If you don't know much about the history and the people there, just sub Hong Kong for Acadia, English stays English, sub China for France, and there you have it.  I just hope their fate won't be the same as for the Acadians.