Storm and Tempest

well, i'm about three weeks into the fall quarter at my university, and let me just say...it is different. i knew it would be, but not different in this way. i can actually work and go to school without stressing too much. they say that since UCI's on a quarter system, the work goes much faster, but i suppose since i'm only taking 12 units, its not that bad. i have no school on tuesdays and one class on thursdays. mondays wednesdays and fridays are my full days with work and school. as its a tuesday, i have the leisure to post here.

i am not impressed with the faculty, however. that's not to say that they aren't worth their degrees or they don't know their material, but their techniques of teaching aren't exactly what i expected from college professors with their doctrites. our lecturer last week actually made us read aloud! as if we were still freshman in highschool reciting Romeo and Juliet! this same lecturer makes us print out her lecture notes in powerpoint form with the slides and all, leaving us no room to take notes and wasting lots of paper. i don't doubt she's an intelligent professor, but she is not a lecturer. and she'll be with us for three weeks!

our discussion teacher has a doctrite in French poetry, i believe, and she is not so bad. although, like i said, i wasn't impressed. i thought college discussion sections would be more...inclusive instead of her asking the questions and us having to answer them. that's not discussion.

they say that college isn't really worth anything until you start taking classes for your major. i suppose, i'll have to believe them. i haven't learned anything so far and the money we're using to pay for my tuition could go to something more useful. especially since its so much. a mother of another student at university said that we're basically paying that much money for a piece of paper: our diploma. i believe her. i've learned absolutely nothing, except perhaps, to underestimate college since it really isn't worth much. its ridiculous.

the reason i was expecting so much from this university was because it was said to be prestigious. one of the UC's, the formidable college chain in california. sure, i had to go there because it was close to home and i couldn't dorm, but still, so many great people have come out of this school--especially writers--and i hoped it would live up to its graduates. but so far, it hasn't. i wonder if i really could have gotten into an ivy league school. wait. no, i couldn't've. getting into college is much harder than going through it and i think this outrageously unjust. to think that i might be ivy league quality, but since i do not appear as accomplished as other applicants, i am denied the education i would have truly appreciated.

when i applied to this university--and was accepted--i was told that to be accepted was a great honour and that because of the budget cuts, the students accepted had to be of the greatest quality. i see neither the amount of quality, nor intellect they said i was being accepted into. they squeeze the life out of you during the application process, but once you get in, the degree virtually means nothing. sure, i would not have gotten into an ivy league school, but if the application process weren't five times as grueling as the actual day to day lessons, i would be absolutely fine.

it is unreasonable and a complete waste of the talents we are given. it is an all-encompassing waste of time, of paper, of energy, of gas, and of money. a waste. i'd learn more if i visited the library at least once a week.

and this makes me sick.