this semester's shedyule (that's how the brits say it)

After a few threats on my life about how my first post is from Christmas, I suppose I should put something new on here. A LOT has happened in the past few weeks (my 21st birthday, school starting, a trip to Natchitoches, my two best friends are ENGAGED...to each other, etc.) but of course, I'm at work so I can't upload pictures which means I can't really talk about any of those topics.....except maybe school. So here's my semesterly analysis of my new classes:

Government of Louisiana, T. Wayne Parent (MWF 9:30-10:30) - how could anyone think this would not be a fun class? It's Louisiana, and it's government, and mixed together they are pretty darn entertaining. My teacher is cool and apparently he is friends with lots of politicians. He's going to have Jay Dardenne (our secretary of state) and Bill Cassidy (one of our US representatives) and maybe the author of one of the books we have to read, Jed Horne (he wrote Breach of Faith) come talk to us so that will be pretty nifty. We didn't have class this past Wednesday because he went to DC for the inauguration, and that meant I had absolutely NO class that day and could sleep in til 9. He got his undergrad at LSU and his PhD at IU.

France since 1770, Benjamin Martin (TTH 9-10:30) - this one might be a doozy, but I'm loving it so far. My professor is a great lecturer with a gift for the flair and dramatics. Ben had him for the same class when he was at LSU, and referred to him as "brilliant, but a little arrogant and can be crude sometimes". I don't know if it's possible to teach French history without being a little crude sometimes, but so far he's kept the class PG. I have to read a hugenormous book by midterms so that's a little intimidating but it's pretty good so far (Peasants into Frenchmen). All I can say is that I will never be late for that class. The other day this guy walked in late as Dr. Martin was telling us about Louis XVI, "Marie Antoinette's uncle told her of Louis what I would say about this young man: he is not altogether an idiot." Ouch. Tuesday morning he told us in all seriousness, "You cannot be insolent. You will die. You will be destroyed." Take a chill pill, buddy. It's going to be an interesting semester. He got his PhD at UNC - why does that not surprise me?

Louisiana to 1815, Paul Hoffman (TTH 10:30-12) - this class is right after my previous one and in the exact same room. Are you kidding me? So I am in the same chair for three hours for two history classes and on the fast track to developing carpal tunnel. Nonetheless, I really enjoy this class so far. My teacher is sweet and nerdy. On the first day I wasn't too sure about him because he came in wearing a Florida tie, but that's where he got his PhD and they just won the national championship so I'll let it slide. Yesterday when he realized he didn't have the right powerpoint he said, "Schnoodley doodley, I left it at home." I love it when people come up with their own expletives instead of using the same old, same old. Anyways the class is fascinating. We have been looking at all these old maps and figuring out when Louisiana was really discovered by what geographical points are on the maps. It's uber cool.

Then I go to Day Institute from 12-1. Pres. Riggs teaches and there are only about four of us in there regularly. This semester we are discussing the Pauline Epistles. I didn't want to add my scriptures to the weight I carry in my backpack so I dug around my room and pulled out my green pocketsized Gideon's Bible (I never knew the colors meant something!). Pres. Riggs likes to make fun of me because unfortunately it is the "new translation" and there are no footnotes, so I might cave in and bring the real deal.

Cajun French IV, Amanda LaFleur (TTH 1:30-3) - my last semester!!! This class reminds me of high school. There are about 16 of us and we've all become friends and stuck together for the past 3 semesters so we have some good times. We've been talking about nationalities and the history of the Acadians, which is much more interesting than passé composée and all that jazz. Yesterday we were talking about how the Acadians' religion really affected their culture and Mme. LaFleur said, "Like the Mormons in Utah", to which I spit out like a reflex, "I'm a Mormon!" Time seemed to stand still as everyone turned and stared. The lone Mormon in a roomful of Catholics. I suppressed the urge to jump up and run out of the room and then the clocks started working again and I regained consciousness. Just kidding. There was a slight pause and then Mme. LaFleur told us about when she and her family went on vacation to Utah, and how everyone at the restaurant they were at was clean cut and polite and some of them spoke French with her family because they had done their 'mission work' in French-speaking countries. She said their servers were a little taken aback when she asked for a glass of wine but other than that it was a very pleasant experience. Classic. I love Catholics.

After this class I head to the third floor of the library to read and/or take a nap.

Companion Animal Management, Laura Gentry (TTH 4:30-6) - this class is entirely a guilty pleasure. I had Dr. G for my animal science class last semester and I LOVE her! She is very bubbly and enthusiastic and chipper and has lots of great stories. I don't know if I am going to make it to the end of the semester without getting a puppy, though. I used to have my heart set on a Great Dane, but now I'm leaning towards a Catahoula Cur (pictured to the left, and our state dog!), Border Collie, or an Australian Shepherd. Dr. G's in-laws had two half Border Collie, quarter Aussie Shepherd, and quarter Blue Heeler dogs - talk about pretty much the smartest dogs ever. She told us how they had an underground fence system (the dogs wear a collar and when they get close to the line they get a warning beep until they back away) so the dogs would stay in the yard but whenever they drove off to town or wherever they would get a call from their neighbor, telling them their dogs were loose. Impossible - they wouldn't go through that electric fence, but they went home to check anyways. The dogs were in the yard, just as they should have been. The next day the same thing happened, and they went home to check and their dogs were there. After a few days of calls, Maw-in-law stayed home to watch what would happen while Paw-in-law drove off. As soon as the diesel-engine truck was out of earshot, sure enough the dogs made a run for it. So they checked the collars and found that the batteries were dead. The batteries were replaced, but a few days later they dogs got out again, so they replaced the batteries again. Once again, the dogs got out whenever they would leave, but would be back in the yard by the time the in-laws got home. They finally figured out that the dogs would stand in the beeping zone until the batteries in their collars would die and then whenever they heard the truck leave they would bolt. When they heard the diesel coming back down the driveway, they high-tailed back into the yard. Now those are some SMART dogs.

So one class on MWF is pretty nice, so I can go home and study and chill before I have to go to work. On Tuesdays I am on campus for 13 hours because we have Institute from 7:30 to 9 pm so it's a long day but I sure don't have trouble falling asleep. Hopefully I can stay on top of things this semester, and sorry it seems as though I've written a short novel.