Wednesday, October 20, 2004
If I could turn back time...
Oh my god. Why did I take a history class? This may have been the stupidest thing I've done since moving here, and trust me I've done plenty of stupid things to choose from.
I haven't taken a history class since high school. I've always hated the subject. Now I'm in the middle of it hardcore. My professor keeps referring to us as "future historians." I want to raise my hand and say, "No, no, no! Not me! I'm not! So don't grade me like one!" It's only a first-year class, but I'm miles behind everyone else. All those names, dates, countries, battles, leaders, family trees... There are so many illegitimate children it ought to be at least a little bit scandalous and therefore interesting, but it's like the most boring soap opera ever. And I'm sorry, I don't know if I will ever have time to hear what anyone has to say about someone actually named "Forkbeard."
Every day I just spend the whole class sitting there confused. Since every sentence the professor utters literally baffles me, I write it all down as fast as I can in the hopes that it will look like something other than nonsense when I look over my notes later. (I sense I may be setting myself up for disappointment, however.)
So when I sit there letting the incoherence wash over me, I like to remind myself that, while this year is an opportunity to study new things at a university in a foreign country, it is also kind of a screw-off year and I ain't no damn history major, so the Vikings can go fuck themselves. And I daydream of next semester, where a schedule of nothing but film studies awaits.
I haven't taken a history class since high school. I've always hated the subject. Now I'm in the middle of it hardcore. My professor keeps referring to us as "future historians." I want to raise my hand and say, "No, no, no! Not me! I'm not! So don't grade me like one!" It's only a first-year class, but I'm miles behind everyone else. All those names, dates, countries, battles, leaders, family trees... There are so many illegitimate children it ought to be at least a little bit scandalous and therefore interesting, but it's like the most boring soap opera ever. And I'm sorry, I don't know if I will ever have time to hear what anyone has to say about someone actually named "Forkbeard."
Every day I just spend the whole class sitting there confused. Since every sentence the professor utters literally baffles me, I write it all down as fast as I can in the hopes that it will look like something other than nonsense when I look over my notes later. (I sense I may be setting myself up for disappointment, however.)
So when I sit there letting the incoherence wash over me, I like to remind myself that, while this year is an opportunity to study new things at a university in a foreign country, it is also kind of a screw-off year and I ain't no damn history major, so the Vikings can go fuck themselves. And I daydream of next semester, where a schedule of nothing but film studies awaits.
