Bryn Mawr

So here I am. College. One semester left. Everything is proceeding as expected.

I'm relatively depressed about being here, but not life-stoppingly so. It's not preventing me from doing what I need to do. Classes are going well, hanging out with friends is normal except for slightly more alone-time needed than usual. Freshmen are being met. I am almost entirely unpacked. My books are on the shelf.

Here are my classes, in order from most to least interesting.

Sacrifice, Identity, and the Law: When I heard this course title, I thought the class would be dreadful. Nevertheless, I had to take it for both my Philosophy major and Political Science minor. I was in for quite a surprise - the professor is the best seminar discussion leader I've ever taken a class with. The syllabus is also excellent, including creation myths. Nietzsche, Bible stories, court cases, Freud, Plato, Isaiah Berlin, and many others. And because the readings are so varied, he had us buy a xeroxed packet instead of the actual books, making the class very cheap.

20th Century Political Philosophy: This is a Salkever class. It will be a Salkever class. I'm excited about it because it's the only political philosophy class I've ever taken where I haven't read a single author on the syllabus already. Habermas, Hannah Arendt, Foucault, Rawls, and Charles Taylor are included. Leo Strauss was promised, but is absent.

Latin Style: Also known as Latin Prose Composition, this course is all about translation from English into Latin! The textbook was written in 1938, and I'm lucky if I can still read my original translations by the time I've finished writing corrections over them.

Senior Seminar: I know nothing about this class, as it is meeting for the first time next Friday.

Chinese Philosophy: I do not want to be taking this class. It fulfils my non-western philosophy requirement. I find eastern philosophy both dreadfully boring and incomprehensible. The professor seems good enough, but nothing special. I will sit through it, earn my credit, and try not to fall asleep. My friends who are East Asian Studies majors do not understand me at all.

Excitement

There will be an Unpopular Opinions meeting Monday evening. This makes me happy.

Sasha is coming to visit next weekend! Not sure exactly when, but he has Thursday and Friday off this semester so he will likely come early. I miss him... He always makes everything seem better.

There was chicken fried steak in the dining hall! That's new this year. It was quite good, but the best part was watching all the confused northerners trying to figure out what it was.