I start classes on Monday, and two of my classes STILL do not have assigned professors. Both classes are full and books have already been posted for them, but I still have this fear that those two will be dropped by the university and I will be stuck searching for two INR credits when I have taken almost every elective offered by the department.

I'm all moved into my apartment. Everything is organized. Getting the rest of my books and supplies today. Classes start next Monday. It's so close now!!

I cannot believe that I move back to Tampa in six days. Fourteen days until classes begin. Finally.

Disappointment

My worst fear for the upcoming semester was confirmed this morning: Bright Futures will not cover a single cent of my graduate level course. Three credit hours at $331.79/hour was going to cost me $995.37 out of pocket, which would leave me with about $700 for the semester not including books and Phi Sig dues/fines. After all of that, I would have probably had about $350 for the entire semester. Needless to say, I had to drop the course. I think I even shed a tear or two as I pushed the drop button on Oasis.

I was really looking forward to that class. It's such a sucky feeling.

Anyways, to push me back up to 15 hours, I re-signed up for Gods and Goddesses of India. The book list is not very daunting, and it is something that just sounds interesting. Sex ed college style was up there as a choice, but no more Friday classes, please.

And on top of everything, dropping the class means that it is impossible to get enough hours for the Russian major because I cannot count level 1 or 2.

I'm just another international relations major now. Nothing special.

And it changes once again.

I feel like this will stick, though.

Political Ideologies
Globalization Discourses
Globalization in Africa
19th Century Russian Lit
Contemporary Russian Politics

Good news! Even with dropping Russia Through Film, I will still achieve 36 hours after the fall semester and qualify for a Russian major! Political Ideologies counts as an elective, surprisingly. It's quite scary how many Russia-related courses I have taken over the years. All of the language classes, Marxist philosophy, everything. It just didn't feel overwhelming like the four China courses did. I'm glad I decided, after everything, to stick with Russia. It really is love.

I've pretty much ruled out grad school right after my time at USF is done. But I wouldn't discard the option of grad school later on. I might actually return back to U Stay Forever for a masters in Communications later on in life. My, that would be funny...spending years planning my exodus from this god-awful place just to return in the end.

Updates

Like I said earlier, I never really commit to classes until the end of the add/drop week, and in my classic fashion I have been tweaking my classes again.

The more I sat and thought, the more I saw that I'm not really an Asian/Chinese studies kind of person. It is interesting, but it is a subject I would enjoy more outside of academia. I enjoyed my group of four China classes in the spring (philosophy, classical literature, culture, and women's perspectives), but I never approached them with the vigor I do in other classes. So, with that, I took the plunge and gave up my coveted spot in Japanese 1 and looked for new classes to fill the void.

I love searching for classes. The endless possibilities come in only second to coffee in terms of my ultimate happiness. So I sat down at work, pen in hand, ready to shake everything up. I knew I wanted to stay in Globalization/Africa, Russian film, and Russian lit, and I was about 87% sure about Russian film. That left 2 classes, or 6 credit hours, to work with.

After looking through possibly every single prefix listed, I came to a few options:
-Gods and Goddesses of India
-Ballroom Dance
-Soviet History seminar
-Discourses in Globalization and Democracy
-Terrorism and Intelligence

I cold sign up for the first two choices with no problems, so I went ahead and signed up for those. The other three had permit restrictions on them, so I went on an emailing binge. I immediately got a response about the terrorism seminar, and it is only for CCJ majors, no way around it. I got a similar response for the USSR class. I did have some luck with Globalization. I was told to contact the instructor directly to see if it is possible to override the three pre-reqs needed. I finally got a response today, and he is excited to see the unique perspective I could bring to the class. So, that brings the class count to

Russia Through Film
19th Century Russian Lit
Globalization in Africa
Contemporary Russian Politics
Discourses in Globalization
...and maybe Gods/Goddesses. I'm still in the class, but I'm unsure about staying.

Not as epic as what was circling about in my head earlier, but I did have coffee then.

Chuck Klosterman defines the type of journalism I would love to do: Witty pop-culture references dispersed throughout thought-provoking essays.

My summers of sitting around listening to VH1 while reading The Onion and the New York Times has helped me master the art of combining pop culture and international news in satire. Klosterman is the person that launched this desire for a career in journalism during my high school years, and the more I think about a possibility of working within the confines of The Daily Show, the more I imagine my hidden dreams becoming a reality. Everyone thinks I plan on staying in the realm of the practical: a government job or teaching. But I don't want to stay in the practical. Yes, it is a good idea to always have a practical backup plan, but I want to shoot for the fun.

The only thing that could be better than my dream is my dream....but via blogging and vlogging. My knowledge and consistent use of all of the various means of internet communications and networking is a huge assest for me. Even if my dreams do not pan out like I would prefer them to, I could always look for something in a marketing field just based on my networking skills both in real life and in the virtual world.

I've always hoped that my dry sense of wit could be helpful in life.