1 week down, 14 to go.

It's totally the extended version.

Yesterday afternoon concluded my first official week of the Spring '13 semester, the first week of my second semester at FSU. This semester is clearly going to go a little differently than the last, as I image they all will from here on out. I've never been on this side -- the second-half side -- of a degree before. Rumor has it classes just get harder from here. Guess that makes sense.

I am actually pretty excited about this semester. I finally feel like I'm taking courses that are moving me through the program, now that I'm mostly taking Major requirements. I actually feel like I'm going somewhere for the first time since I started taking night courses about three and a half years ago.

Here are my classes for the spring:

HIST 153 - "Europe and the World to 1500" It's my second to last Gen. Ed. that I need and it's rough. I am not a history person. I hate it and I always have. I've tried to go into my college history courses open-minded and letting go of all my high school baggage. I did great in a geography course I had to take (history plays a heavy role, so count it) and I actually found it interesting. This course, however, is a lot more intense than I was expecting. And how lucky am I that not even my future-history-teacher boyfriend hasn't studied this part of history? The odds feel like they're against me, but I've got to get through it... Wish me luck.

PHIL 102 - "Intro to Ethics" I am wicked excited about this class. My professor is awesome and has that subtle dry sense of humor that some kids in my class are too young to pick up on, much like my Human Bio professor from last semester. While I always tend to hear about how much people hated their Philosophy classes, this class seems like it's right up my alley. I have opinions that I feel like I need to share (like I need to tell that to anyone reading my blog...) and this is certainly the forum for that. Besides, I like anything that blatantly ties into my desired field and ethics certainly play a role in clinical psychology.

PSYC 271 - "Behavior Modification" An important course for anyone going into any field, I feel, but especially in clinical psychology. Especially, even more so, for someone looking to work with eating disorders and related conditions. This class is my jam. (You heard me.)
I received an e-mail from my professor this morning than said, "In [Tuesday's] class, you will start to learn the basic skills involved in assessment and in recording to select the appropriate clinical treatment approach." I wonder if this is what all the other kids felt like on Christmas Eve.

PSYC 291 - "Psychology Research Methods I" From the first time I was this listed as a Psychology Major requirement on the FSU website until the day I received my professor's 10 page syllabus (complete with cover page), I have been terrified of this class. I am not a researcher (as far as I know) and have never enjoyed any form of required research work. This is not what I want to do in my field. But not only is it required, there's a II. However, my professor (also my advisor, conveniently enough) is very cool and people seem to have a really good experience with her. I could see myself getting pretty into this, actually.

Yesterday, I also found out about Psi Chi, the international psychology society. And I found out that my GPA is 0.02 under the required to apply. That's not frustrating at all. On top of that, the Psi Chi website says the requirement is lower than what my school says, so... I'm going to try to get more information on that on Monday. Worst case scenario, I'm going to have to hope HIST 153 doesn't ruin my GPA and that I'll be able to apply next semester.

So, here's to my Spring '13 semester. Hopefully this will be my third-to-last semester of my undergrad career. Cheers.