"I'm in a poor state and I'm not a painter."

Michelangelo wrote those words in a sonnet to a friend while he was working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and I related.

Just a quick break in my studying to summarize the past week of classes. This weekend, I have had over two hundred pages of reading (not quite done yet) and a couple of small writing assignments. I feel like I've done little but study and read and work this whole week, but it's still far too early to tell if this is the result of my class load or just of the first week of classes (most professors build assignments into their syllabi for the first day so that students are behind before they even attend class for the first time!)

My classes seem to be going very well. With the exception of my lab units and Italian, I've attended every class at least twice. I have no plans to drop any (which is good, because today is the last day of drop/add). I'm taking 20 credit hours, dispersed over 6 classes, and I'm definitely pushing myself, but it feels good.

I absolutely adore the reading assignments/course materials for my Intro to Social/Cultural Anthropology class. Plus, I'm taking the class for honors credit so once a week all the honors students in the class (4 of us!) meet with the professor and talk about the readings more in-depth. We're also going to have a few extra assignments, such as an ethnographic description, kinship chart, and life history.

My Intro to Physical Anthropology is fast-paced and challenging. So far, we've started reviewing a lot of the things I learned in life science and biology but adding to it as well. I'm afraid I'm in way over my head, but I'm loving it. It feels good to stretch my science legs, as it were. Plus, my textbook has a picture of a monkey and a giant DNA strand and from a distance it looks like the monkey's swinging on the DNA. That makes me happy!

Art history is just as wonderful as I remembered it. I'm glad I didn't take 101 and 102 concurrently last semester, I'm afraid I would've been entirely lost. We're starting out 102 with the Renaissance, so the information is coming quickly...lots of names, lots of dates, lots of pieces. I am still considering whether to do the class for optional honors credit again this semester (my Hellmouth paper last semester was to fulfill the honors contract) and it seems like it would be quite a challenge to squeeze it in with all my classes and other commitments, but, as my art prof told me, I think I made the decision to do it long ago. Pressure can be a good thing, right?

Italian's about the same, except I have a different professoressa this time. I miss my last professoressa (Antonella), but the new one seems just as much a sweetheart. My class partner can't take the class this semester (she's a film major and that's very demanding), so I need to find someone new to work with. I miss her terribly.

Human Event also has a new professor. I'm not sure how I feel about that class yet: something feels off, though. I don't know if it's the teacher or the other students or the material, but the class feels....dead. Last semester, even though I didn't like the competitiveness of some of my classmates, at least the discussions were lively. This time around, people seem to be pointing out the obvious. Hopefully things will pick up in there.

I am taking African Dance this semester and have the aching ab muscles to prove it! I love the class. Nota bene: that does NOT mean that I'm any good at it, but I have a good time. Several people from my drumming class are in there and it's great to see them again. I need to get over to a local fabric store or else buy from my teacher a lapa, which is kind of like a skirt. *sigh* SO many errands to run!

On top of all my classes, I'm planning to interview (and hopefully be accepted into! Cross your fingers for me!) for the student group Devil's Advocates. This group leads all the campus group tours (about 10 tours go out a week) for prospective students. When I first visited ASU with my mom, the tour was really one of the tipping points in my decision-making process to apply. Also, the group seems really tight-knit and friendly...if I'm accepted, I think it will end up being a great social outlet for me (although I won't be able to make the monthly meetings...I have one of those freaky schedules that prevents meeting times. I swear. This happened last semester too!) The interview is a week from Tuesday! I'll keep you informed!

Ok, back to the reading and writing. Think of me fondly as I sit and waste away under the weight of textbooks and binders!