Classwork

I have been amazed at the miniscule amount of work that is required for classes here at Queen's. Since each class only meets one or two times a week for no more than two hours total, there isn't much time to discuss large amounts of reading material. In the end, I'm doing the same amount of work for all my classes in one week that I would do for one class in one week back home at Wesleyan. It doesn't feel like I'm accomplishing very much.

We don't even have to do many assignments. All of my work up until last week was reading. That's it. I had three essays due in two weeks, and that was the first time I really had to put forth much effort. One was for Metaphysics, due this past Monday, which flowed into its Word document with surprising ease. One was for Irish Literature, due this morning, which I had to squeeze and shake and curse out of my head like the lastbastard remnants of ketchup in the bottle. The third is for 20th Century American Poetry, due next Wednesday, but apparently it isn't required. It's practice for the final essay, and only one person in the class is planning to write one. Bet you could guess it's not me.

This small workload is reflected in the makeup of the final grade for each class. Take, for example, my American Poetry class. 10% is for class participation and attendance. The rest of the final grade, the last 90%, comes from the final 3000 word essay.

All I can say is I'm sure my 3 week Easter break is going to be fabulous! If I were going on break at home, I would doubtless have a couple books to read and maybe an essay to write. Here, I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Cheers.
~Catherine