Delusional Lectures

Rather than reading up on Rene Decartes tonight for my General Studies class, I have been intrigued by two TED talks, both of which deal with the mind and delusions.  The first talk is by Dr. Vilayanur S Ramachandran who speaks on the connection between the cerebral tissue of the brain and the mind.  The second talk is by Dr. Oliver Sacks who speaks on hallucinations of blind people, a condition known as Charles Bonnett syndrome.  Both highly fascinating and highly entertaining.

New Beginnings

This month has marked the beginning of a new year; the beginning of the new school year that is.  Just as how the Chinese have their own calendar, the Muslims have their own calendar, university students have their own calendar as well.  The University Calendar might not be the best one out there, but it will dictate our lives for the next eight months.

So it’s the start of the new school year.  Students have been running around, trying to find their classes, buying books, returning books, and creating massive traffic jams in hallways talking to friends they haven’t seen all summer.  There are many new faces floating around and many more old faces.

Personally for myself, it marks a new beginning.  I officially completed my political science degree in the winter semester.  I tried to find a job in my field but it was quickly evident that that wasn’t going to happen.  So I planned early on to return to school and up my GPA.  In August, I came to a realisation of sorts.  I did a bit of research and talked to a few people and came to this conclusion:  Rather than taking a bunch of random classes to up my GPA, right now is a perfect time to add another degree to my undergrad.  I spoke to my advisor at university and came to the conclusion that based on the classes I’ve taken previously, it would be best if I did a minor in geography.

Why geography?  For a few reasons.  One, I did very well in my previous geography classes.  That is actually something that I didn’t expect.  I don’t love geography but it’s not something that I totally hate either.  Second, I felt that if I take the right classes, a geography minor would be a unique way for me to compliment my minor.  Third, a normal minor requires a student to complete 10 courses.  I had already taken four geography classes and so I only needed six more classes to officially have a minor.  Taking that and a few other things into consideration, I spent a good month researching my classes, researching profs and the material that they were going to teach.

These are the geography classes that I am taking this semester:

• Cultural Geography
• Environmental Geography
• Geography of Latin America
• Geography of AIDS/HIV

If I don’t change around my schedule, next semester I will be taking:

• Political Geography
• Economic Geography

Based on these courses and what is being taught in them, I think it will go really well with my political science degree.   The AIDS/HIV is especially a good class in that it is a seminar type of class.  It’s not a regular lecture format.  Rather, the professor encourages the class to be interactive and allows students to delve into the various academic aspects the disease.  Moreover, it gives me a good idea of what classes will be like at the Masters level, which I hope to persue later on.  The only downside is that the class requires a 30 page essay which is due at the end of the semester.  This will officially be the longest essay I will have ever written in my university career.

I am also taking a few other electives to further boost my GPA so all in all I have a full course load; 5 classes.  I have already become stressed out.  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s a good type of stress.  Oh yeah, I’m also working at the same time.  It’s going to be quite a busy semester.

When I first began university I didn’t plan on geography at all.  It wasn’t even on my list.  But its funny how destiny directs you to certain paths.  The good thing about the path I have chosen is that nothing bad can come out of my minor.  I’ve added another qualification to my degree and I am confident I will have a whole new perspective to view the world when I am finally done my undergrad.  So really, nothing bad can come out of this.

In the spirit of this new beginning, you may have noticed that I changed the theme of my blog.  I added a few songs on the sidebar from soundcloud.  I intend to add more as soon as I have some more time to surf the site.  There are some amazing songs on there that I would definitely love to share with you guys.  I love this theme.  The colour schemes are perfect and it gives that nice “bloggy” feeling.

I wish the rest of the students out there a fun, happy and prosperous school year.

A Deeply Moving Quote…

“I do not mind dying, but to die without having a child is most painful because I shall go to my grave knowing that nobody will remember my name.”

-A young woman from a Ugandan village speaking shortly before her death from AIDS in 1989.

Universal Beauty