ID:35847
 
Keywords: geology
This semester. My god. This class. Is killing me. Geology... they call it "rocks for jocks," right? Like it's supposed to be the "easy" physical science that even a linebacker could get a D in. I decided to pass up the UCONN geology program because I heard it wasn't much, and I moved to Rhode Island and worked for a year so I could go to URI on in-state tuition. For the geosciences program.

And--though I say this with great irony--I'm pretty sure I made the right decision. I was very impressed with the quality of the teaching last year, which was my freshman year, and I learned more than I ever have in any of the (many) classes I've taken my whole life (and I've been going to school on and off for 25 years now). And I really enjoyed myself.

But that was last year. I did not realize that my geo professor this semester was going to be Sergeant Slaughter in wire-rimmed glasses. We had our first field trip last weekend. We stopped at a nice rock outcrop and he gestured to it, saying, "Okay, go to it--WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK HERE! I thought I told you idiots 20 times that the first thing you do..."

I am going to have a heart attack. My professor is going to kill me. Jesus Christ. He is the Simon Cowell of geology. I have never felt so incompetent in my life. Our team has to write a term paper every few weeks... well, I guess that makes it not a term paper, just torture... in which we pour all our free hours (plus the requisite blood, sweat and tears) into some artless dissemination of fossil assemblages so that he can tell us how pathetic we are. Along with the powerpoint presentation and the other assignments.

I am so far behind in my other classes.

The thing is, this is all hilarious. It's hilarious because this is paleontology, and dinosaurs are fun, right? It's hilarious because the guy is not at all physically imposing; he looks like somebody's dad (which he is). And it's hilarious because I am a slightly uptight 4.0 student who has never been scared of a teacher in her life, and always thought it was ridiculous when my friends were. And now I am flailing pathetically and in absolute misery, and there is nothing else I can seem to do.

And it's slightly depressing because while I wish I could say the guy was just a jerk, I do not think he is just a jerk--that is to say, I think he is a jerk who knows his stuff, and might conceivably give us an A someday if we managed to figure out how the hell we're supposed to research and write these papers. (Did I mention he doesn't lecture?) And it's also slightly depressing that I'm starting to respect him at least as much as I hate him, which may validate my choice to enter the program but doesn't make it very easy to vent my misery with the other students.

Anyway, now you know what I've been up to. How are you all?
If he was gnice you'd take him for gran...

I'm guessing that you have to be intimidating when your class specializes in giving students heavy objects to throw at you.
You got two good laughs there. Thank you.
pssh, rock outcroppings are for rappelling. If I was in that class, I would have had him in a swiss seat and down over the edge of it in under a minute.
That professor is making you neglect BYOND Casual! I disapprove.
make you leave the classroom to learn about rocks? riveting.
You're alive! Glad to see it. Show those rocks who's boss.
Yeah. I've had a couple of teachers like that. They're either really good, or really bad.
The good ones are lovely, and you'll miss them when they're gone because you were so much more productive when terrified...
Better that he weeds out the weak ones now than having someone freak out while Charlie is raining bullets down on an actual dig.
Hey Z, our most recent posts have equally incomprehensible post titles.

*gives a thumbs up*
Haha, DarkView... that's hilarious in itself, but it's also funny because one of my teammates in the class is named Charlie. He's very easy-going so the day he snaps is the day we're all in for it.