Well, today was the first day of my second semester here at BYU-Idaho. I thought i'd write about it.
Today, my classes were Mission Prep and German 101. From what I hear of my Mission Prep teacher, he's an amazing guy. He's served as an MTC president in [was it Guatemala?], and has gone on several missions, 2 with his wife. He looks to be an excellent teacher. He asked us today why we decided to be in that particular class. I just said that I thought I should be preparing more for a mission, and thought that would be a good way to do it. For those readers out there who are not familiar with my religion, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Male members of the church are expected to serve a proselyting mission when they reach the age of 19. Of course, it is still our decision, but the church strongly encourages it. That's the reason I'm taking this class. BYU-I is basically an LDS University (though those who are not members of the church can still be accepted if they are in good standing with the church and its standards), and so a lot of classes relating to our religion are taught here. It's nice to be able to take that kind of a class in that kind of an environment. Wouldn't it be awesome (those of you who are religious) to be able to attend a large school where the large majority of your classmates were of your religion, and had your standards, and took classes in your religion with you? That's how it is here. You should visit sometime.
Now, my German class was okay, but it almost got off to a bad start. I left my house at 10:45 in my car, and I only live a block away from campus. A friend has recommended to me that I leave for classes 30 minutes early to counterbalance any unforeseen circumstances. Good advice. It took me 30 minutes to find a parking spot. I was ALMOST late to my class, but I think I got in just in time (at least, before he took attendance) It probably would've looked pretty bad to be late to class on the first day. The only seat left was on the front row. But ANYWAY, what we learned today was how to ask for someone's name and how to respond to such a question. To ask what someone's name is, you say "Wie Hießen Sie?" in a formal setting, and, "Wie Hießt Du?" in an informal setting (The 'ß' is basically just pronounced as an 's,' and Ws as Vs. The 'S' in Sie is pronounced with a Z sound) The response is, "Ich Hieße (insert name here)" In a formal setting you use a title (Herr for males and Frau for females) with your last name (i. e. Herr Davis), and in an informal setting you just use your first name (i. e. Ich Hieße Gabe).
Anyway, today was mostly good. Tomorrow I have 4 classes: German 101, Doctrines of the Gospel (another church-related class), Philosophical Thinking, and The Developing World. Wish me luck.
P. S. This is kind of for your guys' benefit, you readers out there (sort of). If I'm putting in too many boring details, just let me know.
What department is The Developing World in? You guys have a strange schedule for semesters. We have two weeks left before the end of spring semester at ISU and then it's off until August/fall semester except for those opting for summer semester (that would be me... but only one class and it's only four weeks).
ReplyDeleteThe Developing World is the History Department, I believe, and the schedule is definitely different. They wanted to fit more students into the University, so everyone only gets 2 semesters. There's a three-part track: Fall, Winter, Spring. People are either on the Fall/Winter track, the Fall/Spring track, or the Winter/Spring track. I'm Winter/Spring. If you feel so inclined, you can apply for fast grad so you can take all three semesters. And, if you feel so inclined, you can also register for classes during the summer (But the semester is super short, and so I think the classes that they offer are either very few credits, really packed together, or both).
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