The Spring 2009 semester is over and the grades are in. Here’s a quick wrap up of the semester.

I was lucky enough to sit in on the Korean language level 2 class this semester. I received no grade for that class, but I did learn something new. The instructor this semester is a good teacher. I’ll miss her class.

The Principles of Learning class was very slow, especially in the beginning, with the instructor cover a single topic in a single class quite heavily. This wasn’t needed in the beginning of the semester and, I’ll quickly admit, wouldn’t have been needed later in the semester had I not begun suffering from considerable (general) burn out. The result is that I stopped paying much attention in class nor taking things anywhere nearly as serious as I should have. The final exam definitely suffered. I would have been happy to see a C… disappointed, but happy, but I think that my attendance is what brought it up.

Issues In Today’s Economy had a good instructor, in my opinion, even though the material of the class was very boring for me. Some subjects simply do not click with a person, and economics is one such subject to me. There are bits of interesting information in there. Anyway, I was crossing my fingers and just hoping that I would get a C in this class. The last minute hard work seems to have paid off.

Social Psychology was… not my favorite class. It’s a fascinating subject, but I do better when a classroom is more a traditional classroom. Social Psych had far too much random conversations going as a part of the class that only vaguely related to what was being talked about. In my opinion, anyway. Maybe I’m completely wrong. Perhaps it’s just that I was at odds with the class’ format.

Creative Writing was a class with a high amount of over head. Writing stories and poems, rewriting them, reading others’ work and giving feedback.. it wasn’t difficult, just busy. There were certain things one needed to do to earn an A so I wasn’t necessarily expecting an A in that class.

Anyhow, there’s that college semester. Later folks!

Courses Taken 2009/SP at Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas
(Undergraduate)
Dept Course Course Description Hours Grade
PSYCH 394 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 3.00 B
ECON 191 ISSUES IN TODAY’S ECONOMY 3.00 A
PSYCH 456 INTRO TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 3.00 A
ENGL 250 INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING 3.00 A
Credits Attempted Credits Completed Semester GPA
12.00 12.00 3.7500
Semester Messages
Dean’s Scholastic Honors

I leave in about 30 minutes to speak with my adviser. This will likely determine if I’m attending classes this Spring semester or not, and/or determine my situation with financial aid. Once I get back I’ll be able to focus on other things.

My apologies for the late updates.

Be back later.

Well it’s here. Basically. It’s now a little past midnight, the wind blowing with a determination to find a crack in the house’s armor, and I’m taking a brain-break from studying.

Research Methods In Psychology I

Tomorrow – or later today, to be more accurate – are my last two tests for this semester. The results of these tests are definitely not set in stone.

Damn this semester has been crazy. Between the exchange thing going, then not going, then going, then not going, then… in a vicious circle that’s been repeated essentially all semester, to a failed relationship, to other general stuff, I guess it’s no surprise that I’ve got my first “F” this semester. Hopefully my last “F”.

I really wonder what this is going to do my GPA. That’s a huge concern for me because I receive scholarships based on my grades, which have been all A’s and B’s since joining the university. Now this whirlwind of a semester has put those scholarships into question.

For any normal students the results of this semester would not be a big deal. On some level even I don’t care. Money though.. it’s a bitch. I hope that I get to continue attending the university.

Yet I digress, as usual.

Sigh, the wind is making it through somewhere. This house is fairly new, so it kind of surprises me that it’s able to get in here. I do get a light breeze..

Ah well.

Research Methods In Psychology and Descriptive Astronomy are the two classes that I’ve studied for since around 2 PM today. Maybe 2:30. I haven’t done anything else since then. I keep telling myself, “THIS IS IT! ONCE THIS IS DONE, IT’S DONE!” .. It helps a little, but I’ve had to take a couple of brain breaks – this being the second.

Descriptive Astronomy really shouldn’t have me worried, but I’ve had a prevalent problem of being unable to focus on anything much at all this semester. I’m feeling it all over campus to be honest; no one, even the instructors, are as relaxed as they were just last semester. There’s an over all sense of… what? “Fuck it” in the air? Something like that.

DA is a good class with a good instructor. I like her. She’s, as they say, cool. Love the material in this class, too. I just wish that I could have the focus to study the material more often; not that this matters after … today, technically. I’ve had all week to study, but every time that I’ve sat done to do so I didn’t last more than a minute.

Perhaps having no idea if I would be in this country or in South Korea in roughly a month’s time has had something to do with that.

Hells, I don’t think I’ll be going though. With tomorrow (today, whatever) being the last day of class and me still not having all of the required information to complete the process.. then no. I doubt it. I need a syllabus (or something else that describes the class) to give to the registrars office. They don’t have these available just yet, so I can’t go my registrars office and get the transfer of credits verified. Without that I can’t send – via snail mail – the packet to South Korea.

Even if I could, I’d have to wait for them to process the papers and send their acceptance letter back to me via snail mail. I’d then take that acceptance letter and snail mail it to the consulate in Chicago, who would have to process it and give me my visa and then ship my passport back to me.

All in time to leave in Feb. Maybe if I could magically get the paper work done tomorrow it could happen, but classes are done tomorrow. Vamoosh! School’s closed, kids, ’till Spring semester. Then I would have, oh, maybe one month for all of that to get done.

Ain’t happening, eh?

Here’s another joyful bit of shit that I get to stress out over: I have not pre-enrolled for Spring semester at PSU. I had no reason to because I was supposed to be going over seas. Well here I am, about 90% certain that I’m not going, and not enrolled HERE for Spring.

Jeebus. It seems like it’s all about dodging bullets these days.

Come next Fall I’ll try to go, once again, to South Korea. This time though I’ll most likely be heading to one of the universities in Seoul.

I want to state very clearly that I have nothing against the university in Jinju. The people there are great. They have worked so hard and they have been very, very helpful.

The problem is that the deadlines at my university are in considerable conflict with the time table at this particular Korean university. So this causes problems for everyone. It’s not because they’re not doing their job, because they definitely are doing a great job. It’s because I simply can not meet the requirements set forth by PSU in time for everything to happen.

Surely it must work easier with the Seoul universities because we have a number of students who have already gone there. In fact, I know one guy who is leaving in Spring who has already completed his paper – apparently he completed it all quite some time ago. So obviously, the universities in Seoul have a time table that is easier to work with.

In a way this will work out for the best. I miss Haengbok. I really do. She’s the greatest person I’ve met at PSU; heck, she’s the nicest person I’ve personally met in quite some time. She’s in Seoul, and I really hope to see my good friend again soon. I miss her. T_T

It’s going to break her heart when I have to tell her that I can’t come in the Spring. She was very happy that I would be there… argh.. it’s for the best, though. I’ll go directly to Seoul in the Fall (hopefully, eh?) and, in the long run, we’ll definitely get a chance to hang out more often.

So, wow, I’ve rambled so much and there’s a lot more that I can say, but I guess I should get back to studying the Astronomy stuff. Or not. I should get some sleep. Hey, I’m a psychology major, I know that sleep is very important to passing tests. In other words, I know better than to stay up until 3 am studying. That hasn’t stopped me from doing so in the past..

Hells. I couldn’t get to sleep right now if I tried, but I suppose that I’ll try anyway. Three more chapters and I’m done anyhow..

Must’n panic. that wouldn’t help a thing.

Good night from this evening’s disheveled host.

Oh hey look, it’s 12:36 AM.

We had our meeting tonight. Turns out I can get the stipend before I leave, but I need to get my visa to get that. This could be good news as the stipend would pay for the majority of the plane ticket.

The lady at the international student office is also going to email the Korean university. Hopefully she can work something out, though I do feel bad about those people getting pestered even more.

So it’s not over yet, but it’s also not guaranteed at this point either.

Oh, we got free t-shirts this evening. A shame it wasn’t a sweater, but it was free and I got one in my size.

Later folks.

I’ll just leave this right here (including all misspellings):

(10/13/2008 11:15:04 AM) Steph: ‘k, it’s been a long time since I last heard from you so I’m going to assume you are in fact avoiding me. As such I will henceforth cease attempts to contact you. If you want to send me a msg do so on FB or via cell. MSN will not be an option; I’m removing you so as to avoid potential problem..
(10/13/2008 11:15:52 AM) Steph: If I’m wrong and you want to contact me then you can still send me a message via Facebook or on my cell, but those will be the only avenues remaining. Though you’ve chosen to leave me in the dark by not speaking to you, I nonetheless wish you all the best and much happiness. Take care of yourself.
(10/13/2008 11:16:29 AM) Steph: by not speaking to me rather.. anyway, g’luck and good wishes.

Yesterday was my first day of classes for the Fall 2008 semester. Here is a brief record, partially for you but also partially for myself to look back on.

• Books cost $370.
• A mere 5 folders cost me $75 – the gorging of students only worsens despite all of the talk about making it better for us
• My first class, Research Methods In Psych, was canceled. Apparently the instructor was ill.
• Astrology class: Instructor said that there would only be about 7 math problems, and calculators are welcomed
• Educational Psychology: My adviser teaches this class. In all not an interesting subject, but maybe useful if I do teach English in South Korea

One student in Research Methods is repeating from last semester. Apparently they don’t generally come to class. Their comment was, probably paraphrasing, “This is basically a math class. As long as you know how to do the equations then it’s easy.” Great, right? ::sigh::

Ashley is in my Astronomy class. I said hi to her like 4 times before she noticed me, or maybe I’m just that uncool LOL. She was polite, but over all disinterested in conversation. After she left (we were all allowed to leave during roll call), I think that the guy who she was sitting next to made a comment about her being sexy and bragging to his pal about how he was going to … you get the drift, right? I can’t be entirely certain that I heard him correctly, though.

I also saw the Hispanic guy who went on the Korean trip with us. Of all things to say, the first thing out of my mouth was, “How’s it going, man?”. Oh yes. Social skills are still lacking.

Oh, I also spoke to one instructor about Psi Chi, which I have filled out the application for. I’m not too familiar with his behavior, but I kind of got the feeling that he was halfway annoyed at my presence, but that’s entirely expected since I did appear without forewarning. He was very patient and conversational though, so perhaps I’m merely imagining things. Side note, I also saw him later that day while walking to another class.

He also said that he would be willing to sign my exchange student paper. So there are my two signatures required to go to South Korea. Woot! Now I just need to decide on the Korean university, but that’s digressing.

Oh, I actually had to use my asthma inhaler during the evening class. That was some foresight to bring it that evening, or maybe just following an obvious nudge. Asthma has been a mild problem lately. Perhaps a good, serious cleaning of the room from top to bottom will alleviate the issue. Anyhow, I got up, flashed the inhaler to the instructor,a nd walked out of the class to use the inhaler.

Gary also called during the evening class. Apparently he was going to invite me to play basketball with someone at his work.

Also in the evening class, a foreign Asian student came to class at around 5:30 quite confused because she thought that her class was supposed to be in. The instructor’s a nice fellow and he took the time to look up her class information. Turns out that her class was at 6:30, which some of the other students seemed to know as well. She seemed like a nice gal so maybe she’s not Chinese, but I didn’t recognize a Korean accent in her speech. She’s quite the pretty woman though. I sure wouldn’t mind topping the evening with speaking to her. ^_~

Must read the first chapter in both Research Methods and Educational Psychology. Even glancing through the Research Methods In Psych paper threatens to numb my frontal lobe.

That’s that.

Today, the second day of class, I have only one class to attend. It starts at 12:30. Yes, this rocks.

Laters.

EDIT: Oh, another thing that I forgot. I managed to buy 4 shirts for $20, and I also picked up a gym bag so that I can shower at the recreation facility. That should theoretically help me continue using the facility.

Technorati Tags: university, college, PSU, Pittstate, Pittsburg State University, student, Gorillas

Scratch that. I honestly don’t think that I can handle the math requirements.

I spoke to my adviser today and was quite encouraged to learn more about the Human Factors focus in psychology. Previously I had only thought it to be an elective, but it turns out to be an entire focus. Taking this focus would require me to switch from a BA to a BS, but that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a big deal.

Later folks.

Technorati Tags: college, university, psychology, engineering

’sup folks, I forgot to fill everyone in on the results of the Korean language final.

There were three parts to the test.

1.) Conversation
2.) Vocabulary
3.) Translation

Each part had a subcategory. The conversation segment was a combination of a typical “Hello, how are you?” casual conversation, as well as questions about what our major is and what job we want after graduation.

Only the translation was not oral, though we did have to read it aloud (of course).

The translation part required us to write a script in English and then translate the script into Korean.

I got a perfect score on both the conversation and vocabulary. It was apparent that the instructor was proud of the results of the test.

The translation went very bad. As much as I would like to be able to say that I got a perfect score on the entire test, I think that I pretty much tanked the translation. We had to find the Korean words on our own and create the sentences with very little references. It was tough, and it took its toll on my test. Using a plethora of unfamiliar words to write a translation was rough, but as I look back on it I kind of feel like I enjoyed the challenge.

He wrote some corrections as I spoke. He didn’t always correct what I had written, but he generally did make the “No, something wrong” sound as I read off my script. lol ;D

So there you have it. I don’t think that doing poorly on one part of the test is going to seriously affect my over all score, so I should have passed the class with a comfortable grade. I hope so, anyway!

They were considering the idea of a level 3 Korean language course next semester. I’ll definitely be enrolling if it’s offered.

Hopefully this summer I will be able to continue studying other languages. I have a subscription to KoreanClass101.com, and I may pick back up my study of Japanese by using that website or MangoLanguages.com if their prices are realistic. I stopped studying Japanese for awhile, so my grasp of the language is now really poor. I only remembered enough to give the occasional surprise to my Korean instructor – hah! Just enough to get myself into trouble, ya know?

Random closing comment: I positively love Sakamoto Maaya’s voice. So soft and gentle!

Oh, I may not post again until I get back from South Korea. I should have a ton of photos to share when I do.

Later folks.

Technorati Tags: korean, korean language, 한국어, foreign language

In two days I will have my Korean language final.

It is all spoken; there is no written part of the final. We’re all insane because us students chose this.

This little photo was snapped using my camera phone. Right now I am supposed to be translating some English into Korean for our test, but I’m trying real hard to not think about it so that I don’t freak out.

Oh, on a somewhat related note I now have a confirmed ride to Kansas City. I am hitching a ride with one of the professors.

Well, time to try to focus some more..

(the picture is not part of the above mentioned translation)

This is the most awesomenest thing that I’ve ever done.

That said, I’m not going to put my entire schedule up here. At least not yet. I can say that I’m finally starting to get excited about this trip.

We’re not going to be in one hotel. We’re actually changing hotels three or four times (I don’t remember off hand).

We’re going to a major city in the East of South Korea as well as in the South, then going back to Seoul. We’ll be staying at a hotel in each of those cities.

We’re going to visit a few different universities. This is actually turning out to be a slightly bigger deal than I previously thought, because we’ll be meeting the deans of those universities. One fella who’s going on the trip with us will be bringing a suit because it’s apparently that big of a deal. I have no suit, so they’re just going to have to accept my slacker ass as is lol

::ahem::

More updates later. I don’t feel like typing anymore atm. byyyyeee~