Perpetually Busy … As Usual
BUSY! Chase has lots to do and things due this week. Read on to find out about his assignments, quizzes, and more for his Japanese and semantics classes.
BUSY! Chase has lots to do and things due this week. Read on to find out about his assignments, quizzes, and more for his Japanese and semantics classes.
Upon first glances at each of my classes individually this term, I thought the term wouldn’t be all too difficult. That said, having five classes (three that are actually full-length, so it doesn’t consume all of my time) is a lot of work. And naturally I have had major assignments or exams in two of these classes during Week 2. Below you’ll find a photo of my various assignments and readings. I made it black and white to convey my sadness at how much work there is, but at least it’s interesting work!
Something I found quite shocking as a first-year student was just how quickly large portions of your grade come up. It’s just something you kind of have to accept as a Carleton student — and if you’re feeling particularly stressed about it you can complain to your friends, most of whom will be sympathetic but they’re going through the same thing!
Speaking of these portions of my grade, for Japanese I have a kanji quiz, basically a quiz on the characters you have to learn to be literate in Japanese. By the end of last year — the last time I had taken a Japanese course — I had learned around 500, and I still can barely read a normal news article. Then add an additional 20-40 new characters or new combinations of characters each week for quizzes on top of the 500 characters you had learned prior.
For semantics, I have a 60-minute group project on indexicals due today. We learned of this project last Friday. Yep, that quickly. Read this if you want to learn more (read: get confused for a few hours) about the topic. To really simplify things, indexicals are words like I, you, here, is, and local. They’re actually extremely complicated – but isn’t everything in language if you really think about it – and can get quite philosophical.
Wish me luck as I get through this very, very busy Friday.
Chase is a junior linguistics major and is more than glad to exchange the year-round California heat for some Minnesota seasonality. In his free time, he enjoys learning and teaching urban dance choreography, playing guzheng, and cycling around Northfield. When Chase doesn’t have free time, which is often, he’ll be in the libe or Sayles with a cup (or cups) of chai tea in hand.