It’s Winter Break Already?

Well, my fall semester of my freshman year at Mines is now officially over. I really can’t believe I’ve already been in Colorado for that long! The last few weeks have been a total blur of homework, notes, studying, and testing. They say your first college exams are supposed to knock your socks off, and they weren’t kidding. I had Biological and Environmental Life Systems Saturday morning at 8 am, then Principles of Chemistry I immediately after at 10:15, Calculus I Monday at 10:15, and Nature and Human Values the week before during class. Of course, I’m not including the mile we had to run for Physical Education. Luckily, I did so well in Chemistry this semester I didn’t need to take the exam! That was a complete lifesaver. I really have no idea what I would have done if I had been forced to spend two hours taking a Biology final just to turn around and take another one on Chemistry fifteen minutes later. My roommate had to and she was even more stressed than I was, which is saying a lot because I’m a slightly neurotic perfectionist who still had plenty to study without Chemistry.

Studying for finals really did seem to suck all the joy out of my room, despite the festive Christmas decorations I had installed to cheer me and Holly up!

Needless to say, I spent the week up until exams camped out in my room surrounded by countless versions of Calculus notecards, Nature and Human Values readings I should have taken notes on in September but didn’t, and old Biology tests covered in writing explaining why I had missed so many questions. Looking back on that week, I probably should have started studying over Thanksgiving break or gone to the library where I wouldn’t have been constantly tempted by the comfort of my bed or the blissful escape I find in my Lord of the Rings books. Still, everything worked out and I did very well on all my exams.

Speaking of Thanksgiving break, having three class days off only a couple weeks before exams is both a blessing and a curse. I’m sure lots of students spent their break studying for the two Biology tests I had the week I came back or revising the essay due in Nature and Human Values, but I ultimately decided that a few days of television, sleep, and some good old fashioned overeating would benefit me more. My family decided South Carolina was too far away to fly home for only a few days, so I spent the break with my aunt and uncle on the other side of Denver. It was nice to get away from campus for a bit, and I actually didn’t end up getting home sick. I’m sure the impending doom of exams helped take my mind off not being home for the holiday.

I did do more between Thanksgiving and Winter Breaks than just study. My roommate Holly and our friend Jessica both have December birthdays so we drove to Noodles and Company to celebrate. That’s definitely our favorite restaurant, and we always make excuses to go there to celebrate special occasions. That’s one of the best things about living outside Denver: there are so many different places to go eat! There are also tons of fun events in downtown Denver. On December 2^nd and 3^rd Denver had the Parade of Lights, and the three of us went down to see the floats and Santa Clause. We decided to drive on this trip downtown (trying to find a moved bus stop in Denver at midnight is absolutely no fun until you’re safely on the way back to Golden.) Lucky for us parking wasn’t bad, and we got to spend an extra half an hour in freezing cold weather waiting for the parade to march past. Fortunately the two-dollar boiling hot chocolate did a pretty good job keeping us from getting frostbite. It really was fun despite the numbness in our toes by the time Santa and his sleigh wheeled past us signaling the end of the parade.

Celebrating Holly’s and Jessica’s birthdays at Noodles&Co!

Getting back to the topic of school, in November we registered for next semester, and up until I had my schedule officially finished I was incredibly nervous about choosing my own classes. In the past my schedule has always been generated for me from a list of classes I want to take. To register at Mines I had to look up the times of all my classes and create a schedule on my own. Even though there were a lot of potential problems with doing this, the one I was most concerned with being the fact that if one of my classes was full before my registration time my whole schedule would have changed, this did give me a lot of freedom. This last semester I had no class on Thursdays, and I loved it so I was hoping to get that again. Even though I couldn’t, next semester’s schedule may be better. Since I took AP classes in high school, I got to register early for the spring semester as a Sophomore, and I ended up getting the schedule I wanted. My latest class ends at 5:00 pm on Wednesdays (Chemistry Lab), and some days I end as early as 1:00. Every day my earliest class is at 10:00 am, so that should give me a couple more hours of sleep. I’m taking less credit hours than last semester, but I’m sure I’ll still have plenty of studying to keep me busy. I’m taking Chem 2, Calc 2, Physics, and the Epics Design Course. They’re pretty much all required for whatever major I pick (I’m still undecided even after a semester at Mines, although I’m leaning towards Chemical Engineering with a minor in Energy.)

Looking back on my semester, I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done so far. I think I ended up with a 4.0 (but I don’t want to count my A’s before final exam scores are posted), and I really do love CSM. I’m excited for next year and moving into an apartment; even though I love the school I’m not a huge fan of dorm life. Now that I’ve been home for a few days I realize that at school I feel cramped sleeping, studying, and eating in the same, small room. It’s nice to have a house to run around in for a bit. As happy as I am to be home, it’ll still be nice to get back to school and have somewhere to go and a reason to put on real pants in the morning. To all you readers, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, have a great holiday! Next time I write I’ll be back in ten degree weather and mile-high altitude at the greatest engineering school in the world: Mines!