Walking into class after any break is a moment of excitement and trepidation for me.

Will I like the class? Will I like my professor and classmates? Every semester I go through the same problem. Inevitably, there will be at least one issue with my syllabus.

Being an English major is a challenge for many reasons. I have read “Jane Eyre” about four times, and not one of them was optional. I don’t understand why professors don’t mix it up a bit. I have read every single short story written by Poe at least twice, yet discussions get so in-depth, I have to reread every time. If you take enough English classes, it is expected that you will read the same books repeatedly.

Another problem that one would expect (rightly) from the English program is that we have a lot of reading. You are probably thinking, “No, D. It’s literature.” I can handle a lot of reading. I love to read, and do so rather quickly. If my reading experience was a person, it would be legal to drink by now. I’ve got practice.

Having multiple literature classes plus other classes and two jobs, reading 100 pages a day per class becomes an impossible feat. This is a lot of reading, which full-scheduled students like me have to read over the weekend.

This creates a problem on the second class day of the first week, when I’m supposed to have 150 pages read and be able to discuss the story. When was I supposed to have time to read yet? The only thing that saved me from a complete nervous breakdown was the fact that I didn’t get called on.

I am a criminal justice minor and for this, one must take a class involving learning to write a paper. Most criminal justice classes don’t involve papers, so this class is very necessary most of the time.

Can anyone think of an exception to the rule? Perhaps an English major with a criminal justice minor may find this class to be a waste of time. I’m just speculating, though.

Also, I am a bartender, and my favorite convention of the year is in town the first week of classes every year. This means that I can’t take off work or leave early or get any homework done. The people are all emergency medical technicians from towns all over Wisconsin, and boy can they drink. They always beg me to drink with them, and while I hate turning down a free drink, it’s a must during the week.

Between too much reading, writing and working, I have very little time for a social life. I somehow manage to keep just enough of a social life to get my heart stomped on the first week of class. I am a very prideful person, and wounding my pride is like killing a part of me.

I try to play it off like I wasn’t bothered by it, but naturally I am. I just didn’t need to have the wind knocked out of me this week.

No pain, no gain, right?

This semester I’m just going to have to kick a little more butt than usual. Kickboxing will help and so will my trip to Jamaica at the end of February. I guess I’m going on vacation alone now.

Who could be better company than me anyway?

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