Day One

Caitlin H.

March 29, 2010 - 6:00 AM

The following takes place between 6:00 and 7:00am:

The incessant buzz of a vibrating cell phone atop the nightstand awoke me from my peaceful slumber. Monday had finally caught up to me. With an intense desire to hide in my warm cocoon I reached a hand to rub the sleep out of my eyes - how could spring term possibly be starting already? Spring break didn't last nearly long enough.

Work didn't start until 11am, class at noon...but I had duties to fulfill this morning. If only I had had the foresight to conveniently place my laptop next to the bed so that work could be done without ever having to actually get up. Some mornings the couch seems impossibly far away. I kicked my feet over the edge and shuffled a few steps out of the room. Today is going to be a pretty big day.

One problem: I still haven't decided what classes I'm taking for sure. I only need four credits; one would think it wouldn't be so difficult to just pick a class and show up the first day. But there are still two contenders for the job - Geography 442: Urban Geography and Geography 465: Environment and Development.

Urban geography is described as the study of urbanization throughout the world, the structure of urban settlements; cities as regional centers, physical places, and homes for people; geographic problems in major urban environments.

Environment and development is focusing on the critical analysis of development concepts, economic activity and environmental impacts, sustainable development, and development projects and landscapes in the industrializing world.

Ideally I'd like to pick one of these classes in the next hour, but I may just go the first day to each and pick the one I like better. Before I use up all my time this morning thinking about what class to take I also need to reply to some emails, organize soccer practice for my second grade girls tonight, get prepared for the staff meeting later this afternoon with my coworkers from International Affairs, get dressed, have breakfast and make it out the door in time to get to campus. Nothing like a little life planning in the morning...I'm convinced that this final course I take at the University of Oregon needs to be the gateway course into my Master's education.

I'm trying to objectively weigh my options. On the one hand, urban geography is a little more specific to where I'm going. On the other, environment and development seems to have a business perspective, which I'm going to need. Urban geography focuses more on policy issues, environment and development on more economic and social issues. I don't know the professor of either class, but I can't discount the value of an inspired professor standing before a class. As time marches on it becomes clear why I decided before this. Looks like I'm going to take the time to examine each of these classes personally in addition to scrutinizing how they look on paper.