Hitting the books

It's been almost two weeks since I last did a blog entry, so I thought it was time I remedied that.

The university semester started on Monday. As I'm doing three subjects this semester I'm having to make a concerted effort to do some studying when I get home from work, even if it's just for an hour.

The geology subject I'm doing is a second year subject, Field Mapping and Sedimentology. It's easy because it's something I'm interested in. Chemistry isn't too bad for two reasons, firstly I'm finding it relatively easy to understand so far, and secondly the lecturers seem to be really good at teaching the subject.

As I'm studying by distance education everything is done from the textbooks and the study guides that are sent out at the beginning of the semester. Chemistry even included a CD with short videos on. Any practical stuff that needs to be done is done at the residential school in April or September. Most subjects also have an online forum where you can discuss the subject and any problems you might have with other students and your lecturers. This is the case with Geol and Chem.

Now, maths on the other hand, that's the subject I'm having to concentrate on. Maths and statistics are both mind numbingly boring subjects that are compulsory for a BSc. The lecturers seem to have no idea how to liven it up a bit, and it's unusual for them to create a forum to help students out.

Oh, and there's about eleven assignments to hand in for maths. I've finished the first one already, but the next one is due a week after the first one, so I really have to stay on top of it. I think I have about six chemistry assignments and several online tests and only two geology assignments.

I'll be glad when this year is over as far as uni is concerned as that will mean all my first year subjects will finally be out of the way. I'll then be able to concentrate on more interesting subjects like ecology, zoology and more geology. This is of course assuming that I pass everything this year.

I should really be doing a bit of studying now, but Sexpo is on in town and we're going to that today. We went to it last time about three years ago and the stuff we bought then has just about worn out.