Day 1 of Junior Year

Junior Year!

It’s incredible to think that two years ago now I was doing this exact same thing but in a much more overwhelmed fashion.

The start of classes for my 5th semester here at the College feels like slipping on an old familiar pair of shoes – I never thought in high school that going from summer straight into school could ever feel natural, but at William and Mary it simply does.

It’s great to see all of campus passing back and forth on the walkways, running into old friends you haven’t seen all summer or since you’ve been back on campus. It’s good to hear students bragging about cool professors, lamenting early assignments, talking about how they finally got that override, and making their first lunch and “Grind” coffee dates of the season.

I, for one, couldn’t be happier for classes to start. I’m ready to get back into the routine of classes, hanging out with friends, and extracurriculars that defines the well-rounded life that W&M seems to instill in its students.

My day started off with Generative Syntax as my professor cracked jokes to wake students up (even though it was 11!) and went over expectations for the class – best part? The class is Monday, Wednesday, Friday but on Friday’s we’re expected to not come to class but rather work with her in small focus groups so that our questions can get all answered personally in a non-class setting (and the class is only 30 people to begin with)! I really look forward to that and learning from her.

Next was Intelligence & Policy Process in the Government Department, taught by a professor who’s an expert in the field with a resume anybody would be impressed by. We jumped right into the nuances of the intelligence community as the professor expounded on stories from the 35+ years he worked right at the center of US Intelligence. Students were immediately drawn in and participating even on the first day, when students just expect to get their syllabi and be told about the class.

Public Speaking followed, which I’m interested in from a linguistic standpoint, is a great skill to learn, and fulfills a GER requirement. My professor had us all do an ice-breaker interview activity so that my already small class of 12 could get to know one another well before the next class started. All of the speeches for the class will be different, but she said that for all of them we will have the opportunity to speak on a matter which interests us or we’d like to do research on, which is great. The professor used to dislike country music but not too long ago one of her students gave a speech on it in class and gave her some listening suggestions and now it’s her favorite genre!

At 4 I have Argumentation and Debate (a great class if you’re interested in law or debate) and I’m really excited because William and Mary is perennially the top debate team in the country.

Besides these four I’m taking another another class, American Legal Process, working on linguistics research, doing an internship, and completing an independent study on it in the Government Department. Summer was great but I’m pretty sure everybody is ready and prepared for the start of classes.

I’ll let you know how things go as we continue!

Have an amazing start to classes yourselves or just a great week in general!

Brian