I just finished my last test (which was for Intro to Theology), and I can finally breath a sigh of relief that midterms are over.  The only other class I have today, Asian Philosophies, is coming up at 11, but I don't have a midterm test in there, just a normal test after the break.  With that said, I've been thinking that I really haven't said much about the classes I'm taking this semester, so since I just crossed the halfway point in all of them I figure that I probably should let you know how there all going.

Intro to Theology (MWF 9:00-9:50) started the semester on a less-than-stellar note.  We were going through pretty abstract, kinda fluffy, stuff and I was really looking for something more "meaty", more hard, more solid - you know - truth.  Anyway, the class has gotten better, and more meaningful, once I realized that this was an introductory course and was supposed to introduce people to God who didn't have a relationship with Him.  I have since began to get a lot more out of the class, and appreciate what I am learning in there.  The midterm went well; it was one of those tests that I didn't know what to expect going in, but turned out to be pretty easy, and I just might have gotten a good grade.

Asian Philosophies (MWF 11:00-11:50) was also a class I misunderstood at first.  I guess I went into the class thinking that I already had the religion I wanted (and believed), why do I need/want to study other people's religion?  Once again, it took me a little while to figure out that there is something positive about this, even if their ideas don't convince me, there is something positive about seeing the world from a different view.  If anything, I can at least understand where they're coming from (should I meet them).  There wasn't a midterm and I haven't started studying for the test coming up after the break, so there you go...

Shakespeare (MW 2:00-3:15)  I really didn't know what to expect going into this class.  I didn't think I would find it to interesting; it's Shakespeare after all, but, while hard, it has turned out to be somewhat enjoyable.  I'm really torn about this class; there is a ton of reading involved and there is a 10-12 page paper due at the end of the semester (that will definitely not be fun), but in probably every other class or so we get into a really good discussion about the stuff that Shakespeare is saying, some topic of the place of kings, or the influence of religion on life, or something (it's amazing how much stuff some people can pull out of Shakespeare), and then I really start thinking.  The midterm was a 4 page paper and it was one of those papers that never really took off and I was stuck just forcing out the 1200 words and then polishing a lot.  It turned out pretty good, but I'm worried that there just isn't enough depth to it.  We'll see...

Intro to Sociology (TH 9:30-10:45) started out pretty good.  Surprisingly, I found the material sort of interesting and the study of society and people in general didn't seem totally dumb to me.  As the course went on I started to notice a liberal/left bias in the topics and ideas we were studying, so that turned me off for a while.  Now I have just accepted that I won't agree with everything that is said, and I'm starting to enjoy diving into the debates that ensue in class as some people take conservative, sometimes libertarian views, and others go the other direction.  The midterm was on Tuesday  and I think it went pretty well.  I actually don't remember this one very well; this week has been a blur, and my brain has been fried over the last few days.

Personal and Professional Ethics (TH 12:30-1:45) is without a doubt my favorite class.  I have (surprisingly to me) found that philosophy classes are actually sometimes fun and get me thinking (which is almost always a good thing) and this class has struck the perfect balance between learning about cool/thought provoking topics and not being overwhelming in work load.  Last semester, with three philosophy classes, it was pretty tough to enjoy them just because there was a ton of work that I had to finish for them.  Ethics this semester though, doesn't have a ton of papers/tests and a moderate (almost doable) amount of reading.  It has been cool to take theories of morals (utilitarianism, libertarianism, Kantian, etc.) and see the positives and negatives associated with looking at the world in this way.  The class is shifting in topic, so this could change, but the first semester was fun.  This class had a take home midterm, which is nice because you don't have to study, and not nice because you don't have an excuse to make mistakes...  I think I did decently on it.

Music in Catholic Worship (TH 2:00-3:15)  I had some real concerns with this class going in.  Some of the music that they do in Catholic worship here at Marian is a bit too rambunctious for my tastes, so I was relieved that the class wasn't teaching from that perspective.  Most of the material of the class has been taken directly from Church documents, and it's nice to be learning something that, God willing if I'm ordained, will be very, very useful.  The midterm was pretty tough.  The test was the style where a question is asked and you have to write down a list, or sentence  or quote as an example.  Perhaps other people enjoy these types of tests, but I found myself finishing the test having saved like 30% of the questions to go back to.  Thankfully, my brain gradually started coming up with answers and I got something down in every question.  We'll see if they were right...

There you have it folks; an overview of my semester.  Sorry, it might be pretty boring for some people (it's sometimes boring for me), but I figured it was as good a time as any to get it up here. It is wonderful to have made it to midterms (alive) and now I have a week to relax! Yay!  Sorry for the dearth of posting over the last week; I have been really, really busy (and tired) and there wasn't too much going on that was super exciting or fun.  I'll get back into posting stuff over the break.  Have a great day!