School Days, School Days

Growing up, my dad would cheerfully skip through the house singing this song on the first day of school around 6:00am:

School days, school days,

Dear old golden rule days.

'Readin' and 'ritin' and 'rithmetic,

Taught to the tune of a hick'ry stick.

We would all (my mom included because she was a teacher) pretend to groan and throw things, but deep down we all loved it. I don't think the first day of school would have been the same without it.

So, this morning, Jason squeezed me and threatened, "I'm going to call your dad". I protested, so he sang, "School Days, School Days..."

That's right! I'm back in school! I'm taking some undergraduate courses in History at UAH. Well, I'm actually just taking one course right now and I think I'll take one in the spring. My dream (and this really might be a dream) is to get a Ph.D. in History and either write and teach or both. Since my degree is in English and my minor was History, I have to have a few more undergraduate courses as a prerequisite for a Masters and Ph. D. program in History. So, small steps.

Was I nervous? Not really. I think I can hold my own in a classroom setting. I did think that all the students would be teenagers, but this is a 400/ 500 level class, so they weren't and many looked my age (old). I didn't get to chat with many people since I got there right before the class started. Parking was a nightmare and I didn't know where I was going. But the class info was good and I'm excited. I thought the professor might let us go early since it was the first day and all... yeah right. I had about 6 pages of notes, but he let us out 10 minutes early so he could talk more with the graduate students to tell them the extra work they had.

We have a 16-18 page (double spaced- I asked a girl outside- ha!) paper due with presentation (horrah!), a mid term, a final and 5 books to read. I'm glad I only took one class! I am a little concerned to add this to my present load (too much to list), but I'm really thrilled to be back in school, so that is overshadowing my commom sense factor. And I'm really feeling called to do it- which seems completely illogical- but I'm going with God.

So, off to do my homework! Agh! I've already got a chapter to read in one of the books before Wednesday. Oh, and I will be posting my grades. I'm a smidgen on the competitive side, in case you didn't know.