Winter Term begins

I just started Winter term this week.  I dropped off the face of the Earth Fall term because I needed to adjust to having homework.  I also had to read and write so much the last thing I wanted to do was blog.  So-far I feel like this term will be less overwhelming even though I'm taking more credits and I have to volunteer for my senior capstone.

So, I will explain where I am with my college career because it seems to confuse everyone I talk to.  I transferred to PSU as a senior, however, I was studying theatre back- in- the -day so I have about 2-3 years of classes to take as a senior for my Science degree and Dental school prerequisites.  I am planning on going to school in the Summer too.  Currently I am taking the required courses for my science degree that are not science related - I call them fluff classes.  This term I am taking Writing, Nutrition, and my senior capstone.  My senior capstone is worth six credits so that takes up some time in my schedule, plus I am volunteering for it.

My Senior Capstone is about aging and the geriatric population.  I've always enjoyed senior citizens. My family is primarily composed of senior citizens so it is a population I am most comfortable with.  I would never do a capstone with kids.  I wouldn't be able to function.  So, we are volunteering at a Jewish retirement center.  Some of the residents are not Jewish, but most are, therefore the campus is Kosher and they have a synagogue.  I will be participating in Jewish events and regular events like BINGO.  We were warned that the BINGO crowd is pretty feisty, so we shouldn't take it personally. We were also told not to eat food given to us because the residents like to hoard treats and don't necessarily practice good infection control.  We do, however, have to except them and dispose of them later.  The whole experience sounds really cute.  I know there will be hard times but I'm sure it will all be rewarding.  I'll share some of my stories but I have to be careful because of HIPPA.

Writing is interesting.  So-far we spend the majority of class analyzing the writing styles of the author of our text.  We also talk about different meanings of words, for example: politics and culture. Politics as a government or a power dynamic within an environment.  Culture as an ethnicity or a norm within a group. The instructor is interesting.  She has lived in a lot of different states.  She mainly lived in Chicago, so she has talked a lot about Chicago, specifically the former mayor, Richard Daley, who "lost his pants."  I can't remember why she was talking about him, but the story was interesting nonetheless.  She also has a background in Anthropology*, which seems to haunt me wherever I go.....

My Nutrition professor is passionate about Nutrition and engaging - thank God, because this is the second time I have taken Nutrition and I know a lot of it will be review.  I really enjoy learning about Nutrition, mainly because I like to tell people that their fad diets are stupid.  I'm not that rude, but there is a reason the majority of the population is overweight, myself included.  My nutrition professor also has a degree in Anthropology....... She knows her stuff though, and I really enjoy how she debunks fad diets such as the Paleo Diet.  One thing I thought was interesting is that ancient man in South America and Brazil ate Yuca (Cassava), which is a starchy root.  The Paleo diet eschews starchy foods.  Anyhoo, to each his own.  I remember when I first took nutrition, the Atkins diet was popular. My instructor at the time was not a fan.

As you can see I am learning a lot.  If you stayed with me throughout this post hopefully you learned something new as well.  Hopefully, I won't take as long to post again.

*I took Medical Anthropology Fall term and it almost drove me to insanity.  I managed to get an A- though.