Blog 01.12.09
So it is now the beginning of the spring 2009 semester and I am now officially a sophomore in the GSIS program. The weather out here is definitely not what I’ve been used to growing up in southern California. Over Christmas break I spent nearly the entire time in the surfing the CA coast. I came back to a frozen and bitterly cold Prescott. I can’t really complain though, the weather is actually nice and when it occasionally snows it keeps the scenery interesting.
With the new semester come new classes, professors and experiences. My classes this semester consist of Chinese 4, Global Crime and International Justice, Islam: Origins and History, Intelligence Writing and Briefing, and Social Psychology. All of these classes are part of the GSIS core studies and general education. As stated before, the positive thing about ERAU is the courses that are offered for your specific major. The classes are so specific that once a person graduates they will have all the nessacary tools to compete in the work field.
I’ll give a brief description of some of the curriculum my classes entail. Chinese (as you know if you’ve read my previous blogs) mostly consists of writing and speaking practice. Each day we cover a new dialogue in the textbook and converse on everyday topics with our professor. Global Crime and International Justice is taught by Dr. Henner. This class is interesting to say the least. We mostly talk about laws and the criminal justice system’s flaws and imperfections. We also spend a lot of time talking about why some laws are in effect and the positive outcome they possess. In Islam: Origins and History, Dr. Jones teaches us about the prophet Mohammed and his part in the Islam religion. Social Psychology is very interesting in that we do actual experiments to test how people react socially. For example, we are assigned to litter in a parking lot, then sit back and observe how many people will bend down and pick up the trash and throw it away. The results always vary depending on the type of people who walk by (Military personnel, Professors, Etc.)
In my previous blogs I wrote about my experiences in China. I had such a positive impression that I am heading back at the end of April to once again participate in the Study Abroad program. Due to the extensive language training I’ve had, this time I will be acting somewhat as a teacher’s aide. When other students are taking beginner Chinese, I will be around Beijing making arrangements for our activities. This year we are going to Beijing, Xi’an, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. After the initial program Dr. Jones is offering to take a group of students to Tibet. I will definitely be making that excursion with him to the city of Lhasa.
Extra Curricular activities continue here as normal. An example would be the Chinese New Year celebration in Phoenix. A group of students from my Chinese class will be heading down there to take part in the festivities. Another example is the Buckcherry, Avenged Sevenfold concert coming to Phoenix at the end of the month. These are just examples of activities Embry-Riddle students do to unwind from the stresses of college life. Well speaking of college life, I better get to studying. Until next time…
Brett