So...I hope life is finding everyone well and happy and getting into the spirit of the holiday season. For myself, I have to say that I’m having the quintessential Florida holiday experience which, roughly translated, means it doesn’t feel like Christmas. I’ve had trouble since moving to Florida with the holidays not really seeming like the holidays. Something about bright sunlight and being able to wear shorts and tanks in December just makes the holiday season feel less....real. To my mind, Christmas is the time to snuggle up with a nice mug of cocoa, listen to Christmas music, watch the snow fall and gaze at the lights on the tree. This year there isn’t even a tree up. It’s....disconcerting to the mind a bit. It’s hard to adjust to Christmas in the sun. So...once again I find myself not really reveling in the Christmas spirit but more of the mindset of it just being another day on the calendar. I guess it’s all what you put into it, as many things are, but I’m just not feeling the holiday this year.
As for life, things have been a bit....weirder than usual. I did actually pack up all my stuff and drive up to Chicago thinking about finding work and trying to make DePaul work out, but I just didn’t get the right vibe from the city and ended up just turning around and driving back. *shrug* At least I can say I’ve been now. It didn’t do much for me. So...DePaul might have really good programming or whatever, but it’s just not the place for me, and I’m okay with that.
I have finished up my first semester at UCF and I have to admit that I am pretty proud of my grades. For my first semester at “real college,” I feel like I did well. I got an A in my Writing for the Technical Professional class. I got an A- in my American Literature II class and an A- in my Theories and Techniques of Literature Study class. In my final class, World Literature, I got a B+. I am extremely happy with that B+ as the discussions and what-not in that class were hella hard. So...I feel accomplished and capable and ready to move forward.
My schedule for the Spring semester, which starts in January, is as follows:
Advanced Expository Writing
Magazine Writing I
Professional Editing
American Literature I
I drove the two-hours-each-way drive yesterday to Orlando to campus to get my books for my classes and also managed to pick up some books that will help me in the future – mostly stylebooks and manuals. I’ve done some preliminary looking over of my new course books and I’m glad I went to get them early. The books for my Advanced Expository Writing class are really intensive. It looks like I’m staring down the barrel of a semester full of lots and lots of writing. I’m looking forward to it, but also feeling a little intimidated as well. I’m hoping that working ahead a bit on my own through the first two chapters in each of the books will help me to get a handle on where those classes are headed.
As far as the future of my education, I’ve been traveling back and forth to Gainesville a bit and really like the vibe up there. It reminds me of a cross between the Redmond/Bellevue areas in Washington and Springfield in Missouri. I’d never been to the UF campus or paid much attention, but the more I see and travel around up there, the more I like that campus. So...I’m considering applying to transfer from UCF to UF after the first of the year. My main concern with continuing on at UCF is the fact that it seems like a lot of the classes for my major moving forward are only offered on campus and not online. As I don’t care for the feel of Orlando and have no desire to move down there and live, it makes the prospect of continuing on at UCF a little bleak. However, transferring to UF seems like it would be a good move and that way, if I do have to take on campus classes in the future, it’s easier to get around Gainesville than Orlando. Of course, UF’s application process does look like it might be harder to get in, but I’m telling myself that if Columbia was head-hunting me, and if I got into DePaul, surely UF might be willing to let me in – right? Maybe? I dunno, we’ll see.
Aside from all of that, life is kind of in a holding pattern until after the first of the year. I have begun the job and housing searches in Gainesville as whether or not I transfer schools, I really want to move to Gainesville. So far there are some prospects that look good and I’m hopeful that after the first of the year, things will start falling into place. The more I travel back and forth up there, the more I like it and find new places I want to check out. I’m excited at the prospect of exploring around up there and seeing what there is to see.
Apart from all of that, things are quiet. I did have the opportunity to do some ruminating over the last year and one of the things that struck me the most was how lucky and grateful I am that I attended CF. I have to say that for anyone who is a high school student unsure about moving forward to a four-year college or university, or for anyone like myself returning to school after a long absence, a two-year college where you can get an Associate’s Degree is a great stepping stone. Even though I only had a couple of semesters there, I felt like I had a great transition from there to UCF. Without having gone to CF, I don’t think my first semester at UCF would have gone nearly as well. God knows Rasmussen didn’t do crap for me as far as getting ready to transfer to another school, and they certainly weren’t a four-year college that would have done anything for me vocationally upon graduating. So on the whole, I felt really prepared to head off to regular university after my time at CF. So...thanks College of Central Florida – y’all rock. :)
Well...here we are at the end of another year. My time going back to school has certainly been interesting...and taking longer than I thought it would. But, I feel good about the future, I feel good about my major and my plans moving forward. At some time, I might be interested in considering graduate school, but right now I’m just moving forward with completing my Bachelor’s and trying to find the right connections to get into the tech writing field. We shall see how things develop. In the meantime, I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and to all of you in the cold – enjoy the snow and Christmas season for me. I’ll just be here, sweating it out under the sun, kind of seasonally jet-lagged if you will. Cheers all!
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