Survived My First Exam

I had my first exam today. I was nervous, but I had studied hard for it. It went really well! If anything I was overprepared. I really took the time to make sure I understood everything. There were a few things I was struggling with and I looked them up online or later in my textbook b/c I didn't want to get tripped up.

The exam covered a lot of material, especially the last chapter of the book that was on the test, which was an overview of all the parts of the cell, and was by far the longest chapter we'd covered, and was really dense, chock full of parts and processes and terms and tons of information that was different than the previous material (we basically went from some basic biochemistry stuff, building blocks, lots and lots of chemistry, to cell biology and there were just so many processes to understand).

And really, when I sat down to take it, it was easy. I didn't have to know half of what I had roaming in my brain from the material. I could have gotten away with studying a lot less, but hey, now I really understand some shit that will probably come back later on, so it's all good.

There were a few questions that were a bit tricky, maybe three out of the fifty, that I'm not totally sure I got right, but overall it was a lot easier than I expected.

I have to say I am feeling pretty good. I am not in the concurrent chemistry class that most people are taking, b/c I can't afford to, and even so they are thinking of making the chemistry class a prerequisite for our class, so I was worried about not having that background, but hey, I'm doing fine.

And best of all, I'm enjoying it! I really enjoy the prof. She gives sooo many relatable examples. I always used to think of myself as a physics person when it came to science, and it's like, oh shit, this is way more interesting and feels more, just relatable I guess, more earthly. I am loving it. My prof is funny and always throws jokes in and the only downside is she talks really fast so it can be hard to catch things, but all the notes are on blackboard, so it works out. Today's lecture (after the exame was over) involved erections, LOL. And viagra! But that is exactly what I mean, it's easy to pay attention and stay engaged in the class when you use examples like that. She mentioned tonight that she will be teaching the winter term of the class (up until now, it seemed to be up in the air), so I'm psyched to be able to continue with her as my prof.

I do sometimes wish class wasn't so huge. We have almost 300 people (a lot more of them were there today, since it was test day), so it is a bit hard to get to know people, except the ones in my lab group. I mean the class is just huge. I am taking another one-credit class (needed that to get financial aid) and that ended up being really huge too.

Gotta say, it is so nice to be in school as an adult. I am thrilled to be at PSU, b/c there are tons of other adult students, I am nowhere near oldest in my class, and that is nice. It makes me glad I made the decision for this school. And as I've said before, there are other disabled students (a few others in my class even). It's just nice to feel like I'm not outside of the student body. It also helps that my class is a night class. But yeah, it's great to be in such a different situation as last time I was in school. It's nice that I can come home to my studio apartment, that there isn't the whole feel of college being a big extension of high school with all its social bullshit. It just has a totally different feel to it this time around.

Last weekend in lab (yes I have a lab on the weekend, Saturday afternoon actually), we looked at e. coli and baker's yeast and some other things under the microscope, looked at some pond creatures and fossils as well. It kinda freaked me out, I've had bad experiences with lab classes before, and always kind of dread the microscope because of it, but it went well. I have my lab assistant now, which is a help, but I also did a lot of it myself. She's there to help if I need it, show me things that the TA is demonstrating in the front of the class, stuff like that. And she gets paid by the school. It is a pretty cool system.

Anyway I'm off for a good night's rest so that I can get up and do homework for my one-credit class and my lab, and make sure I don't fall behind on reading for the next test.

Life is good.