Ok... So, this is the fourth week of the quarter, and everyone is starting to gear up for midterms. My roommate has one this week, and a couple next week, and then the rest of the quarter is downhill...
So, I had two quizzes last week. One was in my Theater 101B class, and the other was in Musical theater. I was concerned about both, and apparently that was for good reason!
Theater 101B was a quiz on Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." Now, everyone is always shocked when I say this, but I have no prior experience with Shakespeare. I was never in a class in middle, high school or even college up to this point where I was required to read anything by Shakespeare. It's amazing, I know, but still true. This being the case, I know very little about his plays - even as a theater major. So, I read "The Merchant of Venice," and after I kind of got the hang of the language I pretty much understood the story. I even recognized one of the monologues, "If you prick us do we not bleed?" etc., but didn't realize until I read the play that that was even Shakespeare! So, knowing that, I am not aware of what is considered "famous" or "of importance" in Shakespeare beyond that.
I'm sure I totally bombed this quiz. The professor wrote out 3 lines from the play and wanted us to tell her who had said the lines and in what context they were said. Uh...
The first one was:
Mislike me not for my complexion,
The shadowed livery of the burnished sun,
To whom I am a neighbor and near bred.
Ok, so I didn't know that was the Prince of Morocco! Sue me! In all honesty, he registered in my mind as the guy who opened the gold box, and nothing more. I didn't even get that he was dark skinned. So, how did I answer this question? I think I wrote something about it being one of the servants who must work outside a lot... Yeah. I have no hope for this quiz.
My second quiz was musical theater. I thought I would do great, especially since it was an open notes quiz. I got it back tonight, and got a C. What I learned from briefly looking through the notes on the quiz is that I need to be WAY more detailed in my answers. It's hard though, because there isn't a book, and our teacher skips around a lot, so half of the answer may have been on one page of notes, and the other half may have been from notes three pages later. Along with that, he talks way faster than I can write, so chances of me having everything he thinks is pertinent is slim. Still, I write like the wind, and fan the smoke from my paper as my pen flies across the page...
So, where does this leave me? Well, whenever you have an off day you can't help but feel a bit dejected, and that's where I am right now. I have doubts about my being able to do college. Maybe I AM too old. Maybe my brain is too slow to keep up anymore, and I'm too old to learn new things. Maybe this whole thing was a very BAD idea...
Darn those quizzes for raising the doubt in me!!
Ok, so from here, I wallow for a few more hours, and then I get over it and try harder. That's all I can do. I guess I just need to gauge those quizzes as what the rest of them are going to be like and how it will be best to study for more in the future. The lucky part of my schedule is that I don't have any actual mid-terms, just quizzes. But maybe that means the quizzes are worth more...
HEAVENS!
The bright spot in this last week?
Shannon came up and took me to Disneyland on saturday. We had a great time, and I really appreciated someone coming up to see me. Usually I have to go down there, which is fine, but a long and tiresome trek. It was nice for someone to make the trip to see me and take me somewhere. The only thing that would have made it even better would be if the trip included a ride home, but maybe next time. My chances of having someone come up here to get me and bring me home instead of taking the 5 hour train ride are slim to none until June. Oh well. At least I got the chance to come home in a car at Christmas! :)