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Keep on swimming! Keep on swimming!

I had such high hopes for the Labor Day weekend. I was going to get so far ahead in all my classes and then I’d be able to “coast” for a few days. Uhhh, didn’t happen. My husband sprained his ankle something terrible and so he was around more than usual. I kept falling asleep throughout the weekend and I just felt off. I put enough time in to finish the things that HAD to be done but all those extras got pushed to the side.

So, I’m going to have to put in some hours this week to get my crazy math homework done, finish my first lab report, and do a little bit of physics and programming. Sigh. On the positive side, I really am enjoying what I’m doing. I love learning about how computers work. The whole concept of what writing code actually does is amazing! I can’t wait to get into the nitty-gritty of electricity. Also, I get to make matlab graphs for the first time this week. Wheeee!

To any lawyers still reading this, where do I stand with the law? Well, I try and obey it :). Okay, being serious, it’s been interesting how certain things keep looping back to law school in ways I didn’t think they would. As we talk in our programming class about different schools of thought regarding code, we keep discussing ways to keep other companies from stealing code and copyright issues. My intellectual property licensing class seems so useful when discussing licenses in my intro to engineering class. Patents have even come up in one class. I’m realizing that highly technical law might be something I’m really interested in after a few years working in the engineering industry. So, fingers crossed for bar results in November!

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One week down!

So I’ve now finished my first week of class, and I’ve  gone to all my classes except physics lab (it didn’t meet the first week). Early in the week I had a little panic session about my math class but I’m starting to feel better about it. Basically, as I’ve already said, my math class is hard. However, I put in many solid hours and now I’m finally getting it. I think my biggest roadblock will be the basics that are taking a little while to come back. Other people in my class can rattle off the integrals of all the trigonometric functions and are comfortable manipulating logarithms and exponents. I used to be able to do such things and I’m sure it’ll eventually come back as I encounter these things, learn them and move on.

I’m feeling comfortable with my other courses and I think they’ll turn out okay.

Well, short blog today but I’ll try and update again this weekend.

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The Second Day of School

Whoa. That’s about all I have to say about day two. Okay, more specifically, that’s all I have to say about Advanced Engineering Math. This class is not a joke. We are not kidding around. The professor walked in, spent ten minutes going over the syllabus in a very, very quiet voice and then launched into some intense math. I already have visions of many hours spent trudging through practice problems in this course. As with most of my other courses, there are very few girls and I just don’t know how to branch out and ask for help from all these guys in class.

I’m hoping that I can be successful in this course with enough hard work. We’ll see how I feel in a few weeks.

On the other hand, my other course on the second day was physics. Physics was in a GIANT classroom with about 150 students. The professor was engaging and I’m pretty sure that it will be easy enough to do well. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to have to put in the hours of work, but I’m confident that I’ll be okay.

Well it’s now Friday and I only have one class this morning and then I finally get to spend a little time with my husband. Hooray! I forgot what it was like to look forward to the weekend with such anticipation.

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The First Day of School

So yesterday was the first day of school. I was so worn out by the time I got home, I crashed hard really, really early so this post is coming a day late. I feel like I learned many things about myself on this first day. So to begin:

1. I’m not 18 anymore.

I’m not so old that I can’t remember back to my first day of undergrad. I remember being so excited but scared. I remember that first taste of freedom from your parents along with not having to worry too much about “grown-up problems.” But yesterday, I really felt my age and I can conclude that I’m not 18 anymore. Yesterday I had my two “intro” classes where it can be assumed that you’re a freshman or a transfer and so I get why people would ask the sort of questions that they did. Where are you from? Uhh, Dallas. I forgot that people would come from different places. To me, Katie School of Engineering was the default choice because of location. Where did you go to high school? and/or Where did you transfer from? Oh, Lordy! Now I had to start doing some explaining. My “quick” explanation that I have a B.S. in Biochemistry and a J.D. already and I’m going back to pursue a new field was met with the blankest stares imaginable. With one person, I tried going into more detail but they seemed more confused the more I explained. Maybe this will go better today. I’m going to work on my “canned answer.”

2. I’m not here for the “college experience.”

A group of girls after my programming class were going to go “walk around the campus” and see if they can find some free pizza. They graciously invited the old lady in the group (ME). I could think of about a hundred reasons why I didn’t want to go. It was 110 degrees outside. I had carefully scheduled in a workout after class before driving home to let my dog out/take a shower/change clothes/make a healthy lunch. I need pizza like I need a heart attack. I wasn’t really stoked to see what the student union had to offer. (See above where I discuss that I’m not 18 anymore) So I politely declined, made a beeline to the gym, sweated my brains out for a short but intense workout and was on my way. I promise that I’ll try to make friends, but I have these other responsibilities that many of my classmates just don’t have.

3. I know how to succeed in college.

One of my classes is an intro to engineering course. It’s required so there I am. The classes a little later in the semester look really interesting, and we get to hear from the Dean of the engineering school often. I’m excited about that. However, the first 6 class meetings should be titled, “how not to fail out of the school of engineering or quit.” Yes, my math is rusty. Yes, I haven’t done physics in a while. Yes, I’ve never engineered anything. BUT, I know how to study. I know how to take notes. I know to condense and copy those notes to cement them in my memory. In one class, we were told to take notes and I’d say about half of the class actually did. We have to turn in our notes. What on earth do the kids who didn’t take notes plan to turn in? Why would you not just take the darn notes if you’re told to? I had so many questions that I couldn’t answer for other people but I know what I’ll be doing. I might not get an A+ in everything, but I’ll know that I tried my hardest in every possible way.

4. I’m a terrible dresser and I still out-dressed 90% of my classmates.

Since it’s confession time, here it is. I’m not the best dresser. I used to care a lot more about it but then I got married and five years later, here I am. I’m lucky to be out of workout clothes and pajamas. However, engineers have the worst fashion sense that I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that most of my classes are about 90% male but it’s just awful. I want to take all these awkward kids under my wing and teach them about properly tailored jeans that have the correct rise. I want to tell them that Star Trek/Star Wars/Simpsons/Family Guy t-shirts are not okay. They will never be okay. However it is not my place. So I will try and get pictures for my blog audience. ‘Cause it’s funny.

Well that about sums up the first day. Here’s to day two!

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Introduction

Well, this blog has been existence for quite some time as a law student blogging. Then I crashed the blog by ignoring it for 6 months and had to start from scratch. Silly me forgot to make a backup.  You live, you learn. However, sometimes a clean slate is a good thing. I’m starting a new adventure in my life anyway. Now this may seem a little out of the blue, but I’m starting a BS and eventually a MS in electrical engineering. Right after taking the bar. Bar results come out in November. We’ll see how that goes. I’m feeling fairly confident, but maybe that’s a bad thing.

I’m just not sure that the traditional lawyer role is right for me and so I wanted to dip my toes in engineering to see if it’s a better fit. I start new classes tomorrow. I’ll be taking a programming class and lab, mechanics (physics) class and lab, an intro to EE/CE course and advanced engineering math. To tell the truth, I’m really scared about this. I’m a bit of a perfectionist in some areas of my life. I want to get A’s. I had to let that go in law school but now that I’m back in an undergrad setting, I really feel like I have to shine.

Obviously these courses have a heavy emphasis on math and that’s where I’m really nervous. I used to be really good at math. Not to brag but it came so naturally. I don’t know if my brain has liquefied due to law school or what but I’m trying to work through some of the problems in my book and it’s just rough. I’m trying to remember that the point of these courses is to LEARN the material. I don’t necessarily have to know it before school starts. 

I’ll try and update tomorrow with how the first day goes!