When I registered for spring semester in November of last year I was extremely excited. But this semester taken quite a few unexpected turns!
The one class I expected to be my favorite turned out to be my least favorite! I was extremely excited to take a class that discusses the relationship between developed countries and developing countries. But as it turns out this class is purely economic based! Not to say that economics isn’t useful, quite the contrary, its just that as a political science major and history minor economics is not really my cup of tea.
Meanwhile, I also needed to fulfill one final requirement for my major this semester, and so I decided to take an introductory class to public policy. However, the professor, bless her soul, is a little bit too quirky. She is from a different time, and so, she says things that are quite inappropriate, which I will not repeat here. Nevertheless, if you are in Boston, drop by Comparative Public Policy 141 and you’ll see what I mean.
Lastly, my two other graduate level classes this semester have unexpectedly become my favorites. Perhaps it is because the material is completely new to me, or because they are more discussion based; but whatever the reason these classes have really introduced me into an entirely different realm of political science.
The first of these two classes is titled Latin American Political Party Systems, and it is exactly as it sounds. In this class we delve into the creation and changes in party systems throughout Latin America and how these developments might hinder or help the current situation is these countries or serve to explain certain political shifts and outcomes .
Finally, my other class is titled Africa in International Relations and it is concerned with the role of Africa not only in the international community but also on a country to country level. Another feature I particularly love about this class is the atmosphere. The class only has ten students, most of which are well versed in African history and African relations; this brings a completely different dynamic to the class and makes it much more enjoyable.
Overall, this semester is not what I expected, but I understand that we cannot always get our way. Although this semester threw a curve ball at me, I think it was for the best.