I always figured that my last semester in college would be packed so full of classes and last minute giant assignments that I wouldn't have time to write a blog entry, let alone have extra-curricular activities.
So far, this semester is looking rather promising. Numerical analysis has complex topics, but they're manageable and interesting. Romans is intriguing yet predictable. World literature is a good introduction into what I might read after I graduate and have time to enjoy some classics, but for the time being, it is bearable.
Software engineering will actually get me somewhere in my career. We've already covered the basics of software design and testing--something I should have learned years ago. The midterm is in a week, and then the whole class will be working together on a grand project as a single company. In networks I'm learning how to watch networks and understand the underlying protocols. Soon, I'll be helping a nonprofit organization restructure their local network with the help of some other computer science majors (an opportunity never before granted).
After four years of ACM members prodding me to join, I finally joined. They showed me how to use Pov-Ray, and today they're doing a demonstration on swarm robotics. Ever since I tried competitive programming, my professors have been asking me each semester to join, and yesterday, I joined. My newly formed team finished two of the programs and successfully submitted one before the time was out. Why did I wait so long to actually get involved?
Work. Homework. Studies. How is it that college could get in the way of my learning so quickly that I missed out on the real learning? Class work provides the tools, but clubs and student organizations provide the hands on experience that make college worth it. Ironic that I pay the college so much and the clubs so little.
I have warned myself before, and I say it again, "do not allow school to get in the way of learning."
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