Maybe It's Not So Bad After All

Yes, the week started out on a rather unenthusiastic note, but I have to say that today I'm more encouraged about the rest of the semester (there I go thinking about the future again. Or does this mean that our happiness in the present is somewhat dependent on our perceptions of the future?).

Today for cardiopulmonary therapeutics, our assignment before we came to class was to review the basic anatomy and physiology of those systems. Then our "class" consisted of 3 rounds of trivia questions we had to answer. Prizes were given out to the groups with the most "right" answers, and our homework for the weekend is to find out more information on those questions we got wrong. In short, today was a fun way to learn about some really important stuff.

I'm describing this whole learning process for a reason; last night Rachel and Steve told us about the public elementary school system in Fort Collins. They described several different learning environments that in their non-traditional approach to learning sounded really cool. After having this experience today, I'm thinking there may be something to non-traditional education (i.e. Montessori schools, etc.) after all. I mean really, besides learning basic math, reading, and writing skills in elementary school, what did we learn to prepare us to problem solve in the real world? In a way, we need to let our kids experience what failure is, and then how to best react to it; instead of letting failure completely paralyze us, we need to learn how to effectively learn from our mistakes and better ourselves in the future. What better place to start doing this than school through creative learning processes? Ok there's my soap-box for the week.

The next time I post, I will probably have lots to say about Fort Collins, since we are leaving at noon today with Steve and Rachel for our road trip!

In A Strange Place

Today was the first day of classes, and for some strange reason, I wasn't as psyched as I usually am. Am I hitting a slump? In a way, I'm completely ready to be done with school, and I'm just not all that excited about this school year. But then I get to thinking... what is it that I'd rather be doing? Would I rather be living in a house, pregnant, having a job... being a "grown-up?" But then I realize that when I've got all of those things, I'll be wanting something else; probably wanting to be able to take more vacations, visit family more often, and so on. So what is it I/we really want out of life? How can I figure out how to find happiness in current situations instead of always hoping the future will get here quicker? I feel like I'm in such a strange place right now. I'm burnt out with school, but know that I shouldn't always be looking to the future. I've always thought one should strive to be more in sync with the present. Maybe this is just a response to the first day of classes, what with going over the syllabi and learning about all the projects in store for us for the semester. Let's see how the rest of the week unfolds. (There's those thoughts about the future again!)