The End of a Mediocre Semester

The end of another semester has come. Hip-hip hooray - although it is a little depressing seeing most of the people that I've gone to school with for the last 11 semesters graduate. It just feels like I should be there (and I will be, in two semesters!). This semester was a tough one. The overall difficulty of my classes was pretty much average. The difficulty mostly stemmed from one class (and working 20 hours/week, working on a senior project, wanting to be home with Alison and Ada, being tired all semester, my church calling...). Here is a quick rundown of my classes and how I think they turned out.

Soviet Literature - This was the last class that I needed for my Russian minor. I really enjoyed this class but it turned out to be extremely time-consuming. During the class we read 7 books, as well as many other readings. Before every class we had readings and questions to answer. In total, we read more than 2365 pages. This took up a lot of my time that is usually reserved for studying for my engineering courses. This course also had four essays as well as a midterm and a final. The positive side of all this was that when the final came I felt very well prepared and I'm pretty sure that I did well. If only I had spent an equal amount of time on my other classes...

Wireless Communications - This course had incredible potential but turned out to be a real drag. The professor didn't speak very good English and used PowerPoint for all of his lectures. For me it was simply impossible to follow the math and learn all the equations when he just cruised through them slide by slide (with 5-10 equations per slide...). By the middle of the semester, I stopped going because it was simply a waste of my time. The tests and project in this class were all really tough for me. Let's just say I know I'm not getting an A...

Observational Astronomy - This class was great. Unfortunately, we only got to go up on the roof and observe and take pictures of the sky a handful of times. It was a cloudy semester. Either way, I learned a lot about something that I otherwise would not have learned - and I enjoyed it. The final was very difficult (which surprised us all) but everything should be a-OK with this class.

Senior Thesis II - This class consisted of working on my senior project, writing a paper and presenting my project. Although the class itself required very little time, I spent a great deal of time working on the project itself. There were very few weeks during which I did not spend my fair share of time out at EFI Electronics in west Salt Lake. It is sure nice to have this one over with.

RFIC (Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit) Design - I enjoyed this class but it was very difficult. It is a class that draws upon what I was supposed to have learned in about 10 other classes. I have a tough time remembering what I've learned this semester, much less other semesters. This course also had a big course project which was tough, but not quite as time-consuming as I expected. If this professor doesn't grade on the curve, I'd say all of us that took the class are in deep water.

It's a nice feeling to be done, but I'm certain that it won't compare to the warm fuzzies that I'll be feeling next year, right?