rose colored goggles

Fall semester began Monday and I must say I'm in for a tough next few months.  Since I've entered my final year at UF, I have the complementary heavy course load to 'celebrate' the home stretch.  I have nine hours of lab every week, and usually only a two hour "break" in my 9-5 educational day.  As exhausted as simply being present for the reading of the syllabi has made me the past few days, I'm utterly and completely excited.  I'm taking two botany courses that make me giddy, plant anatomy and plant botany, and a really kick ass women's studies course.  

The botany classes seem self explanatory and promises to make me even slower on future hikes and various other outdoor adventures.  The Women's Studies class, East West Encounters, is described as follows:

Can we imagine a history of the present without referring to and referencing Europe?  Does the "post" in post-colonialism signify a break with colonial history and thought?  Or, do we see structural similarities between colonial pasts and the post-colonial present?  Why does the "trans" in transnational often imply an orientation via the West?  Through a close study of works of history, colonialism, literature, and critical race theory, we will attempt to find models for reconsidering the history of ideas in the modern West - and explore how these ideas - of universalism, liberalism, and freedom - are used to justify racial, sexual, national, and political domination.

On the first day of class I walked in with several of my fellow travelers from India.  We then realized that we made up half the class.  I was then ridiculed for beginning the reading already, having printed out the syllabus, and asking questions about more specifics on the recommended readings.  I don't care.  It's easy to be an overachiever when you're passionate about something.  

I almost pee my pants with excitement over the my new books and the idea of the wonderful things I'll soon learn about plants, society, and the world around me.  Please excuse me whilst I snort laugh and push my glasses further up my nose.