INTENSE!

Today was my first day of my Systematic Theology course.  This class is notoriously difficult, because it requires the writing of a personal credo...which is essentially an enormous paper in which we expound our views about everything in the entire universe in a way that is thoughtful and coherent.  But even though it was only the first day...it was possibly the most intimidating class ever.

The class opened like the first day of every class by going over guidelines..the most noteworthy of which, in today's case, was the discovery that if any class member is discovered using their computer for anything other than taking notes during class time (Facebook, Email, etc.), he or she immediately fail the course.  And even though we shouldn't be doing those things during class anyway...sheesh.  That was intimidating.  The classroom went absolutely silent at this point - presumably because half the people (like me) were shocked out of typing notes and the other half were on Facebook and suddenly feared for their academic life.  Other guidelines include addressing classmates as "Mr. or Ms. So and So" in order to encourage an atmosphere of respect, and the typical no cell phone rule.  On this point, actually, I was slightly concerned because my professor used the phrase "switched off", and I usually just turn my phone to silent...but at this point, I was too scared to reach for my phone to turn it off all the way, for fear that it would seem like I was texting in class.

Like I said.  Intimidating.

Even more intimidating, however, was the afternoon preceptorial session, the discussion-based portion of the class that divides the 60 member course into groups of 12 (meaning there's no hiding).  It's one of those courses where disagreements are encouraged, but you're still afraid to speak up for fear of being wrong.  Most of us just sat there like deer in headlights for the 50 minute session...hopefully the intimidation factor will lessen as the course continues.

Even so, I think it'll be a really good class...I'll just have to make sure I keep my head above water!