Well, it's official.  A new semester has started, and students everywhere are experiencing cases of syllabi stress syndrome in varying levels of severity.  My case is pretty normal, I think.  I'm coping through day-planner avoidance... for another five minutes.  Then I need to move past the denial stage and deal with the reality that's facing me.  And here it is... my reality:

1 - I'm going to LEARN something this semester!  I know this isn't an entirely new idea, but there is actually material in my courses that I haven't really thought about before.  This is an exciting concept for me.  I can see this being a very personally formative semester as well, which is simultaneously daunting and motivating.

2 - I'm going to write more than I have ever written before.  Having already submitted close to 30 pages of writing, I'm off to a roaring start.  One of the things I'm going to write is a speech for Jane and Eric's wedding, which is infinitely more interesting than my philosophy of integration paper for Social Science and Christianity, and infinitely less depressing than the paper I'm going to write about adolescents with multiple treatment issues.
Paper count: 51 written assignments due before April 17th.  For the sake of comparison: winter 2010 = 17; fall 2010 = 22.  In the interest of salvaging my sanity, I am breaking down this semester's assignments into major papers/projects (23) and smaller assignments (28).  Not counted: speech for Jane's wedding.
As partial compensation, I am also going to write less exams (2 or 3 versus 5 or 6... very partial compensation).  Have I mentioned that Christian institutions tend to suffer from an inferiority complex that causes them to assign inordinate amounts of work in the interest of trying to stay on par with secular institutions?  It is justifiable only because I feel that the quality of education is enhanced by (most of) the assignments.

3 - I'm going to read more than I've ever read before.  To the tune of 300 pages a week.  See previous question, as the same explanation for the excess applies.  For these reasons, I'm not going to have a part-time job, unless something drastic changes.

4 - I am going to have an inordinate amount of fun!  This includes a trip to a pottery shop in Winnipeg to play with clay, skating and sledding, training for a 1/2 marathon that I'll run in the summer with a few friends, catching up on popular movie/music culture from the last 20 years (more on this later), etc.  I've already spent an afternoon (attempting to) cross-country ski.  The plan is to take weekends off, though I may have to start by just taking Saturday evenings and all day Sunday off.

5 - I am going to graduate.  Imagine that...!  Unless I decide to turf the idea of a Masters degree and instead pursue an honours thesis and/or a second major for my BA.  Hmmm... long shot, but it's on the table as one of a few options.

An exciting reality to be faced with, n'es pas?