Listening to:
"Horchata" by Vampire Weekend. I've been listening to it without paying much close attention since its release last fall, and my impression has been that the song is suitably Vampire Weekend-esque and sufficiently summery for my "on-the-go" playlist. I only recently realized, though, the the lyrics are significantly more intriguing and less upbeat than the music...
I know there's still over a month left until I return to campus, and I don't have to choose my classes for another seven weeks, but when I heard that the OCI website was up and running for the upcoming term, I couldn't help but take a peek.
Language and Mind. Visual Thinking. Mathematical Logic. Philosophy of Language. Basics of Learning and Memory. Mapping Korea in East Asia. Introductory Sanskrit. Culture, Power, Oil. Goethe's Poetic Revolution. Dream and Interpretation.
As I select my courses at the beginning of each term, I realize that I could spend a decade at Yale and still not have enough time to take even half the courses I'm interested in. (Don't worry Pops, I'll be graduating in two years.) But really, there's such a wealth of interesting classes that are offered every term; sometimes I wish I had nine undergraduate lives so that I could complete 18 majors.
Incidentally, I'm seriously considering abandoning my pursuit of International Studies as a second major. On the one hand, IS has been a topic of personal interest to me for many years; it probably reflects my academic interests more accurately than does Cognitive Science. I've also already completed more than half the major, and I'm sure it would not hurt to have a second major listed on my résumé.
On the other hand, having decided to become a Cognitive Science major in the middle of my sophomore year means that I have my work cut out for me for the next two years to fulfill the requirements of the major, and even beyond the minimum requisites, there are a number of relevant courses I would like to explore. Dropping my second major would also provide me with the opportunity to take interesting non-major courses; somewhat ironically, continuing to pursue an International Studies double major might preclude me from taking additional foreign language classes.
Alternately, I could just burrow in Bass Library for the entire duration of the academic year and try to do everything. Life is overrated, anyway.
(The previous statement need not reflect the official view of the writer.)
