Thursday, March 17, 2011

BYU Strut

BYU has changed a lot since I was there last. There are several new buildings, there isn't a huge hole where the library was being added onto, and the majority of the students are a lot younger than me. This being said, I found myself taking on my "student strut" as I came on campus--taking longer strides because when I am at BYU, I have places to BE. The last time I was a student there was 12 years ago. Now I am there for my English masters' degree. Why English? For the same reason I chose to go to BYU: it makes me happy. I love literature and poetry and I need to read the words and have them read to me by people who love them, too. I have found beauty in poetry, literature, and scripture recently that I have read but never truly appreciated before.

I am taking a GRE prep class right now to keep me humble and I am lucky enough to be able to go with my favorite brother. So far, we've taken a mind-numbing pre-test and two very concentrated classes on Reading Comprehension and Math, respectively. I have a month to learn things I have never seen before. After that, I'm going to take the GRE test. Our math professor seemed almost excited to bestow 4 hours of math "goodness" on 20ish students willing to go to class from 5-9 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. Bless her heart, I have dubbed her the "math whisperer." If anyone can help me on my GRE quantitative score, it's Dawn Roan.

I feel that within these 12 years between being a student, being at home, and being a student again, I have been hit hard by the proverbial stupid stick. I'm pretty sure the GRE and study materials are in English, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.