Just me being ranty and disappointed with my first week at college

College so far is a disappointment.

Maybe that's because I decided to get my gen-eds done at the community college, but I'm not so sure. Harper is allegedly one of the best junior colleges in the US.

I'm having a few problems with it. One, their student portal is ugly and hard to navigate. Okay, not a big deal, but there's more.

The teachers just talk at you. You sit there, jot notes, listen, try not to fall asleep. Since when is that effective learning? And freshman comp is a joke. High school told us all about how to write essays and research papers. In fact, I am pretty sure that in expo comp, they told us we needed to know this for college, that we were basically expected to know all the little steps and details going into college. If that's the case, why are they telling us we need to brainstorm, outline, make drafts, source etc. Frankly, it's a bit boring. Not hard, but a lot like high school, only worse.

Worse in a lot of ways. I don't know anyone in my classes. No familiar faces except the guy who I briefly worked with at Jewel and maybe this one guy in my mythology class who looks very vaguely familiar. I can't place his face, though. And there doesn't seem to be hope for in-class engagement aside from my poetry class, which is so far the most promising one.

Personally, I learn best by taking notes during class discussion and actively participating. Why focus so much on reforming high school education and not college? We're paying for that out of our own pockets.

Maybe I've been spoiled by the good public high school I went to. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason behind my disappointment.

Hopefully things change by next week. The first few days have not given me a good first impression. Next semester I will be in the honors program, taking the honors classes, which seem much better. The class sizes are around 15 people and the content and study focuses on discussion and interaction.

I'll keep an open mind for the next few weeks. Maybe it won't turn out so bad.