Syllabus Week: AKA The Easiest Week

Let's debrief on how each of my classes are going so far.

ROMA CINEMA MUNDI (FLM 213): I'm actually going to enjoy this class, even though it's a 3 hour lecture (and I MEAN actually 3 hours, not an exaggeration) but at least it's every Monday. Starting at the rainy 9am, we dived straight into the history of Italian cinema and learned very valuable knowledge, like how Cabiria (1914) was dubbed the first Italian blockbuster/epic/spectacular and that film's actually a German word that relates to layers, membrane, and skin thin. Overall, this is going to be a fun class as we get to explore different sites like next week, we're meeting at the longest-running and largest film site in all of Europe, and in the future we're visiting music studios, sound stages, all those movie magic places. I was totally meant to suffer the lack of sleep to be in this class, and best of all: ONLY 4 ASSIGNMENTS DURING THE WHOLE SEMESTER! Who doesn't want that?

INTRODUCTION TO FILMMAKING (FLM 150): I'm not going to lie, my back was aching and I was dozing off. Same professor by the way, so I was shocked how I was totally awake for my morning class but extremely tired during this class WITH A 2 HOUR BREAK. Maybe once we start filmmaking some stuff, which includes a horror sequence, stop animation, silent film, and a commercial, I'll find my groove. If anything, I'll switch the class for something else that'll give me credit, but it's all in the air. I love movies, but I don't see myself as a designated Christopher Nolan, but I took this class to get the practice in but that might just be left to the Film Festival Club they have here.

UPDATE (as of January 21, 2025 at 7:14pm): I dropped my filmmaking class. It wasn't structured the way that I wanted it to be structured, and I dipped out of there real fast. Wasted no time, and honestly thank God I did. I would've ripped my hair off of my head or jumped off a cliff. Okay, maybe I'm being a tad dramatic, but still. I wasn't meant for it, plain and simple.

ACTING (DRM 201): FIRST OF ALL, and don't hate me, I showed up late. Talk about making a good first impression, but it was good because I (hopefully) redeemed myself quickly by participating a lot in the class which included fighting lions with my feet and screaming "BLEEP" "CENSOR" at Mia. (There's your shoutout, MIA). I actually love this class which is ironic because this was the class I was most nervous about. I, for some reason, suck at doing acting exercises in front of people, but the second you need me to audition, perform, or even a scene rehearsal, I'm all in. I don't know, my brain is just wired differently, but nonetheless my acting class went super well. I love the professor's energy, and this will definitely help me become a more rounded performer, especially comedically because I see myself more of a comedic actor more than anything.

LAUGHTER, SATIRE, AND THE COMIC FORM (ENG 318): To keep it completely real, once I saw the syllabus, I thought that me and the professor were going to have beef. I truly did think that I wasn't going to like her, but meeting her and seeing how she was going to run the class, she quickly made me change my mind. She was laughing all the time, screened us Monty Python and some low key-boring "comedy" podcast, but nonetheless she's great. Once the syllabus was explained into further details, it totally made sense as to why she's doing what she's doing, so I'm all good. Plus, NO HOMEWORK! Literally said that she's not going to give us homework, just 2 in person essays on our computer so no complaints from me truly!

INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA: GENRE, TECHNIQUES, AND STRUCTURE (ENG 207): It's ironic that the class that I didn't want to originally take would be the class that I yapped the most, got the most laughs, and enjoyed the most. A, I was accidentally 30 minutes early (not my fault, blame the scheduling of AUR). B, I told everyone in that class about the blood blister and bruise I have on my left root (it's officially the color of me- BLACK). C, I told everybody that NYC is very different in Rome, as to NYC is dirty because for some reason, some of my classmates thought that Rome was "dirty". Until you've been on a subway station and seen either a person peeing in the corner, a rat running across, or smelly people during peak hours have their sweaty armpits all up in your face, you don't know dirty. Nonetheless, this class was easy and simple, also because I took an Intro to Drama class last semester, so not even joking, even the readings are similar. So similar curriculum, easy A... hopefully.

LITERARY EDITING AND PUBLISHING (ENG 305): I just signed up for this class, so I don't have anything to say about this class except for my roommate's in it (we're both English majors, but I'm taking the interesting classes), and that we're spending the whole semester working on our class magazine. And guess what? They need an Editor-in-Chief and nobody wanted to do it, so I'll swoop in and take charge. Thank you, Lotus Magazine for preparing me for this moment! I promise I'll try my hardest to make the magazine look prettier because we shall always strive to do better than the "before".