School's IN!

The first week of school has been by far my most interesting first-week ever! I had registered for some very interesting courses for the most part (Neuro of Perception, Neuro of Drug Dependence, Cognition). There was however one course, Motivation and Emotion, that had sounded interesting in May... 15 minutes in that class dissuaded me from That notion.

Now I've been reading Eric Kandel's autobiography since Mom gave it to me as a birthday present last June. And whereas I had thought that anything to do with Learning was a bore (i.e. Pavlovian conditioning), I discovered that approaching the subject from a purely neuronal level was brilliantly fascinating! Before this, my interest in neuroscience was mostly based on Linguistics and Endocannabinoids (eCB). Once getting through the first few chapters I realized that Memory, not Language, was the key to distilling the neural code. So for the last few months I've been stuck between those yummy eCBs and memory as possible foci for research. It wasn't until I found out that Prions maintain long-term memory... that I got hooked.

...And then I realized that the course "The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory" was still open for this semester... and was at the same time slot for that Motivation course. Of course, I still haven't taken the basic Learning course (*snore*)... so I was missing a prerequisite.

I may have changed the way I present myself to the world, but I'm still at heart the shyest of girls. So the idea of going and *gasp* Talking to people about getting past this lack of prerequisite... lets just say I was willing to ignore my recent revelation of what to study completely to avoid talking to people.

And then I got to that Motivation class. The prof is Francophone from Quebec... and though he seemed really nice... he spoke in halting English. Not the easiest thing to listen to. And then, he mentioned being a Clinical Psychologist and how his passion was for the clinical... My hopes for the course were laid on the possibility of discussing the Mesocorticolimbic Dopaminergic Pathway (i.e. the reward pathway)... and when I saw he had a pitiful 2 classes devoted to "Motivation and the Brain"... *sighs* I have to admit, I fled the classroom!

So I went to the Psychology office hoping to get permission to take the neuro of Learning class despite my lack of a prerequisite. I ended up being directed to the office of someone... and waited in line even to talk to her. She had papers piled up all over her desk, and looked slightly flustered. When I asked her if it would be possible to get into the class, she said flat out "NO". She said the prof could do nothing, and that hers' was the last word that I couldn't get in. When I objected, saying that half the class in my Neuro of Perception class hadn't taken the basic prerequisite, she brushed me off as if I were making it up. I left that class FURIOUS. 20 minutes later however, I ran into someone who had been in that lineup, and she revealed a very interesting piece of information. This lady was replacing someone who was sick... who was the replacement of the person who had been in charge of things last year.

This made this little shy girl very angry. How DARE she tell me I couldn't get into the class because I hadn't taken the prereq? How DARE she have spoken to me in the tone she did, when she's just a Freakin replacement?

So this shy girl went to the end of the Neuro of Learning class and, shaking like a leaf, approached the prof to explain things. He was very nice, and reassuring. Learning I apparently had nothing to do with his course. And it didn't make a f*ing difference whether or not I took it first. Furthermore, when I mentioned that I'd been reading Kandel's biography as light reading, I got a Very raised eyebrow. So he promised he'd email the person in charge (the lady who'd been so rude to me earlier), and told me to start coming to class from now on.

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And then there was the interview for honours. My second appointment was yesterday at 2pm. The first one got canceled due to the prof being sick. And despite my double checking the appointment before Xmas, they still managed to lose the appointment. So instead of spending 30 minutes discussing my future with him... I ended up spending almost 2 hours at school. Cause of course, since my appointment got lost, he didn't have any of my info and I had to run around to get a copy of my transcript. *sighs* My marks are apparently fine, and as soon as he verifies that I still have more than 30 credits left to complete, I should get a confirmation email from him. *crosses fingers* Lets just hope my info doesn't get lost AGAIN....

So as soon as I get those 2 confirmation emails... I think I'm gonna take that learning prof aside and ask if he's got any work for me to do in his lab. I Really need to start working in a lab ASAP: I've got a Research course I need to do this summer, and I need to have some idea for my Honours Thesis....

Isn't it a good thing that Neuroscience turns me on as much as it does!!!