Yesterday was the first day of my Cataloging class at UCLA Library School. Since I’m not a student there, I had to enroll as a concurrent student through the Extension. Of course the fees are a lot higher than regular students, like $500 per course. Thank goodness USC will pay for the expense.

My impressions of Library school professors are pretty much old ladies who lecture in soft monotone that bores everyone out. When my professor came into the class last night, I was really surprised to see him. He is a huge football-player-like white male in the late 30’s or early 40’s who speaks loudly and started the class with numerous jokes. He likes to use a lot of gestures while he talks. The entire class was amused by his funny expression. Apparently he is one of the most popular professors in the school. Students were circling around him during breaks, asking him all sorts of questions and treating him like one of their own. This class should be pretty interesting with such a professor even though the subject of this class can be very boring.

Although the purpose of taking this class is to help me improve my cataloging skill for work, I felt I have the full responsibility as the other students to finish all of the required assignments and exams. When I saw the syllabus last night, I realized there are 3 big projects, 1 take home exams and also numerous homework assignments. Graduate courses are really much more difficult than undergrad classes. For some reason, I chose letter grading basis when I registered for the class. Now I’ll have to see how this class goes and if it will add too much burden on me while working full time.

When I stepped onto UCLA campus last night, I felt like I’m one of the students there again. Wow, it’s been almost 2 years since I graduated! Time really flies by fast! Last year around this time, I was working and taking CPA courses at Cal State Northridge. Now I’m doing the same thing all over again. I guess I just really enjoy being a student.