 
And as I’m sure Sylvester Stallone would agree in light of his recent Rambo sequel, there’s something magical about returning to work locked and loaded after a restful hiatus. Because although there’s no place like home, Richmond is where the comradery’s at. With a loving family, fuzzy dog, and warm Floridian weather to distract me over break, ’twas only upon my return that I realized how much I missed participating in D-hall discussion, campus events, and other college shenanigans with my amigos.The first two weeks back have been quite a whirlwind, with a host of new classes on which to cut my teeth. Due to a scheduling conflict with organic chemistry, I had to change my core teacher. My struggle to navigate the beaurocracy and procure an override before getting locked out of the last remaining lab section was worthy of a suspense thriller starring Denzel Washington. The movie rights are being discussed as I write. Fortunately my dogged determination paid off and I managed to get a pretty sweet schedule. Here’s the rundown:Core 102- Now that the dust has settled, I have Dr. Holton, a member of the history department as my core teacher. He’s clearly a man who loves his work, and being taught core literature from a historical persepctive has proven interesting. The most significant improvement over last semester’s core class has nothing to do with the teacher. Dr. Holton has been blessed with a room full of students slightly more opinionated and outspoken than those in my core class last semester. The result is an atmosphere of discussion that is fast, furious, and vastly more insightful than the verbal no-man’s land of core 101. Organic Chemistry 205- I’m glad I had Dr. Meyers for chem 141, because I’m feeling well prepared for organic chem. For those of you that don’t know, Dr. Gupton runs his class like a bullet train. The lectures are fast, thorough, and engaging. It’s easy to pay attention, because he calls on students often and gives a quiz every friday. As rigorous as that sounds, it’s more forgiving than most course loads because your risk is spread wider, and you get frequent feedback about how well you’re keeping up, allowing you to adjust your efforts accordingly. Because Organic Chemistry has a strong visual element, we get to play with molecular model kits. Upon purchasing my model kit, I was overcome with so much excitement that I decided to build a model of my favorite molecule (carbons are black, nitrogens are gray, and oxygens are red). 
The lab element of organic chemistry has also been enjoyable so far. Dr. Case takes a humorous, low-pressure approach to lab, and there are hardly any tedious calculations involved. It’s great to finally break away from titrations, and learn the specialized lab techniques required to manipulate organic chemicals.Cell & Molecular Biology 205- Of all the different branches of biology, cell & molecular biology is the one I find most interesting. Sure, population dynamics are cool, and genetics has it’s merits, but cell and molecular biology is interesting visually as well as conceptually. One doesn’t need a degree in cell biology to appreciate the beauty of microbes swimming under a light microscope. Dr. Boland’s class is much smaller than my 201 class last semester, which means we have more time for discussion and the like. My lab instructor Dr. Zoghby makes lab a blast, and by the time our lab section performs an experiment most of the ineficiencies have been ironed out. Scientific Calculus II- As a continuation of the first half of scientific calc, this class is going to be similar…but even better, because of the small class size. With only five students, it’s going to be about as intimate as a math class can get.In other news…the class cabinet will soon be creating a class flag. In the spirit of preemtive competition, I’ll post my current design.
Will my flag become an iconic symbol for the masses? Keep reading this blog long enough, and you may find out.
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