Back by popular demand

Sorry to those of my loyal blog-readers for the slight lapse in my dedication. Christmas break was really lazy and pretty dull so there wasn't much to report there. But now I'm back in Provo (thank goodness because I was dying to get out of Columbia) and things are really shifting into gear. Classes started on Monday and so far they are AWESOME. Here's a brief summary of my classes this semester:

1. Pl Sc 472- International Political Economy of Women: Easily the class I am most excited for. Although I did read for 7 hours the material for one lecture, it really is an interesting class. We are basically just examining the status of women, mostly in developing countries, and how political and economic institutions improve or degrade it. We also have a unit we are doing on health, and one of our books is the Politics of Breastfeeding, one of my personal favorites. The last section of the class we are going to be evaluating the status of women in the Church and their place in the eternities. Dr. Hudson has written a lot about this subject so I think it be incredibly insightful. Her favorite quote is that the Church is the most feminist organization in the world in that it allows for complete equity between men and women. I'm interested to find out how that is....
2. Political Islam: My professor has a British accent. And it's an interesting subject. Enough about that.
3. Intro to International Development: Awesome class, one I've been looking forward to taking for a while. The professor is Ralph who I have gotten to know a little through SID and I think the class will be incredibly interesting. Our final project is going to be reviewing the proposals for funding from several NGOs, and our reviews will be given to SID (which I'm in, so I'll be giving it to myself...) to evaluate and decide what NGOs will get funding from the Hunger Banquet.
4. FRENCH. I'm auditing it, which rocks. So basically I get to learn French sans the stress of taking the tests and getting an A. Even though it's super easy so far so I could probably get an A but now if in the middle of the semester I decide I can't do it anymore I can just stop going...
5. Well, I was taking Quantitative Political Methodology but it's pretty intense and I'm not incredibly motivated this semester to learn in-depth statistics. So.... I guess that will have to wait until another semester....
6. New Testament: My professor is Stephen Robinson, one of the foremost scholars of Christ's life and ministry. If any of you have read Believing Christ/Following Christ or any of his other books, this is the guy. Not to mention he cusses in class, which is pretty much awesome.
7. I'm going to sit in on Mission Prep with Brother Bott but I'm not going to add it because it's already very full. And I don't need anymore religion credits.

And WomanStats!! We had our first training meeting last evening and I am so stoked about starting to code. In fact, I'm going to start my Albania CEDAW report as soon as I finish blogging. I basically just read through the report and assign all of the relevant information to any one of 240 variables. Word on the street is it's tortuous to learn but well worth it after a few weeks. To be part of a project that is SO important and substantial is exciting!

Also good news: Austin is moving back to Provo!!

And the most wonderful news of all is that my dear friend in blogging Kayla had her sweet baby boy Wes last week. Congrats Moncurs because I think he is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen!

I promise to never ever abstain from blogging for so long, and I truly apologize for any distress I may have caused. Also I do not feel like editing today, so please excuse any typos.