School...

...is not getting any easier. But I suppose if it were easy, everyone would do it-or at least that's what people tell me.
Here's a quick rundown of the classes I have going:

• Newspaper Production Workshop: This class produces the weekly newspaper, The Journal. Some people write 2-3 articles a week, but because I have 2 8-week classes I've decided to only take on one/week until they are over. I want to be able to devote myself entirely to something and I don't feel like I can do that if I'm stressing over something else. I think this is a wise choice, because while I may not have as much for my portfolio, my articles will be good quality, hopefully.
• Copy Editing- Woah. This class is tough. It's not so much that the work is hard, but there's so much. There's an unbelievable amount, to where even one of the editors of the paper (who is in my class) stresses about it. We have weekly quizzes, which is good, but not fun. I have a lot more respect for copy-editors now.
• Layout/Design- This class uses InDesign to create newspaper/ magazine layouts. It's tough, but only because I'm still learning the program. I decided to purchase the program for my laptop so I can work on it a lot more, and not just at school. I really like doing it, and I like the finished product, but it's very time consuming. We also have quite a few quizzes in addition to the layouts.
• Media Law- This is one of my 8 week classes. It's not so bad. A lot of what we're learning (libel, trademark, privacy, etc.) has been drilled into us since day 1. Of course, we dig a little deeper into the issues and discuss how they affect speech. I really like this class and the teacher is awesome.
• Investigative Journalism- The teacher of this class is also awesome, very tough- and that's what I like about him. We are working on a project, which I won't tell you about until it's finished. Ten of us have 8 weeks to complete an assigned investigation. The investigation isn't really that cool, but I'm learning a TON! Most recently, I learned a very important lesson that I should have already known. I'm not going to tell you about it though, because it's embarrassing.
• Introduction to Dreamweaver- This class was the very basics of Dreamweaver, which is used to build websites. It was a 1 credit hour class that I took last weekend. It wasn't too bad, but a little slow. I wish we could have done more. I definitely think it could be an 8 week course, with as much as there is to know.

I'm still working on the weekends. During the week I have class from 1:30-9:30 with just a short break in the evening, enough time to eat dinner. Luckily, I only have class on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Friday and Sunday I work. Wednesday is my day off, but I usually spend it interviewing for my assigned newspaper article.

In 3 more weeks I will have 2 fewer classes, and have completed 7 credits in 8 weeks! Like my sister says, "It's like eating an elephant, you have to do it one bite at a time." I like that.