Januari, academia

Wow...that month flew by...

In between all that time that I had people over (tell you about that later)my classes started again.
I am now taking an extra curricular class in Religion in Society. I wanted to take this class in stead of my Sacred Texts class, but since I was told in September I wasn't allowed, I didn't.
Unfortunately i found out in December that i could have taken my electives outside of the department, but that by then it was too late to do so. Sucks to be you, you're stuck with hermeneutics...thanks.

So now, just to piss off everyone in my department :), i'm taking it anyway! I can't use the credits for my degree, but the actual information discussed in class will be 1000 times more useful for my dissertation than random rambling about God in literature. (no offence :) it's just not my thing)
The Religion in Society class is actually an anthropology of religion class, with some sociology thrown in. Oh wait, wasn't that what I wanted to be doing all the time now? So I'm enjoying it :) Very much so. It's just good to be in a class where you actually know the names that pass in the conversation (Durkheim: check, Geertz: check) minor annoyance is that most of the other people taking the class haven't taken classes in religion or anthropology before. But they are all very nice and do see all of it with social science eyes, which is a welcome change from the horde of theologians that I spend most my time (classwise) with.

Before the start of the first class a student came in (I was obviously already there, excited :)) and said: I wonder if there is actually going to be a religious person in this class, that would be so interesting. (as a sidenote: this guy is ruthlessly atheist, thinks everyone who remotely believes in anything is an idiot and is, as far as I can see, definitely gay (or latently so.) Now read the previous scentence again, adding the image described above....)
I said: Well I'd rather that there isn't. That would be a welcome change of scenery for me.
This new classmate then could hardly believe there would be anyone within a university who can seriously ask in class, after reading a text on religious pluralism, how that text could be used to prove Christianity's superiority over other religions. (Which obviously happened in my first semester...I stared at him)
So! I love my social science detox moment of the week, my classmates are nice and more importantly: of the same age as me. The teacher is good (ie, fills most of her class with examples from her own research in...uh Peru(?)) and friendly. I think I have to go and talk to her about my dissertation research.

About that dissertation...my plans are starting to become more concrete. I have a supervisor now and she is very enthousiastic about sending me to Surinam for two months to look at the Inter-faith relations in paramaribo. Score :)
Hopefully accomodation and ethics board permission follow this month. That would mean that I'll be moving back to Holland in May, only to 'move' to Surinam at the end of that month. I'm already dreaming about sunshine and Roti.

Soko,soko!