Thanks for the comment, and the advice. I actually graduated already, in EECS, and am taking courses for my own interest and for continuing my way towards grad school, perhaps in Physics. I want to take Ribet's class because I've heard he's a great professor and because the subject sounds interesting. But if Ribet weren't teaching it, I'd probably be in Combinatorics (seems interesting too, and I don't know the subject too well) or Metric Differential Geometry. I'll sort things out exactly after attending all these classes in the first week. The other trick is that I have to work enough to pay for room and board (~ $600/month) and my courses (nearly $200/unit!!).
I like the idea of the Relativity-theme, although I think I'm going to go for a Condensed-Matter theme this semester: Phys 141A Solid State Physics, Phys H190 honors seminar (topic: "quantum mechanical behavior of many-body systems," e.g. solid state physics), and I am working in a solid state physics lab (sort of). I don't have any particular interest in solid state stuff per se, but it seems I should take advantage of the confluence of offerings and learn the material. (-:
I want to learn Spanish for the purposes of travel in Latin America. I may or may not continue with the course, but I think it's worthwhile. I already learned Swedish to the beginnings of fluency. I have a desire to learn some scholarly language(s), like French, German, and/or Russian, but Spanish is on top of the list for practical purposes. Arabic would certainly be cool, too.. I started attending Arabic and German a year ago but it was just too intense for my level of interest.
The real practical question is, should I attend Math 140 or Physics 112 during the first week of class? They're at the same time. None of my other courses of interest are in conflict. Phys 112 fits into the solid state theme, but I think it might be worth checking out M140 instead. One thing I have to admit, is that I'm very bad with differential equations!! I know, bad for a would-be physics student to admit, but the silly thing is that the only dif eq's in my coursework were stuffed into the last two weeks of Math 54!
Oh yeah, Incubus was crazy. Didn't check out the Shatner commentary, though... gee, that must be priceless. What does he say? I understood a lot of the Esperanto, enough to hear that the accents were mind-bogglingly atrocious. I started writing to a prospective Esperanto pen-pal today but got mixed up when I did know how to make an infinitive phrase (like, "I think it would be fun to go swimming" - "Mi opinas ke ĝis estu amuza ke naĝi"?).
Re: My Suggestions
I like the idea of the Relativity-theme, although I think I'm going to go for a Condensed-Matter theme this semester: Phys 141A Solid State Physics, Phys H190 honors seminar (topic: "quantum mechanical behavior of many-body systems," e.g. solid state physics), and I am working in a solid state physics lab (sort of). I don't have any particular interest in solid state stuff per se, but it seems I should take advantage of the confluence of offerings and learn the material. (-:
I want to learn Spanish for the purposes of travel in Latin America. I may or may not continue with the course, but I think it's worthwhile. I already learned Swedish to the beginnings of fluency. I have a desire to learn some scholarly language(s), like French, German, and/or Russian, but Spanish is on top of the list for practical purposes. Arabic would certainly be cool, too.. I started attending Arabic and German a year ago but it was just too intense for my level of interest.
The real practical question is, should I attend Math 140 or Physics 112 during the first week of class? They're at the same time. None of my other courses of interest are in conflict. Phys 112 fits into the solid state theme, but I think it might be worth checking out M140 instead. One thing I have to admit, is that I'm very bad with differential equations!! I know, bad for a would-be physics student to admit, but the silly thing is that the only dif eq's in my coursework were stuffed into the last two weeks of Math 54!
Oh yeah, Incubus was crazy. Didn't check out the Shatner commentary, though... gee, that must be priceless. What does he say? I understood a lot of the Esperanto, enough to hear that the accents were mind-bogglingly atrocious. I started writing to a prospective Esperanto pen-pal today but got mixed up when I did know how to make an infinitive phrase (like, "I think it would be fun to go swimming" - "Mi opinas ke ĝis estu amuza ke naĝi"?).