My faith in Carleton has been restored! For those that don't know, I was very nearly completely and utterly screwed over! Because I had taken Japanese in high school, I wasn't allowed to take first-year Japanese. Fair enough. However, the first-year course is intensive and worth 2 credits, whereas every other year is 1 credit. I need 4 credits for a minor, so do the math. Taking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year would leave me one short. So I got departmental permission to take a Japanese history course to make up the extra credit. La la la, this year rolls along and lo and behold: Carleton is not offering 4th year Japanese. Neither is Ottawa U, nor any other distance-ed university. PHOOEY!!

This is partly because 2 of the profs are going on sabbatical at the same time! So, I work out my options with the language coordinator at school. Ottawa U offers "religions in China & Japan" for .5 credits. Carleton has "Japan since 1945" and "Asian art: China & Japan" both .5 credits. I really don't want to have to go to Ottawa U for one course, but at the same time, I already took the precursor history course and I didn't like it much (Japan from 150,000B.C. to 1945A.D. was pretty dry, sorry to say). Anyway, my other option was to beg and plead the remaining professors to let me do an independent study with them for credit. This seemed slim, because 1. they would not be financially compensated for it 2. it would be on top of their teaching commitments and 3. they didn't know me. The 2 profs that are gone on sabbatical are the two profs that I've already been in classes with, and would be the more likely ones to have a soft spot in their heart for me.

But I got an email earlier saying that the logistics have been mostly worked out and that the two remaining profs are willing to help me out and let me do an independent study with them (one prof per term)!!

Carleton!! No K for Kwality this time! Talk about accomodating!!