Today was a good day, to generalize. My homework yesterday night was to read an article about Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana purchase. It was definitely easier for me to understand the main idea of this article. I'm assuming that every passage we read is basically going to be in the same format as the research essays we will be writing. In every article there is a central position that the author takes, usually about whether the president in question adhered to his own political values. In this particular article, the author held that Jefferson's decision did not go against his constructionist beliefs.
I felt more comfortable in class today too during the discussion, I felt confident answering questions and I was able to relate a few things from the discussion yesterday to the article today. Being able to completely understand the discussion was very enjoyable to me and it was something new, to be a part of an enlightened conversation. For the second half of class we learned more about writing a good research paper.
At lunch, Emily, Simon and I got a jump on our homework in Emily's dorm. I also began researching my topic today in the library from 2-4, in the most general sense. I familiarized myself with Truman's background, career and presidency. I also read a few letters and meeting minutes between Truman and the interim committee concerning the atomic bomb, but I haven't yet formulated an opinion yet (a direction in which to continue research and write my paper on).
After class I went with a group of girls to Times Square to do some actual shopping, which was nice, seeing as SoHo yesterday was kind of a bust. I had a lot of fun and I got to know my friend Claire a lot better (she lives across the hall). We got pizza and little cheesecakes from Magnolia's Bakery, which were incredibly good. We also spent a very long time in the Toys R Us, even though I didn't end up buying anything.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have an equally good time in class, but we'll see because tonight's article was a bit more difficult to grasp for me.
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