Hi y’all. I need to talk uni today.

I survived the first day of the new course, although barely so. I’m pretty sure I’mma hate it. The first course of the specialization phase started yesterday. This specialization phase is the second half of my bachelor studies, from now until the summer of 2011, the end of year three, when I’ll graduate. I chose Media Culture as my specialization. There are a few different directions into which you can go, and I thought long and hard about whether doing media or Political Culture. After the first day yesterday, I’m thinking I should have gone with politics instead.

See, this first course of the media specialization is called Digital Games. And I realize that that should have thrown me off much earlier. But I guess I didn’t really think about it because I KNEW I wanted the media courses because to me media means: newspapers, television, news, politics, propaganda, new social media, etc. – a thousand things relate to it. Right? What else would you refer to as media?

Turns out, digital games apparently are a part of it. An essential part even, seeing as they decided to construct an entire mandatory course around it. And I figured: a’ight, I guess digital games will be like a very particular case study by use of which the workings of the media will be explained. Right? Something to that effect.

But before I know it, I’m sitting in class at 8.30am yesterday morning with a teacher that tells us that whenever she might look tired in future meetings, it’ll be because she typically plays World of Warcraft until 7 in the morning, so NO WORRIES, and I’m having to listen to a lecture by some crazy maniac gamer lady who tries to tell me that if killer games have a bad effect on young people, so do fairytales because, after all, there are some pretty cruel fairytales out there, and – I’M SORRY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

Are they SERIOUS? Everything about this is just- so- WRONG. First of all, why is it, exactly, that I’m suddenly studying World of Warcraft (and similar games), something I have no interest in and would never in a million years want anything to do with? How is this even relevant to anything in the world, ever? I don’t even have the words for how messed up I think this is.

Let me give you the broader perspective here. One of the other mandatory courses for the specialization I’ll be taking is Media and War. Now, THAT makes sense: it deals with how wars are portrayed in the media, shaped by it etc., that whole interrelation. THAT is a media course in my eyes, seeing as, you know, IT DEALS WITH THE MEDIA. That’s the kind of courses I’d expect from a media specialization. Wouldn’t you? I understand that I’m not looking at this entirely objectively because I seriously never play any digital games ever so I have no interest in it and no patience for it. I find it difficult to take serious. But still. It just doesn’t compute. It’s so specific! If I was doing an entirely different bachelor study that dealt exclusively with digital media or something, it would fit, and in that context, digital games is probably an important field to consider.

But my bachelor program is called Arts and Culture, and I’m majoring in the field of media.

I don’t want no freaking World of Warcraft nonsense in my studies that were supposed to be a broad mixture of political science, sociology, history, and then finally media, tying together all of the above.

This is so disappointing. I only have four big courses left (that is: including Digital Games) before the three years are over, and I can’t believe they’re gonna make me waste it on this. I am not happy, people. I am not happy about this at all.