My Favorite Courses at Oberlin

This week I got an email from my academic advisor with a simple note; spring course registration is now open. I’ve registered for classes seven times before now, but somehow this one felt a bit more monumental. It’s my last time registering for classes at Oberlin, and my last chance to build the perfect semester. That being said, I’ve never had a bad class at Oberlin. Even if a class wasn’t exactly up my alley, it was still a learning opportunity for me to hone in on my interests and build new skills. An inderdisciiplinary education makes for engaged and interesting people, which is exactly my goal! 

I wanted to highlight some of the courses that have stood out to me as being classically Oberlin. The quirky ones, the classes with four people, the ones that I thought I would hate but then ended up loving. Here they are!

1. Medieval Foodways and Health. Want to make beef stuffed stewed eggplant? Pork boiled in saffron scented milk? Great! You can do all that and more in this class. Taught by one of my favorite professors at Oberlin, Ellen Wurtzel, the class explores foodstuffs, their evolution, and manifestation in recipes. My favorite part of the class was the final presentation during which my group and I presented our medieval food ‘cure’ for postpartum women. 
2. Science and Technology in East Asia. I was one of four people in this class, which made all of our discussions personalized and incredibly engaging. The format of this class was centered around themed readings, which students would read and prepare to share their thoughts on in class. Each week one student would do an especially close read in order to provide a relevant summary to the other students before the class discussion kicked off. Plus, the professor would bring in snacks every week! Snacks plus a fascinating discussion-what could be better?
3. Power, Politics, and Pastries. This course was my first year seminar and I’ve talked about it in depth in my other blogs. I cannot stress how much I reccomend taking a first year seminar at Oberlin! Not only did I get exposure to campus resources such as the special collections, research assistants, and art museum, but I also got to deepen my interests in history and politics through the unique lens of baked goods!
4. Elementary Japanese. Languages aren’t required at Oberlin but I highly recommend taking one! The course is intense, fast-paced, but so fun. The goal is to achieve a semblance of fluency by your eighth semester. This was a course I took on a complete whim my first semester at Oberlin and fell in love. The structure of the course is based around working with your peers, which is honestly something I wasn’t expecting in a college class. It enabled me to form a classroom community and make new friends!
5. Medical Ethics. This course gave my brain such a workout! This is a topic I had no experience with in high school. Being Oberlin, students brought an incredibly diverse range of backgrounds to our class discussions. Disagreement was a source of meaningful dialogue rather than argument. I always think it's a good idea to take a course that you have no prior experience in, or even interest. You never know what you could get out of it!

I hope these courses give you an insight into the amazing courses you can experience at Oberlin! Of course the syllabus is just an outline for a great class, the professor and students are what really make it special. And I promise, Oberlin is just the place for you to find that! I’ll be sure to give an update on my new favorite courses after next semester!