Spotify has really become my saving grace these past couple of semesters (honestly when has it not been the light of my studying days?). I mean, something’s got to spice up staring at my computer for hours a day and keep me focused on the task at hand. But as I scrolled through the seemingly endless playlists curated by Spotify for every mood or scenario possible while thinking of all the course work I needed to do, I saw how my classes could be fit into some of those playlists too and thus this blog was born.
CSCI201: Principles of Software Development— Indie Pop 2010s
Every computer science student has their go-to music for coding and it strongly varies from person to person. For me lately though, the iconic songs from circa 2013-2016 have been the perfect soundtrack and highly relate to my current experience in my software development lectures. The Zoom chat is active with questions and commentary and memes while we also soak in as much Java knowledge as we can which is a major multitasking accomplishment and honestly works! Leaving a class at 7pm with that kind of energy and positive vibes is the same kind of feelings I get from the nostalgia of Lorde’s first album or M83 songs from my favorite movies or those songs from The Neighborhood that I got so sick of but now love again.
CTAN436: Writing for Animation — Pixar Hits
This class is exactly what the title says so it seems only fitting that Pixar should be the go-to for anything animation related. With a mix of songs from every Pixar movie, there’s a wide variety of creative energy flowing from this playlist whether that be inspiration from Brave to be who you’re meant to be or motivation to appreciate the little things like in Up or to channel your inner child from Toy Story. That’s what this course is all about too, creating with abandon and no set rules, just learning as you go. With a 3D animation minor, this course, like this playlist, is my chance to just let go for several hours. Kachow!
BUAD312: Statistics and Data Science for Business— Cinematic Chillout
This playlist has an entertaining variety of songs from movies while also having a “sophisticated” side with the intricate orchestral scores and high emotion numbers. My stats and data science class is similar in that it requires a certain level of focus while coding in R and ensuring right data is modeled in the projected plot, but the has little bursts of excitement when a color-coded scatter plot or faceted box plot is created just as you wanted. It’s got that mix of straightforwardness and complexity just like a good film soundtrack does when drawing us in to a complicated scene. I’m not saying watching my pretty little bar graph suddenly appear is as thrilling as watching Interstellar or Blade Runner, but with Zoom classes occupying most of my days, I’ll take any little excitement that I can.
PSYC100: Intro to Psychology — Ready for the Day
With 8:30 am lectures for this psych course, I almost related the class to the “Stay in Bed” playlist but I’ve found it a very positive way to start my Mondays and Wednesdays. It’s always something different and always fascinating, and with the sunny attitude of my professor, it really feels like a nice way to get into the groove of the day just like this playlist is ~groovy.~ Computer science is where my major interests lie for sure, but having a GE like this to shake up my normal routine of classes and teach me facts I can randomly bring up to my friends to sound impressive is definitely a highlight.
