When you sign up for classes, especially electives, everything sounds interesting and only about two classes end up being as good as they sound. The Florida Geology lab (GLY 1150L) is one of them.

First of all, there are no tests. If you’re not won over yet, I don’t know what it takes. The grade is based on in-class assignments, which range from busy work packets to group activities that involve lots of different types of dirt. The second part of your grade is a journal that you keep for field trips.

That’s right, field trips. As part of the class, you get to go to all the semi-cool nature places Gainesville has to offer, from Devil’s Millhopper to fishing for shark teeth in Hogtown Creek. As part of the most interesting field trip, you also get to head down a bat cave and check out what total darkness feels like.

The bad news is that this is a one credit class which means unless you take a 2 credit class to complement it, it’s pretty much useless. The good news is that the perfect 2 credit class to go with it is Intro to Chemistry (CHM 1025). I know, chemistry sucks, but trust me, there’s a reason this class is worth only 2 credits.

This is perfect because all students need either 3 or 6 credits of Physical Science to meet their Gen Ed requirements. If you take both those in lieu of a real chemistry or physics, you’re halfway to your requirements and you got to go on field trips!