Briefly, I think that one of the coolest things about this university is the flexibility that block system allows for its students. For example, if a relative gets sick and you have to go home for a month, your whole semester isn't shot; you just miss one block. That's why I love this system. It also allows more flexibility in terms of pursuing other opportunities.
For example, some people are planning on pursuing community service or internship opportunities over the summer; and that's FINE. They're just taking the block off. No big deal. Also, I know that some people get interested in doing a directed study. At other universities, they'd have to wait until the end of a semester, fill out endless piles of homework, and then come up with a curriculum that lasts an entire term. Here, directed studies get approved and underway in a manner that- relatively speaking- is lightning fast.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because I'm contemplating hiking the Pacific Crest Trail a year from now. The PCT is a behemoth, 2500 miles of continuous trail form the Mexican border in California to the Canadian border in Washington.
Basically, I doubt that I'd have the freedom to walk the five or so months it'd take to complete the PCT- to even contemplate this sort of hike while I'm still in school- but the block system gives me the freedom to consider (consider, mind) a hike that starts at the end of the next year and goes into the summer. I just love that.
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