Now Playing: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack by Howard Shore. Track 17, "The Return of the King".

13 January 2009, second day of classes, spring term.

Actually managed to wake up this morning, which, even though it's only the beginning of the semester, is already a feat. Rachel left early for class again, so I spent most of the morning quietly in the apartment, sending e-mails and writing questions for the study abroad newsletter interviews. Warm sunshine streamed through the windows, bathing the white walls and the slowly-recovering plants in intense light.

At eleven o'clock, I went to Honors in Chapman, the same classroom as Imperial Rome. This is my last Honors course--good thing, too, because the longer the Honors program goes, the less interesting the courses get. Of course, starting off with Greek poetry and drama isn't really fair to any of the other sections, though Shakespeare and medieval history can compete pretty well, but the history of science and these two contemporary issues courses don't stand a chance. If Rachel Sr. and I had our way, this last contemporary issues course would be dropped completely, and everyone would take both Shakespeare and Enlightenment instead of having to choose between the two.

Anyhow, I found myself in the room with the usual bunch of people, except for a small deputation of girls who soon discovered that this was not American Revolution and betook themselves elsewhere. The professor for this course is Dr. L, who taught my freshman linguistics course, a huge white-haired fellow whose his specialty is not modern ethics or politics but the anthropological ways of the South Pacific. We managed to spend an hour talking about "stuff" before he dismissed class for the day.

I ended up walking out of Chapman with Gavin, who was in Honors last fall, and who's a friend of Rachel's and Crystal's. We walked to ACAC and ended up eating lunch together since none of the usual RUF crowd could be found, although Crystal joined us briefly.

At one o'clock, I went to practice my flute. Worked on Vivaldi the whole hour, then walked back to the apartment. The afternoon was absolutely gorgeous, a heady blue sky that seemed to make every breath teeter on the edge of drunkenness, but it was also very cold. In the apartment, I made a cup of green tea and sat down to read. I read for Imperial Rome (very interesting) and for Honors (frustrating).

Rachel and I ate tea together. After tea, I finished reading for Honors and started to read for my independent study with Dr. E. The enormous Riverside Chaucer is the main textbook for the course, a beautiful but weighty volume. I was thoroughly enjoying the introduction about Chaucer's very colorful life when it was time to walk to The Collective for RUF. Instead of having "proper" large group tonight, we were just getting together at this coffee shop for "hang-out time". Nicole, Rachel, and I walked over together.

The night was very cold, so it was good to be inside and order tea. We found Di, Matt, and several freshmen guys already gathered around a coffee table. The group expanded quickly: Hannah and Leslie, Alyson and Amy, Rachel Jr., Stephen and Joseph, Philip, Andrew and Jenny, Asher, Charlie, Phil, Matlock, Kevin and Holly.... The conversations were vastly different and amusing. In front of me, across the table, Matt was explaining to a freshman why he thought all vampires should die; nearby, Hannah and Leslie were examining a "Tulsa World" newspaper; behind me, Alyson, Jenny, and Rachel were discussing Harry Potter and trashy Christian romance novels; behind them, Philip, Charlie, and some other guys were discussing books. A basketball game had just let out from the TU arena across the street, and people were flowing back to their cars. Leslie showed us her ring. Danny told me about his hiking trip in Arkansas over the break and how proud he was that now he's an early morning riser. Matt was sketching something in a big green book and discussing teaching methods with Di. And so it went.

Rachel, Nicole, Phil, and I walked back to Mayo at ten or so. I resumed work on interview questions for study abroad. At eleven o'clock, I said good-night to Rachel.