Now Playing: Bach, Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543.

Tonight I've been revising poetry. At some point the words start to swim on the screen, and then it's time to stop and just print it off, whether it sounds good or not.

This week in Bloomington got off to a good start, or at least last week ended well. Rachel drove over from Illinois for a visit on Saturday morning. We went downtown to the arts festival on Saturday afternoon and spent a happy couple of hours wandering up and down the street among the pavilions.

Now, that image perhaps isn't precise enough. When we reached Fourth Street, we found ourselves looking up a long, gentle hill running up to the university gates. On either side of the street are international restaurants and Asian grocers, set back from the road. Trees, gold and green, overhang the road, and under them were the white roofs of the booths. But the street itself was completely invisible, hidden by a mass of people. Rachel and I had to push our way up toward the university through the crowd like salmon up a river.

On Sunday I made a happy discovery after evening worship: Cindy, the library sciences student who sat in the pew behind us, knows Syneva!

Sunday evening the "fireside chats" started at the Hs' house. About fifteen students, mostly grad students, met at their house, and Amy H fed us enchiladas, and we sat on their screened-in back deck and talked until it was dark outside. Then we gathered inside, and Pastor H led us in an introductory study designed to resume their progress through the Westminster Confession.

Yesterday, like good little grad students, Rachel and I studied in the morning and then went downtown to poke around the bookshops. We made tea together, the first meal I've made here that actually tasted good, and then she went back to Illinois.

Today I had another pleasant experience, that of beginning to form friendships with my fellow grad students. I met a couple of other first-years, Beth and Mary, at a coffee shop by campus to discuss the week's readings before class. Sitting at the table, I was very distracted by the windows: Broad, floor-to-ceiling arched panes, framing crowded sidewalk, full bike rack, busy one-way street, leaves yellow with sunshine, green lawn, and grey stone building. All very close, immediate, like a postcard illustration.

Tonight Lisa's parents were in town and took us out to eat pizza. As we were making our way through the crowded restaurant, I glanced to one side, and there was Katie! It was a bit surreal; I felt as though my frame of reference had tipped. She's in town to visit the art history department, and we had a nice chat.

Tomorrow will be busy: Song School (Middle English reading group), a professor's office hours, a lecture, poetry class.