After a month long break and a week of snow days that started on the day I expected classes to start, I was REALLY ready to get back to school. I am a huge nerd who loves school anyway, but when I got all my anticipation built up and then was disappointed, it was a hard blow. Thank goodness, I am finally back. Today was my first day of school for this semester.
I had to get up at 5:30 am, a time I have seen in my life about 4 times, and even worse, last night was the rockin' good, but very late, Cake concert. So, at 7 am, I was at the bus stop with my cooler packed with Whole30ish food and a backpack full of crisp new notebooks and exciting textbooks full of magic knowledge.
My new bus ride is amazing. It's a commuter bus, so it's clean and filled with the sort of folks who live in Marietta and go to work downtown wearing heels and wool dress coats. There was a little less local color to be found on this bus, but much more comfort, leg room, and pleasant smells. I will have a fine time reading during the ride to and from school; most days I try to reserve that time for pleasure reading.
My 8 o'clock class was great, but I never had any doubts about it. The professor is the male, very knowledgable version of me: really laid back, dressed slightly slovenly, and very excited about the history of rhetoric. The class is very small, only 7 people, and it's almost all discussion and what the prof calls "thinking through writing."
My 11 o'clock was also good. The professor was suspicious of me at first; he hasn't taught me Latin (and this is an upper level class), and I came unprepared. Turns out I should check my email during snow days and do the first assignment before class. Woops. By the end, though, he was begging me to audit his Greek class. No one on earth is as desperate as a classics professor; their programs are always on the verge of being cancelled, and any interested person will be hunted down and chained to a chair. I wish I could do the Greek class, but it doesn't fit into my schedule. I think now that he knows I am competent and well educated in classics, he and I will get along fine and dance our way through some hilarious Petronius excerpts.
My 2:30 was wonderful, too. Are you tired of hearing that? Too bad. This professor is possibly my favorite ever. She is the sweetest, kindest little old Southern lady, and she is the smartest, most knowledgable scholar I know. She loves eighteenth century literature, Sacred Harp singing, gardening, and old books. She has a refreshingly positive outlook, both on her students and on the beautiful world we live in. She's teaching me Practical Grammar this semester, and I know it will be fun. It's like Sudoku for English nerds.
So, I have been translating my Latin homework (and it's going well, so thank you, Sex Vultures), reading Rhetorica ad Herennium (a Roman rhetoric textbook from the first century B.C.), and contemplating how wonderful my life is.
1/18/11
