My first two days of being back "in school" have now officially been survived. The first day of being back in the school, Orientation Day, was yesterday. The first day being being back at schooling was today.
The two days could scarcely have been more different, I suspect.
Yesterday, I headed to Concordia as early as I could, after a whirlwind tour of the seminary, as I prepared for all sorts of things, in order to try and reach the college early enough to help as a volunteer. Somehow, I'm not entirely sure how, I got roped into volunteering with the Orientation, an event I was somewhat dreading between being somewhat shy and somewhat concerned about my leg.
I needn't have worried: it was a blast! It was so great to be back in school, and it was awesome seeing people I hadn't seen in months, and of reconnecting--even with people I'm not sure I ever connected with the first year around. It was also totally awesome to see how far one comes in a year, looking at all the freshmen with bemused detachment, as these first-timer college students follow you around in very serious, docile timidity.
Yesterday was also the Orientation Day here at Newman, and I got back in time for the supper barbecue, and that too was great as I got to reconnect with a number of the people that, while I might not have studied with them, I was around enough (since I live here) to be well remembered. It was an excellent supper, with great fellowship, and then it turned into an awesome evening as we had a campfire, and a number of the seminarians sat around drinking Uzo and smoking Cuban cigars (yes, I had a Cuban cigar).
Then it was time for Compline, Night Prayer, and that went beautifully as well, I thought. I exited brimming with excitement, and fell in with the crew of post-firepit seminarians heading off to Boston Pizza for "supper". More fellowship and fun.
After all the awesome excitement of the Orientations Day, today was drudgery. True, it was an adventure bouncing all over campus trying to find classes, help with policing the Opening Convocation, and trying to get books out of the bookstore in one piece--but it marked a return to the true sweat and tears of the college routine. Although I know this semester won't overly tax me, it was very overwhelming to run the gamot of all the assignments and expectations of the year to come. It was also a thoroughly exhausting day as I had three classes back-to-back to attend, then another class later, meaning that I have four of my five classes (the normal maximum) that need to be attended on Mondays and Fridays.
Still, I have to admit that I'm liking what the semester looks like. I'm really pleased with my choices in courses. The courses that I started today are as follows:
Early Renaissance English: including St. Thomas More's Utopia, and Shakespeare's Twelvth Night, among others.
Ancient Near Easter Religions: The mythology, history, and culture of the Sumerian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Hittite, Assyrian, and Egyptian cultures. (And it counts as my religion credit! Woot!)
History of Western Philosophy: Modern: Focussing on Descartes, Berkeley, and Kant, primarily.
Ethics: Another Philosophy course, focussing on Aristotle's ethics, Kant again, and John Mills' Utilitarianism. The setup for this course in particular looks to be a lot of fun.
The last class, which I don't start until tomorrow, is another Philosophy course: Analysis of Contemporary Issues. It's the only junior level course I'm taking this semester, and according to a guy who took it last year, it's really good. It has the same prof as my other two Philosophies of the semester, and I'm really liking his style so far.
Still, excited as I am, it's been a long day putting the nose back to the grindstone. I keep wondering when it'll start feeling normal, and I'll start settling in again--then I remember what Fr. Shayne said last year, about things never following the schedule BEING the seminary's schedule.
But yay! I'm home, and I'm in school, and--God willing--things will keep being awesome.
Meanwhile, I should maybe think about my homework.
Yeah....
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4 comments:
He's an upper classman now! Yay! :)
I know--it's very scary. One year done, and only two to go until I can put "BA" after my name.
Haha, this sounds just like me at the start of school! Except I'm one of those scared freshmen.... ;-)
Your classes sound like a blast. I'd certainly like to take a few of them. :-D
Master Nathan, they are indeed a blast. I got to enjoy my first day of my "Analysis of Contemporary Moral Issues", which it turns out is basically Applied Ethics, today, and since I wasn't exhausted from too little sleep and too many new classes, I really got to enjoy my new prof, and I'm really looking forward to my Philosophy classes, in particular.
I must say, though, that I have a huge pile of reading to do, thanks to these courses, and the homework--while actually fun--is going to be heftier than last year's mild load.
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