The Fall Semester

The week after I returned from a very hot country, the temperatures dropped here in the South Eastern part of the US(?).

For a person acclimatized to extremely hot weather, it felt like freezing. My dorm room felt unusually cold, the window frames clattered and the door rattled- combined with my extreme reverse jet lag situation. I have always thought jet lag came to people when they travelled East wards. My body has proved that a reverse jet lag is a reality.

We go through a period of shopping for classes- we can attend different classes and see if we want to pursue those classes further. It is an interesting concept and something I wholeheartedly embraced until I found out that this shopping is not an enjoyable experience. Hopping from college to college in search of classes and trying to get into classes before time especially after having travelled across campus on a rattly old shuttle, it took all my sleep lagged eyes to keep them open even to find the classrooms. On the plus side, in spite of all this hope on hope off , I didn’t lose anything- given my past history, that is a big plus.

There are fewer butterflies now, though there is an odd small white butterfly fluttering around on a rare occasion. The noise from outside the dorm( from the streets) is astounding. How do Americans live with so much noise? The dorm borders a highway and there are noises of motorcycles skidding and driving very fast with police cars in hot pursuit, all accounting for a virtual medley of sounds that are not pleasing to the year. On the plus side, today I am going to take time to smell the roses – that is am going to listen to a soprano, who is enrolled in a course here and seems to be someone to watch out for.

Making a lot of steps per day is another achievement for me- a great change from a sedentary lifestyle from my past desk job. A borrowed laptop from the library is what is helping me with my computer needs- my own laptop has decided to take a break.

I am part of a group that is doing a project on Environmental Justice here- a new concept and project for me. The amount of papers the teachers give us to read before a class is amazing- there is literally no actual teaching and more of self study. So I took a class yesterday on note taking- and as this was in the Divinity School it was an added bonus. Getting to see so many students, much more than in the summer is surprising- I am not sure why I didn’t expect this to happen.

It is easier to call family back home using WhatsApp now that I am here. Food continues to be a problem- it is a change from being a cook to a situation similar to a hunter gatherer. 🙂