And the Classes Begin

September 6th, 2006 Bridgewater Apartments, Brisbane, Australia
I take back whatever I said about classes: they’re pretty consuming. Yesterday (the 5th), I awoke a little before 7 for class at 7:30. I had two and a half hours off at lunch (because I’m not taking Statistics), and class was let out at 5:30. The rest of the evening was basically spent reading the next day of classes. When Rich and Dr. Byram said we were cramming a lot into a short amount of time, they meant we would be cramming a lot into a short amount of time. I have five classes, and a few of those have two books to read. I also have quizzes, a paper, tests, two projects, and a fifteen minute presentation which will be due before the semester ends. All this will be done in the time frame of four weeks. Fairly intense. At 5:30, the sun is rapidly going down. My evenings will consist of reading for my five classes, preparing for these projects, eating, and running.
I ran last night, following the same four mile course I did the night before. Katie Pagett so very kindly offered to make me dinner, and since my meal was going to consist of peaches and a piece of ham (we had run out of bread), I immediately acquiesced. Chicken schnitzel and green beans are hard to turn down. A few of us then made our way to the hot tub, which in reality wasn’t that hot. But once you jumped in the pool, which I believe was set on the penguins of Antarctica’s favorite temperature, the tub was kind of pleasant. I made the mistake of assuming that there wasn’t a step inside the hot tub, and promptly fell as I stepped in and cut open my knee and the side of my ankle. Smooth.
Everyone else went to their rooms, but I headed to Rich’s apartment. We sat on the patio and talked for around an hour. I had questions about things we had discussed in class and I also just wanted to share my views on some things. I also wanted his opinion on how he felt chapel went that morning. I spoke, and I had a difficult time deciding what my topic was going to be. I eventually settled on telling a little bit of my story. I’m not a big fan of the word ‘testimony,’ because I feel it has become somewhat cliché. Maybe that’s silly, but oh well. So, I shared my story. I felt people listened and, hopefully, appreciated what I said. Maybe someone got something out of what I said. Rich felt it went well, which was reassuring. I very much enjoyed our conversation. Times like those encourage and inspire me. I consider Rich to be a very good friend, and I appreciate his making time to talk with me when I know he’s as busy as I am.
Darren and I stayed up for quite awhile, talking. I embellished some on what I had shared in chapel, and he told me about difficult times in his life. He also talked about his (very good) relationship with Heidi. I really have enjoyed getting to know him. He and I were suitemates for a year and never really took the opportunity to hang out. He said he was very encouraged by chapel.

I’ve never really viewed 8:20 as ‘sleeping in,’ but it sure was nice this morning. Each day, classes switch: Rich’s in the morning one day, and then after lunch the next. I am enjoying the classes, especially the seminar atmosphere. Both Rich and Dr. Byram are very good teachers and are pretty much a fountain of knowledge.
I spent the evening reading and I was about to go running when I was told I had been invited to dinner again, this time prepared by Felicity. And I of course said yes. And it was good. The rest of the night was spent trying desperately to book tickets for free travel at the end of this month. I was finally able to procure tickets to Mackay, which is north of here. It is near Airlie Beach and has things such as Great Barrier Reef tours, island-hopping, Irish pubs, hostels (as cheap as $8 per night), and a crocodile safari. It sounded good to me. And it cost $213 (US$160) roundtrip. Definitely good. I believe a small group of people will be going, but not everyone will necessarily be doing the same things. I think I’m going to save Psychology and Sociology for my long lunch break tomorrow. No matter how interesting material is (I enjoy Sociology, but the lobes and cortexes of the brain we are now discussing in Psychology is a little tedious), when you read it from a textbook it has a tendency to drag. I did eventually get to run, though not my usual limit. It probably wasn’t even a mile, though I ran it pretty hard and I ran up to my flat on the top floor (which is the 3rd).
I suppose saying I feel a little stressed out would be accurate. I know I can do it, but it’s proving difficult to organize my schedule in such a way that I get the most out of everything. The weekends will have to be filled with work on my projects; that is, when we’re not traveling somewhere. I have a quiz tomorrow in International Studies, and two on Friday in Dr. Byram’s –ology classes. Time to get to work.

PS These pictures were not taken today, but are pulled from previous days. The planes are from our first night in Brisbane on the boat; there are pictures from the apartment; a sunset in Canberra.