Tomorrow is the first day of school!!

So, the day has finally arrived: tomorrow is my first day of school. I plan to wake up early, eat a good breakfast, go running, probably shower after that, run some errands, and go to class at 4 PM... Sort of annoying that class isn't until 4 but that's the way it works. I seem to have a very light course load, only four classes. I have one class for 2 or 3 hours each day, Monday through Thursday (Fridays are free except for a spin class I signed up for :-D). I'll be taking 9 hours worth of class, when they tell us to sign up for 12-18 hours... so I assume an hour transfers as a credit? Seems like it... and with the orientations course, adding another 3 credits, I'll be at 12 and a full time student. Wonderful... should be a nice, easy last semester. The only part that worries me about credits is my English credits... I need 4 credits between two classes to graduate with the requirements for the major and I'll be taking 3 classes for 6 hours worth of English, so I assume I'm covered but my advisor hasn't emailed me back. Awesome... hope it works out :-/

I'm excited to finally meet some new people tomorrow :) I've met some awesome people through out the orientations course, but I love meeting new people. There's something intoxicating about the potential of a new encounter that I find horribly intriguing. I think sometimes I (unfortunately) get bored with people after this wears off, not because they are uninteresting people but because I'm looking for the next intoxication, momentary high if you will, of potential and newness in a relationship. I think this is one instance where I wear rose colored glasses to view the world and set aside my cynicism: I can't wait to meet my classmates tomorrow :)

I'm also excited to meet my professors and see how the relationship here will differ with them. I'm the student who stays after to chat about interesting points in the reading with my professor, I'm the student who will walk 20 minutes out of my way if the professor and I are having a great conversation just so I can walk them where they're going and continue the conversation... I'm also the student who cries when the semester ends because I've become attached to the class (which sometimes prompts the professor to hug me out of pity, maybe sympathy). I hope my professors offer an inkling of the personal attention the professors at Madison offered and I assume they will since the classes I'm taking are upper level and smaller sizes. I'm also excited to be able to offer the English classes, especially American literature classes, an American and native English speaker's perspective on things.

Well, it's almost 11:30 so I should get to bed and be ready for the big day tomorrow :) I'll try to update tomorrow evening.
love you all
d

ps thought I'd leave you with one of my favorite pictures from Scotland: Gwen, Katelynn, Zach and I had just finished a 45 minute climb to the top of a mountain for a gorgeous scenic view of the Scottish landscape. We could see out to sea, the mountains in the opposite direction, all the buildings we saw on the tour earlier that morning, and the sun was shining through the clouds in the beautiful way that makes you hold your breath and almost forget that you aren't looking at a painting. It was a perfect moment and we were elated to experience it, so we captured that happiness in the "jump shot" :) It's a moment I'll never forget.