Day 1

Well, I don't remember much from my first two classes. About mid-afternoon, I talked to Trey and we decided I should go ahead and drink some coffee. The idea that I can't focus or have energy without coffee disconcerts me. I suppose I could have caffeine in some other form, but I do prefer to take it in coffee form. Anyway, I'm starting tomorrow off with coffee. Then maybe I can tell you more about my classes!

The most exciting thing today was meeting Chiyungye, whose name I unfortunately have no idea how to spell. We were chatting---she's from South Korea and is studying Asian languages at Stanford; her husband is getting a PhD in electrical engineering---and when I mentioned I was engaged, she asked about Trey. I told her he was a seminary student. "Oh, are you Christians?" "Yes, we are." "We are too!" Yay! So, now I have a Christian friend here! She's going to take me to her church next Sunday.

I got lots of wonderful birthday messages today. People tended to call while I was in class, which wasn't hard considering that's where I was for most of the day! But I'm glad I have messages now, I can save them for a while and re-listen to them.

In the dining hall tonight, there were lots of kids with "Great Books Conference" on their t-shirts. Any of you who have heard me talk about the positively amazing Great Books class I took my sophomore year will know I was practically drooling. But I guess I can't do two conferences at once. I also sat at a table with some high school students who are here for eight weeks total (they've already been here one week), taking summer courses for college credit. One was from Spain, one from Austria, one from Wisconsin, and one from Texas. I also ran into the professor from Pakistan who shared a cab with me to campus. I'm getting lots of cultural exposure over here. I just wish I could remember foreign names better than I do.

And I think I'll go do a little reading before my classes tomorrow. We have two more days of this schedule, a big barbecue and no classes on Wednesday, and the regular courses starting Thursday, which I think I already mentioned. I'll be taking MORE fun classes like Language and Identity, Language and Thought, Introduction to Morphology, and Minority Dialects and Literacy Acquisition.

I've got a mosquito bite. I thought they didn't have those over here. :(