Not Over

Scoliotastic isn't over, at least not yet. Of course, I've only had one day of class so far, so the work will start piling up over the next week, but right now, it's not too bad. The family helped me move in on Saturday, and I love my room. It's small, but it's just the right size for a single, and it's all I need. I'm on the 5th floor in a tower of a newly renovated dorm, and there's only one other room up here. The bathroom is right below us, and there's a beautiful study room above us. I don't know anyone else in this dorm, but that's fine with me. Andrew's dorm is right next door, and Jordan's is two dorms down. I overlook the bus stop roundabout, and there are no frats nearby, so it's pretty quiet here. Needless to say, being on the 5th floor wasn't fun for moving in, but I didn't have to carry much at all because my back is still healing. What a wonderful excuse! After we got all moved in, the family, Andrew, and I went to dinner at The Loop. When we parted ways, I was sadder than I had expected to be, but still totally excited to be here. I had become so used to living at home for 4 months with my parents that it was a bit upsetting to see them go, but I only shed a few tears. As for Sarah, I'm pretty used to not seeing her! Plus, she's coming to visit later this week. Saturday night, Andrew and I hung out some, and he gave me a precious stuffed llama from Argentina and a handcarved design stone as gifts, but I was in bed by 12:30.

Sunday was a bit more difficult, mainly because there was nothing much to do. I'm the kind of person who needs a routine, and that hadn't been established yet, so I was feeling kind of down. Andrew, Matthew and I had lunch and hung out, and I had a great time, but I still needed to call my dad and just talk for a little bit to see how everything was going at home. After we talked, I felt a lot better, and then I hung out with Jordan for a while. She, Rebecca, and I ended up going to Office Depot, Target, and Ross to look for various things, and that lifted my spirits a lot. I needed a standing fan for my room because even though it's air conditioned, it doesn't get as cool as I want it. I basically like to live in an icebox. Unfortunately, Target was out of standing fans, so I'll have to get one somewhere else. When we got back to Duke, we ordered pizza and watched Hocus Pocus. Once again, I was in bed by 12:30.

Today was pretty good, considering it was the first day of classes, or FDOC, as it's called at Duke. I woke up at 9:30 to go to breakfast with Jordan, but she canceled because she was too tired, so I had a bowl of cereal in my room. At 11:10, 30 minutes in advance, I hopped the bus over to East Campus for my first class, Reading Theater, which is required for theater minors. The professor is great and has an awesome British accent, and it seems like it'll be a really interesting class. After that, I made the long trek off campus over to the Registrar's Office to get some scholarship renewal forms signed, only to discover that the office had been moved to a warehouse even farther off campus. I was really frustrated, but I hopped on the bus that took me to my car and then drove to the building to get my forms signed. The warehouse was ridiculous and like a maze with all the construction that was going on, but I got done what I needed to get done, and drove back to West Campus. By that time, I had about an hour before my next class, so I grabbed a bite to eat. Finding my next class at 3:05 wasn't easy, though, and Sarah had to help me out with some online maps. Perkins Library is such a maze, too. You never know where you're going to end up. Anyways, this class is Latin 63, which is the third level of Latin, and the last foreign language course I have to take at Duke, assuming I pass it. I'll be so glad to finish up with this dead language, although my professor this semester seems pretty interesting. By interesting, I mean crazy. She likes to dance around the room while she teaches, and she's way too excited about Latin. However, her enthusiasm could be good in the long run. At 3:55, I left the library, Andrew called, and I told him I'd meet him at the Bryan Center. I also told Jordan that I'd have dinner with her at 5:00. I got an iced coffee from McDonald's, but I was still pretty full from lunch, so I didn't eat anything. When Jordan arrived, we all three sat in one of the swings with tables on the plaza, and when Andrew left, Rebecca replaced him. I just finished saying farewell to Jordan and Rebecca, and now I'm enjoying some down time in my room. I've done a lot of walking today, so I'm pretty tired. I might take a nap and then hang out with people later, but things are going well so far. Also, I apologize for any mistakes in the blog entries from here on out. I'm tired of proofreading all of them, so what I write initially is what you get.