How quickly time flies. A minute ago it seemed we were lounging around in our bathrobes eating pizza, relishing extra sleep and not reading much but maybe a few Christmas cards.

Suddenly we are in our third week of winter semester and I for sure am buried in studying and homework again. Welcome back!

I’m not going to spend this blog time weaving any tales, instead I will provide a few incomplete lists and thoughts of what is annoying about coming back to school and what is terrific and provides happiness.

I don’t think any of us enjoy the situation on the buses at the start of a semester, especially Winter, and the Antarctic weather is no great help. Getting on a bus with more than 100 people, (half of them standing), and everyone wearing more clothing than ever is not anyone’s cup of tea. Waiting in sub-zero weather for that overcrowded bus isn’t a party either.

And for myself this semester I need to get to several classes early to get any desired seat I might want.

Another not so fun thing is either being hungry and having to wolf down food between classes. Or getting out of bed in the morning and not having time for that oatmeal. Instead, it is two cups of strong coffee.

It’s good to be around the University and learning again. It’s definitely good to have a chance to meet new people. Obviously, as students we are surrounded by people with goals, who have interesting and good minds. And for sure it would be best to interact with these individuals as much as possible. Too much emphasis is put on having one’s head in a book instead of talking to all these fascinating minds at the University. College is not easy and the people we meet make it better.

I think we all enjoy that certain feeling and the positive feedback that comes from a completed assignment, paper or exam that we might have been a little unsure of our performance. Along comes an A or B, an encouraging comment from our professor or fellows and suddenly life is a little brighter and we feel confident that we our moving in the right direction.

eholman@lanthorn.com