First Days

I had class today, my first class in seven years, a botany lecture and lab combo that meets for about three hours twice a week.


What is that? That's a fruit and leaf from a juniper tree, laying on the stage of a dissecting microscope. Looks a bit like an alien, doesn't it, giving you a jaunty wave with its crusty little hand.

What is that? That's one of three nearly empty study halls in the library. Each of the three rooms is absolutely gorgeous, each with a vaulted ceiling, each with a huge window at the end so they're filled with natural light in the daytime. And they're quiet, pin-drop quiet. And they're almost always completely empty, no matter the time of day.

It's a little bit heartbreaking if you ask me.



You would never guess, would you, looking at this picture, that nearly 30,000 students attend this university.



I spend a lot of time seeking empty, quiet, out-of-the-way places to study--then I end up feeling like I spend my days in empty, lonely places. Then The Brain starts to feel like the university is an empty, lonely place.




This is the view from the carrel I commandeered at 7:45 a.m. There I sat and drank a decaf coffee and thought about how I watch too much Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. I re-read the first chapter of my botany textbook. I looked out the window.

It takes The Brain a long time to settle down to the business of studying. The Brain gets restless when I try to push it too far at any given time, so I often move from place to place on campus in between hour-long bouts of study. From the library I moved to the Student Union Building. At the SUB I moved from downstairs to upstairs. Then I bought another coffee and moved to a table outside. I went to the bookstore but it was too crowded so I went to the biology building and found a quiet place to study there. Then I went to the science and engineering library and printed out a paper I have to read by next week. Then I went to class. After class I went to the bookstore then to a restaurant across the street to study a bit more while I waited for Dave.



What is that? That's part of a mural in the performing arts building (which I passed through as I went from the bookstore to the biology building). There's some interesting art on campus. I'll show you some of it sometime.