The First Day of School

Today was the day... okay, "THE" day was actually 17 years ago, and my parents dressed me in a blue and white striped dress. With a barrette in my hair and tears in their eyes they took the obligatory photographs and filled with thoughts that their little girl was growing up way to fast, they took my hand and walked me into the kindergarten classroom at Open Window School. Boy have the years passed by and now the time has come... I am all grown up. No photographs today, but if there were they would show that with excitement, not tears, brimming I began my first day of my senior year of college.

I woke early (5:45am) and drove a friend to the airport before returning to campus to start my day. Even though today was Wednesday, Monday classes met (I know it is a Georgetown Thing). So my sole class was in the afternoon and it had several other students that I know from previous semesters along with myself wandering around the building looking for an elusive room number 270. It turns out that it is a tuked away conference room. The room held a camera mounted near the projector, and the 18 of us all sitting in leather swivel chairs around the mahogany table. The course on the silk road is being taught in tandem with a course at Fudan University in Shanghai and we are hoping for many opportunities for cross-cultural communication and education. And since the University is all over the opportunity to increase ties with China we were treated to the posh accommodations. Then again it just might have been because they felt sorry for us, being that we are the guinea pigs in this. Regardless, after the first day of class and knowing the work load involved I am even more excited.

The day also included 2 trips to Leo's Dining Hall (which I am going to try to muster throughout the semester). Lunch was a fairly descent BBQ Turkey wrap, fries, and grapes. Dinner was spaghetti, which I ate with 2 of GT's BBall players. The food tastes interesting enough, but because the cafeteria is packed to capacity by the time you wait in line, the food is either gone or cold. Hopefully the kinks will work out in the days ahead. That or I am going to start eating at 5 o'clock on the dot. The evening involved talking with friends in front of Healy Lawn and the floor meeting. Strangely enough I discovered I am on a floor with almost all Sophomores. At 22, and legal, I felt a bit old! No offense to anyone out there! But it is one more reminder that I am in my senior year.

I am now writing this from a friend's dorm room that is a floor below mine. The others are busy focusing on the DNC convention in general and Biden's speech in particular. I must say that so far, he is a half way decent speaker. Additionally I thought that the end of Clinton's speech was half-way decent but not the best I've heard from him. Kerry's was not only only direct attack at McCaain but actually pretty funny, and Biden's is moving and I loved the Freudian slip. BTW Biden's youngest daughter (26 y.o.) is a Georgetown Alum, so we are all hoping for a visit to campus and speech closer to election day. Currently I listen with open ears but am actually already studying away at Chinese. I think I'll head to bed in the next hour. Hope you are all having a good day! See you tomorrow!