First day of school...

I awoke to the sound of one of my flatmates leaving for class at 8am this morning. I soon enjoyed a simple breakfast of meusli and tea while reading the Daily Telegraph. I figured that I should somehow document my first day of class abroad... so I took a picture of myself in the flat. (Mom and Dad, I'll email it to you). I walked to the bus stop, iPod playing, and waited for the 53. I rode to campus and made the trek up the hill to Portland for Health, Risk, and Medicine (aka Medical Sociology). It was odd to watch all of the Uni students walking up to Park Campus, some from their flats and houses in Beeston, others from their respective bus stops, and others from who knows where else. Everyone was dressed in their best school clothes and was entirely too alert for a Monday morning, but who wouldn't be on the first day back from summer? As old friends greeted eachother and inquired about the past few months away from school, the freshers and international students merely watched from afar, some with curiosity, others with a hint of jealousy and sadness as they thought of those friends back at home. Either way, the hour soon approached and the sidewalks emptied, the occasional leaf fluttering across the now vacant cement walkways. Once inside the buildings, new notebooks were cracked open and the date, 2.10.06, was written cleanly and clearly across hundreds of blank pages. The school year has begun.

After making my way back to the flat, amidst a rainstorm while the sun was shining brightly, I prepared part of the dinner for the group and treated myself to a cozy nap in the common room. Kevin and I got ready for the first day of cross country practice. As we nervously walked/ran to the bus stop and got there just in time, we were both contemplating what was about to happen. Since we knew very little of the club and were half wishing we were back at Luther running with our 90 closest friends, needless to say, the bus ride to campus was relatively quiet. We got to campus, jogged to the sports centre and were happy to see a few people who could have been runners congregating at the assigned meeting place. After several awkward and nervous minutes, the officers took charge. A brief introduction was followed by the strange compilation of runners breaking into groups based on desired mileage. In my group, I noticed a girl wearing a Butler XC shirt and sure enough, she runs for Butler (in Indiana) and is in Nottingham for the semester. I spoke with several runners, all of whom were nice - of course - but ended up running with the girl from Butler, Kali. The run was nice enough, a bit tougher than I expected due to the fact that even easy training runs are apparently done with negative splits... none the less, it was great to get out running with other people again. After the run, the Nottingham University Athletics Club (NUAC) reconveined for a meeting. Kali introduced me to a runner, Debbie, from New Zealand (Mom and Dad, she wants to know where abouts you lived when you were there) and we had fun getting to know eachother. It was so nice to be with runners again... somehow it made Nottingham feel a little more like home.

We said goodbye to our newfound friends and took the bus to the city centre and then the tram home. We enjoyed the leftovers from dinner (Spaghetti ala carbonera, greek salad, garlic baguettes, and belgian chocolate cheesecake) and instead of studying, Kevin and I decided to bake. We walked to the Muggli/Gilbertson house to get some baking apples from their tree and came back and set to work in the kitchen. Now that it is one in the morning, we have five loaves of meusli/wholewheat/oatmeal bread. One has brown sugar and cinnamon in them, two have a delicious applesauce/applebutter in them and two are plain. Less than five minutes after they were out of the oven, Kevin, Brandon and I had sampled two of them... they are delicious. Thanks to Kevin's grandma for the applesauce/applebutter recipie and the oatmeal bread recipie (both of which we have been experimenting with just for the sake of variation). Flat life is good.

What did I learn on the first day of school? That class is only 45 minutes long, once a week and seminar is only five times per semester. We will see if this proves true for my two other classes at the Uni. To my surprise, my first lecture only had fifteen students and the seminar, only eight. The class should be interesting and compliment my major and minor as well as giving me a glimpse of life of a second year sociology student. At least this class is somewhat easier than the Luther courses. Tomorrow we have our second class with Mark and Carol (Paideia II... wo...hoo?) The lectures are interesting and very informative. It is the background reading and endless/miserable assignments that come with the class that are not so fun...

Today was a good day. Beautiful fall weather for the first day of classes, a cross country family away from home, and freshly baked bread - I am content. Much love from across the ocean and goodnight.