Back to School

"Don't you just love New York in the Fall?  It makes me want to buy school supplies.  I would send you a bouquet of newly-sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

- Tom Hanks, You've Got Mail

It's that time of year again.  That time when you wake up in the morning and realize you have a full day of work and school ahead of you.  That time when you realize you will be trading valuable sleeping hours for just a little more time to write a paper you procrastinated.  That time when you finally finish an 8-hour work day, hurry to catch the bus, and drag your feet as you walk up the hill to campus.  Yes, it's September and I'm in school once again.

Things are a little bit different this time around.  For one thing, I'm not going to BYU.  I'm going to Cal State East Bay.  We watched part of a film in class on Wednesday and I was the only one that was phased by the use of the F-word.  (Reality check, Celia...people do swear.)  My classmates and I are pretty much taking all of our classes together so it would be in my best interest to get to know these people very well.  (Luckily there are some very nice people in my classes that I've already become "friends" with so it hasn't been as difficult as I thought.  One of the guys was actually in my graduating class at Northgate High School.)  It was easy in my history classes at BYU to just sit and take notes, make occasional comments, and roll my eyes when that one kid in the front row raised his hand for the tenth time.  Since this is vocational training and not just education, I'm getting the feeling that my usually passive-yet-attentive style is not really going to work here.

But not everything is different here.  Campus is still up on a hill.  It's within walking distance (although my walk to Cal State East Bay, Concord Campus is considerably longer than the one I would take up to BYU everyday).

View of Mt. Diablo on my way to school.

Walking to campus.

Cal State University, East Bay - Concord Campus

I still see random wildlife on campus but instead of seeing deer I see wild turkeys and SO MANY SQUIRRELS!  They're everywhere!

There were about 20 turkeys walking around campus the first time I came out of class.  This is the only one that didn't run away from me :)

My first week of school is officially complete.  I can honestly say that I forgot what it is like to do homework and to be truly exhausted.  This is a different kind of exhaustion than what I've felt before.  When I was at BYU, I worked custodial and didn't really have to think for the four hours I walked around the JKB cleaning.  Now I work 8 hours everyday and actually have to think about what I'm doing.  Then I go to class where I sit and think some more.  But I like being busy.  I like having a schedule and a routine.  I like feeling like I'm working toward a goal.  I'm okay giving up a few hours of sleep for this. :)

So it's back to riding the bus, back to taking notes, back to long hours writing papers, back to sitting in front of computer screens, back to thinking, back to reality.  I got this!