What I've learned...

Today ends my first week on campus. Ah, back to school. The phrase brings to mind syllabi, new professors, long lines to buy textbooks, the excitement of a fresh start. Though I'm not really a student, I've still learned some pretty important things my first week here:

- Running into the same student three times in a two-hour time period does not mean I'm being stalked, but rather that with only 1400 students, it's inevitable to run into the same people all the time.

- Only freshmen use trays in the cafeteria. Oops. Guess I've been pretty obviously a newbie this week.

- No cable tv makes for very grumpy freshmen. Can you blame them, though? We had tons of rain earlier this week (thanks to tropical storm Fay) and there won't be cable on the dorm until September 10th. Bummer.

Though I don't feel like I've done much to help Tom this week (he's had to spend lots of time showing me around, teaching me how things work here, etc), I am still pretty tired and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Some time to go out and explore Birmingham with new room mates. A chance to relax at a local coffee shop alone. And on Labor Day, our first real RUF event - a get-away to a nearby private lake. I'm excited to actually begin to develop relationships with the freshmen who as of now I'm only spoken to at the actitivies fair and information table this week. I look forward to entering their lives and learning their stories. As I sat by the fountain today and watched students go by, I caught snippets of conversation, some downcast faces, other sparkling eyes, laughter, slouching shoulders, lone sillhouettes, packs of reunited friends. Life swelling with so much below the surface.

In closing, here are a few pictures of my new bedroom. You can see the new, lighter green walls. Also, note the built-in bookshelf above my desk. Isn't that cool?