It's been a week now, since I've been back at school, though I confess it feels like longer. I'm happy to say that things are going better now than they did last semester. I feel more comfortable here, and it's amazing how many of the faces are familiar to me now. I didn't realize just how many people I was meeting last semester, because I was focusing more on the lack of close friends. But now it's reassuring, to walk into a classroom and see 5 people that I would chat with in classes last semester. People come up to me when I'm sitting in the depot, or even just walking somewhere to say hi and it's really helping my outlook. Plus I'm in so many classes that I don't have as much time to sit and realize how much I miss everyone.

Speaking of classes, they're going well, though I have two later today that I haven't been in yet, so I may have to update that later. The work load looks like it's going to be heavy and constant, which I think is a good thing. I tend to slack off when I have time to say "oh, I'll have time to do that later." Well, I can't say that this semester, not when I have to read about 3-4 novels for every two weeks of school. Fortunately it looks like my paper-writing load isn't going to be too intense. I'll have one 10 page paper for Gender in the 19th Century, 3 3-5 page papers for Dostoevsky, and then maybe one or two in my other classes, but to me, papers for non-english classes are always less intense, so I'm not too worried about that. And so far the reading has been fairly moderate, and I haven't had trouble blazing through anything, even Dostoevsky, who I have come to suspect likes hearing his own ideas over and over and over. The book I'm reading now, Notes from Underground could, quite easily, be shorter by half and still express exactly the same things. Still, it's enjoyable to read. His imagery is fantastic, once he gets to it, and the characters are torturously human. I can't wait to ready Crime and Punishment, but lucky me, that'll probably be on the slate for next week.

So far the gender stuff hasn't been too heavy handed, and with two of the classes it's focused equally on male and female, without any lectures on how evil patriarchical society is. In my Integration of Masculinity and Femininity, the professor pointed out that masculinity can be just as much of a straight jacket for men as femininity can be for women, which is a good point, in my opinion. I very much agree with the idea that any society that favors one over the other ends up screwing both.

I actually went to a party the other night, with one of my roommates, and had a really good time. The people there were all older than me, which is rare to my experience, but really to my liking. It was relaxed, no one drinking too much or making fools of themselves, and really just a kick-back atmosphere. I met a few people, though I'm not sure how many of them I'll see again, and it was really nice to get out of my room and just have a good time. I've resolved to get out more this semester, and so far I'm off to a good start. Michelle and I are planning to go to a play this weekend, Much Ado About Nothing, which is one of my favorites. Hopefully we'll be able to go, I'd really like to see it staged live.

Overall, I think transfering here may just turn out to be good for me, in the long run. I've had to become more independant and more proactive about taking care of the things that need to be taken care of. At Chatham, one of the things that bothered me was that I felt like someone was babying me or holding my hand at every turn. Here I have to do a lot on my own, and be more responsible. The professors here don't dispense extensions as readily as they did at Chatham, which it turns out is a blessing, because it means I don't put things off as much. Still, I miss it there... I miss knowing everyone, knowing automatically what the professors expect of me, knowing where all my friends are and who all my friends are, and just generally feeling like I have a place I can be comfortable in.

Things are starting to progress with the spring break plans. It looks like me and 4 other people are going to pile into my car on Friday afternoon, drive down to San Francisco where 2 will be spending the break, and the rest of us will drive down to Big Bruddah Mikeys. My car will stay there, and he'll drive us to Sacramento airport on Saturday morning, each of us to fly off in different directions. The next Saturday we'll all be landing, and then make the same journey in reverse, to be back at school by Sunday afternoon. Now all I need is to order my plane tickets and give everyone else the go-ahead to do the same. This works out well for all of us, makes the drive a lot cheaper, and saves everyone some money all the way around.

I talked to my mom on the phone the other day, and she said that it's a possibility that her and my sister might be able to come up and visit me over Amie's spring break in April, which would be the second year in a row she'd be able to come visit me that way, though this year it's a bit closer. It might be hectic because I'll have a lot to do for school, but it would still be a much-enjoyed departure from the drudgery of the school schedule. Not sure how likely it is to happen, so at the moment I'm just crossing my fingers that it will.

Well, I have another class in a few minutes, so thats all for now.