It's that time of the semester again: the time when Facebook albums get clogged with ugly tables and obscure abbreviations that make little sense to anyone. That's right, it's course registration time!
Going into registration this time, I was fully convinced that my department head is a Dale Jr. fan. By the initial course list, I had single sections of four classes, and those classes made the shape a perfect number 8 on the schedule. Fortunately for my sense of good taste (and unfortunately for my ability to plan ahead) these classes got horribly jumbled around, forcing me to actually think about what classes I was adding.
All told though, it's not a bad schedule, aside from the three 8:00am classes, which I had no way to work around. Oh well, a fifth semester of having to wake up at a decent hour won't kill me.
These past few weeks have been interesting. I would have posted about them more, but I was too busy doing things to tell people about them.
Football, Part 1: Clemson vs. USC
The first game that I got to go to last weekend was the famed Clemson vs. USC game. Ok, so I only got in because it was a soccer match, but still. It's technically a Clemson vs. USC 'football' game.
Despite the fact that I haven't been to a soccer game since, well, the last time I played in elementary school, I had a good time. By every account except the final score, Clemson was sort-of dominating. We had better control of the ball, we shot at the goal more often, and still managed to lose 0-1. Soccer's a weird sport.
On a related note, the soccer stadium, despite being rather miniscule, is almost exactly the same size as Summerville's football stadium. It adds a weird sense of scale to life here at college.
Nearly a full week has passed since Dad and I braved the elements, risking both life and limb, to move most of my worldly belongings to a small settlement in the middle nowhere. It was like playing a very easy game of "The Carolina Trail," but with less river fording and dying of dysentery.
Moving In
What a difference a year makes. Last year, we arrived early to beat the crowds of freaking out freshman to the good parking spaces. Little did we realize that this precaution by definition makes one a freaking out freshman, so we still have to walk approximately 9001 miles to actually reach the dorm. This year, I managed to arrive so late that I all of the freshman had moved in, and most of the rest of the students had done likewise. It worked so much better this way.
Arranging the Dorm
My suitemates this year are Brian, John, and Daniel. Yes, that's right, the same group that lived with me (either de jure or de facto). We had planned out exactly how things should be arranged months in advance, and threw out those plans within minutes of beginning to move furniture.
The main idea of the arrangement remains, though: beds in one room, and all of the entertainment stuff in the other. This way, our desks are in the room most likely to be quiet. (Well, Brian's is in the louder room, but only because he has a habit of staying up absurdly late at night.) The other room then has huge (relatively) amounts of floor space and can easily hold John's drum set, my bass, Brian's piano and cello, the entire entertainment system, a couch, table, and other stuff. It's quite nice.
Settling In
To re-acclimate to college life, we dove in headfirst with the noblest of college traditions: Disk golf in the middle of campus. Despite Clemson having a well-defined, well-publicized, secret course through its center, we once again blazed our own trail, pulling the best qualities from each of our prior treks. We're finally settling into a good groove on that account.
Start of Classes
My classes this year consist of Calculus 3, Physics 2, Engineering Graphics, the History of Science and Technology, and Statics. After a few days of class, I'm rather enjoying this lineup. Let's hope that they continue to work well.
The Weekend
I know that talking about the weekend already seems a bit like cheating, since I skipped over three days of class in just as many sentences. Oh, well, sue me.
Image by Matt Lang
Friday night we moved in several chairs and had a dozen people in our room watching "A Very Potter Musical."A collection of students at the University of Michigan wrote this musical which effectively satirizes the entire Harry Potter series. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.
Saturday was surprisingly athletic for me. We played three, um, whatever they're calleds. Sets, maybe? I don't know, In any case it was a lot of fun. We went to the indoor tennis courts. The building was not air conditioned much if at all, so it was quite warm in there. Without the sun beating down on us, though, it stayed a consistently hot temperature, and was therefore quite bearable. Sports are much easier without the sun.
Carrying on with that theme, we played ultimate frisbee on Bowman field. At night. With a light-up frisbee. It was so much fun! I tend not to enjoy ultimate because of all the running, but the change of scenery, the inability to clearly see teammates, and the glowing green disk made it just different enough that it was awesome. I hope we do it again at some point soon.
Sadly, this now brings me up to the present. Daniel's doing homework. Brian's at band. John is still sleeping, having gotten in at 7:00 this morning (perhaps it's his desk which should be in the other room). I hope the next few days are just as good as these past few have been.
My second year at Clemson is already off to an amazing start, and I haven't even moved in yet. Because of prior engagements, I have to move in a day late (making me late on my first deadline.) But then, I got this email:
We will be having a MANDATORY hall meeting from 8-9 pm tonight.
Jennifer Moffitt, 2nd floor RA
Missing the first mandatory meeting is usually not a good thing, as far as I know. With a start like this, it should be a good year. Wish me luck…
