Recalculating...

It’s snowing again. It’s been snowing all morning, and it’s going to snow all day. It looks very tranquil and scenic through the window when you’re curled up in your bed on a Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, but on Monday morning it just looks cold. Still, at least something’s happening. They don’t cancel class if you’re tired of looking at ever-dirtier piles of slush, but they might if it snows enough.

I’m particularly attached to my bed and hot chocolate this week; I always get more attached to my creature comforts when I’m feeling down. Not that anything particularly depressing has happened this week – I think the back-to-school blues are just hitting me a little late this semester.

I think this is perhaps the most annoying time of semester for me, actually. After I get my main class schedule nailed down, suddenly there are sections meeting at unwieldy times and meetings to be fit in and ROTC classes to be worked around, and all the neatly-scheduled time you thought you had is suddenly split into useless chunks or gone altogether. It’s only natural, but it frustrates me nonetheless, although I’ve by now reconciled myself to the workload that appears to be coming.

I’ve also been staying snuggled cozily in my room because I was slightly sick for Friday and Saturday. I spent the weekend with hot tea and hot soup and studying in bed, and by Sunday the danger had passed, but it meant I didn’t get much time outside between Friday’s snow and today’s. I took lots of pictures out the window, though.

I did go out once on Friday evening; my music class from last semester worked in coordination with the Boston Symphony Youth Orchestra to get us free tickets to a concert in Symphony Hall (at the very back row of the highest balcony, as far to the side as you can be, but after all, you don’t go to a symphony to see it). I had to dash at the end in order to grab a taxi home and get some sleep, but I had a good time, and it was nice to go into Boston, if only for a couple of hours.

And of course the weekend also included a brisk walk to church on Sunday, followed by the walk back to my dorm and then a combination of walking and public transportation to go to a ROTC meeting and back. I’m getting plenty of use out of my boots, and today I finally gave in and pulled my full, heavy winter coat out of the closet, and I was very glad I did. Why do people build cities where it snows?

Most of my weekend, though, was spent inside, studying for classes and doing some independent study in German and Greek. I finished reading A Study in Scarlet in German, so I’ve read a novel in German now, without too much trouble.  I met with a few friends over the course of the week/end as well, but most of my time was spent trying to find time in my suddenly-packed schedule to do my homework. It took me until this morning to be quite sure I had enough time to finish everything (I can’t rest quite easy unless I have my to-do list at least nominally planned a week in advance).

I am still getting up at five in the morning; it’s beginning to seem natural, so long as I go to bed on time, which thus far I’ve managed. I don’t have nearly as much time to recharge as I did the first week, though, since ROTC schedules over my time in the morning. Still, despite my reluctance to venture into the snow this morning, things seemed to have settled into a routine, if not the routine I was hoping for a week ago this time. 

Pictures:
One of the house common rooms:

 Care package from home!

 And then there was snow.

 Symphony Hall:

 Thankful for my coat: