Not in the sense of, "Oh no, I forgot something at school and I must go back." No. I went back to school after two years of doing nothing but working.
And it's weird.
I have an Anatomy class at 8 AM Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with a two-hour Friday lab. My professor seems okay; the impression I got this morning was that he knows exactly how hard this class it, and he would genuinely prefer it if his students succeed. That's always helpful.
In two hours - no, an hour and a half - I have an Algebra class (from 11-12 PM). I've heard that that professor is nice, and also cares about her students. And then on Tuesday nights I have a three-hour computer class. Fun.
I just went to get my books, and though I was convinced that I would have enough financial aid to cover them, they still ended up running $84 over because - get this - these three books are costing me $430. Three books. And yeah, I know that textbooks are expensive, but...I'm buying all of these used. This just shouldn't be. Though I have to admit that complaining about having to pay $84 for books is like complaining that a 9-credit semester is costing me $90: it's ridiculous. I'm very grateful that my financial aid is so generous this semester. I may end up applying for a very small loan, but that will be to help make up for the work that I'm not going to be able to do because I'm, you know, studying and not able to cover for people at the bank.
I'm sitting in the cafeteria smelling the (probably awful) coffee coming from the...ah, "Cobblestone Market", and wondering if it would be worth it to put a cup of coffee on my credit card. Probably not, but the jury's still out. I'm very sleepy, and I'd rather not get a caffeine headache on top of it. If I do go get coffee, though, I'm going to have to lug about sixty pounds of books through the line.
So yeah. That's that. Here I am, living the dream, getting my degree, and somehow, at least for this semester, not putting myself further in debt. Unless you count the interest that my previous loans will accumulate while they're on deferment, of course. If I sound somewhat less than thrilled right now, don't worry about it. It's just early, and the cost of those books really took me by surprise.
One last thing: a few days ago, I submitted a piece to the fantastic Six Sentences blog. Well, today it was published! I know it's just a small thing, but it's super exciting to have anything published, so I'm pretty thrilled.
Heather, if you read this, the piece is (quite obviously) about our experience at the Assembly of God. Also, want to hear something freaky? I had to go to my mom's new church to pick up Sarah last weekend, and guess who attends? Joanna's sister. She said hi to me and I was all like, um, do I know you? BUT I DID KNOW HER. So. Yeah.
