back to school

It's weird to think that I am already half way through my first year of university. Growing up, university always seemed so far away, but I guess that now I am the one who is far away. Far away from home and my family and my field hockey team. Although I miss what I have left behind in Calgary, I have been too busy adventuring in the forest, writing papers and spending days in the Vancouver Art Gallery to get too homesick. But it always feels good to be home again-I'm on winter break right now, and I have been cramming all the sleep and friends and family I can into my days before school starts again on Monday. I have also been catching up on novels that I have been longing to read - 1984(George Orwell is such an amazing author!) and Timothy Findley's Pilgrim. I have also developped a compulsive obsession over the Presidential elections. Chances are that if I know you, I have interrogated you about your political values and most importantly-which candidate you want to lead the United States. My best friend and I are definitely nerdy political junkies, and I also happend to have convinced her to come to Quest with me. We have been pretty inseparable since highschool, and I can't express how much I have appreciated having her at our little university in the mountains.

School. On Monday. To tell you the truth, as much as I have enjoyed my luxurious time off, I feel like it's time to work again. I've been looking at my syllabus for my next class (History of Mathematics) and since I am definitely not a math person, I'm a littttle nervous. I know it is going to be hard, but what I have loved about my classes so far is that they are a challenge. I will admit that there are late nights involved, but after the block is finished I feel so satisfied that I actually learned and accomplished something. I have also noticed that my writing skills are improving. I looked at essays I wrote in Cornerstone, and I can't believe how much I have reformed my writing style (I have a tendency to be excessively flowery sometimes).

One of my other best friends went to McGill this year, and I think that I have written more in a single week than he has all semester. But what I have come to realize, is that the only way to improve is to practice. I don't mind the workload anyways because so far I have loved my classes, my profs and the subjects, and I find that homework is actually interesting if I like what I'm learning about.

I hope that this semester is just as good (even math).

caro