19 Jan

I planned on waking up around 8 this morning so I could join the others for breakfast (they had class at 10 while mine wasn’t until 11) but laziness won me over and I woke up at 9:15 instead. I needed to leave the dorm as close to 10 as possible so it wasn’t terribly smart to wake up so late but oh well. I’ll do better next time. I ended up getting ready faster than I thought I would and made it to the train station just as the train for my stop was pulling out of the station. It was 10:04. I didn’t know there was a train then and I had planned on taking the 10:24 one anyway. Cursing myself for just missing the train, I stood around the station for 20 minutes listening to my increasingly precious iPod. Good songs = good wait. Train ride was uneventful as normal and I was sad that the day was exceptionally overcast because I wouldn’t get a good view of the river. Poor me.

My class today was “Court Cultures in the Age of Elizabeth” and it looks like it’ll be my best one. The professor turned out to be exactly what I thought she’d be: funny, extremely well read, and kind yet direct. Out of 16 people enrolled, 4 are JYAs. She apparently “hand-picked” us for the class, so I imagine she must have some high expectations of us. We looked at some letters from the Queen’s favorites to her and they made me really wish I was well versed in rhetoric. Prof. Zim’s dissection of the material was witty and funny and I felt myself smiling or on the verge of smiling nearly the whole time. I couldn’t tell if anyone else was enjoying themselves as much as I was (even though we were seated around a big oval table) because I was too busy furiously writing down notes as Zim spoke rather quickly and fluently. (fluent and fluidity share a root for a reason; so does that mean that if you’re affluent money just flows from you? = random thought). I found out that we’ll be giving short 10-minute presentations during our seminars that immediately follow lecture in the same room with the same people (and a ~7-min break in between). My topic will be the complex interaction of the Queen’s status as a woman and monarch as expressed through her letters and such. I find the Queen fascinating and I’m really looking forward to learning more about her (as I’m sure I’ve mentioned already).

After class I headed over to the library and ran into some other JYAs on the way. They were headed to banks or destinations of wander and we didn’t meet up again until later in the afternoon back at KCH. The library looks big and impressive from the outside:

But is unfortunately a little difficult to navigate once you’re in there. After a bit of hunting and elevator riding I found my book section and was thrilled to discover all the relevant texts for my English classes were located in the same little area. Hooray for simple joys. I made an attempt to start reading in the little carousel but decided it was too uncomfortable and cold and that I’d be able to borrow the book for a week anyway. I went downstairs to check out the café and found it to be equivalent to the one at the Union, only less busy. I had a cheddar+coleslaw sandwich that was surprisingly good and one of their awesome muffins. Checkout took some time because I wasn’t in the system yet, but after a few minutes that got sorted out and I was back in the gloomy day. The weather was just too depressing to warrant a longer stay and I was feeling a little tired too so I just caught a bus from Chancery Lane for a few minutes ride to the Strand Campus. I happened to alight on one of the old classic double-deckers on which a conductor rides who calls out the stops and comes around to each person to check tickets or Oyster cards. You could tell the bus was quite old and only had one opening. These buses only run on the north bank and even then for limited runs around the most touristy areas. They want to both protect and show off these old classics. I’ll get a picture the next time I’m by one. From the Strand it was a simple matter of catching the 68 for home.

Back in the dorm I was surprised to find that Lainey and Gregg had already returned. We chatted for a bit about our classes and how funny their “Experiences of War” class was. Lainey informed she actually learned something for once which is always a positive thing. We went down to dinner at 6. They were serving vegetable curry which was just chili powder spiced boiled vegetables, but at least I got some veggies. I chatted with Liane about my family travels and such and she told me that her sister was getting married in September in Hawai’i and we talked about how cool that place would be for a wedding.

After dinner I just chilled in the dorm and talked with my mom about our upcoming Spain trip. A lot of the other JYAs left for the bar at 8 to pre-party before heading out to a club in Chelsea. I have a busy day tomorrow so I declined to go. Besides, my (oh so precious) leather jacket still smells a little of smoke from the last club (on 6 Jan!) and I’m not in any hurry to get any of my other clothes similarly infused with that poisonous gas. Our little chat over, I blogged and did some reading (gasp!) for class. Then a bit of messing around, planning the next day, and, of course, sleep…