Again

Day 0: I've been anticipating returning to school this fall for several reasons, not the least of which is my enrollment in classes that are congruent with and relevant to my degree. Of the four classes I've enrolled in, three are political science courses. The fourth is a course on modern European history which is a pleasant contrast to last Spring where I was enrolled in Stats, Spanish 2, English Lit, and American Politics.

I feel that, despite the break between then and now, summer classes have sapped something vital from me that I have yet to recover. It may just be nervousness. It's likely just nervousness.

I'm nervous. There. I've said it.

Unlike last Spring, however, I'm coming into this semester with a few consecutive months of success behind me. I'm going to try and approach this semester a bit more... forcefully, than I did this past Spring.

We'll see what happens.

Day 1-3: I showed up extra early and headed straight to the library to print my schedule, secretly hoping that I might run into my library crush (LC). I lingered a few minutes after the schedule came out of the printer, scanning the virtually empty library for signs of him but no dice. "Likely his schedule is different this semester," I thought. "Likely I'll never see him again." I headed to class a little disappointed.

My first class is in a building that didn't exist when I first attempted my undergrad. The campus is lousy with such features but I've only noticed them at a distance, a stranger at a party that I had no intention of engaging. The first day, the new building was finally realized and made relevant. It looked new. It smelled new. And all the kids within it were new.

The professor was slender and bookish with slight hands and wire-framed glasses. He dealt almost exclusively in abstractions without bothering to prop them against simile and metaphor. I liked him immediately.

The schedule of classes has changed this semester, allowing for 15 minute intervals between classes instead of 10. Instead of running from classes to class and dumping sweating heaving self into the last available seat just in the nick of time, I found I was able to walk to class - stroll, even - with plenty of time to find a seat.

Those extra five minutes made the first week a breeze, in terms of getting class to class.  And I'm betting that those extra five minutes are going to come in handy once the weather turns.

This morning, as I was leaving one of my classes, I turned on my cell phone. Climbing the stairs toward the exit, I wasn't paying attention and ran into someone. "Sorry," I said. The victim turned around and offered half a smile.

IT WAS LIBRARY CRUSH (LC)!

"S'ok," he said, and continued up the stairs.

"Ok," I said. "Well..." and then trailed off. If he heard me, he showed no sign.

We exited the building and he, unsurprisingly, made his way toward the library. I lost him in the confusion of students and had to resist the urge to head to the library to track him down again. Heading to my next class, doubt began to creep in.

Maybe it wasn't him. Maybe he was just there for the day. Maybe...

...and then it occurred to me. He was climbing the stairs with me because he was leaving my class.

LIBRARY CRUSH (LC) IS IN MY CLASS!

I HAVE A CLASS WITH LIBRARY CRUSH (LC)!

Well played, Fall semester 2013. You and I may very well get along just fine after all.