First Impressions

Almost the end of my first week here on campus...I can't believe it's gone by this quickly!

Of course, I've already gone on a couple of expeditions to the library and filled my desk with books of all kinds. Have I mentioned my compulsive library habits? Anyway, I don't have much homework just yet, so it's all good. Here's what I've got thus far:

• Nothing Serious, P.G. Wodehouse
• Augustine, Great Books Series
• Locke, Berekeley, Hume, Great Books Series
• Mathematical Logic, J. Shoenfield
• Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman
• A Writer’s Journal, H.D. Thoreau
• Good News from Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Gracia Ellwood
• Fourteen Short Stories, Henry James
• C.S. Lewis: Defender of the Faith, Richard B. Cunningham
• Collected Plays, Charles Williams
• Latin in Church, F. Brittain

Other than that and an incident in New Testament class relating to my "fascination" with Dorothy Sayers (my professor shares the same literary tastes), the week has been fairly uneventful, or rather unremarkable but full of events. On Monday night, the night before classes began, Allison (my room mate) and I stayed out past midnight...exploring the old administration building & theatre here on campus. What fun! The buildings were completely empty and a sort of "sanctuary" from the endless cacophony of orientation.

Speaking of sanctuaries, I went to mass last night. I guess it was a little awkward for me, not knowing all the "rituals," but it was a much-needed break from harried campus life. It gave me a little time to refocus and set my priorities straight. I must say, I really admire the solemnity and sense of awe in the Catholic liturgy. And I didn't feel as if the formality was forced or "dead;" it was a very graceful sort of formality, a reverence which is sadly lacking in a lot of churches today.