First Day of (No) Classes

For students at William and Mary, today is the first day of classes. Over the past week the freshman have moved in, yellow Orientation Aid shirts have been spotted all over campus and CW, the parking lots have filled up, and Confusion Corner has gotten more confusing. Today, it all culminates (or culminated, for the poor freshmen with 8:00 AMs) with the start of classes. Syllabi will be handed out, people will add and drop classes, last minute textbooks will be bought, lunch routines will be established, and people will fill up huge mugs of coffee at the Daily Grind, before settling in for hours of reading (yes, already).

For me, it's just another day. In fact, I'm not even in Williamsburg, but instead sitting in an airport waiting for a flight to Wyoming. Just because I can. (Although, to be fair, I do have two books for my thesis with me-- The Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke and The Theatre in Colonial America).

It's such an odd feeling. Even last year I had classes, although I was no longer an undergrad. I was tied to Williamsburg, bound in the steady rhythm of a semester. Now, the end of August has arrived and nothing has changed. I still have the same tasks ahead of me. No syllabi, no grades, no hoards of friends coming back... if anything, they've all left due to either undergrad graduation or matriculation to a Ph.D program. Or both. My life hasn't changed at all, materially speaking.

But having no classes does offer freedom beyond anything I've ever experienced. I'm going to Wyoming today, for goodness sake! To see Yellowstone, just because I want to! Autumn hasn't offered such freedom since the beginning of high school! So, while I'm a little nostalgic and at times view the freshman with envy (how nice to know what you'll be doing for the next four years! I barely have the next four months sorted out!), I'm also kind of excited. What possibilities life offers! I can do anything (except for perhaps be a mathematician or a physicist). As they say in Aida, "Fortune favors the free!... It's in ourselves to rise or fall!"

Oh hello, optimism. Good of you to join us again.