Weekend with the Classics

Not much new to report for the week. Basically, it's all been about getting work done, so that I don't put it off to the last minute. I've actually been really good about not procrastinating while I've been here. That's one thing I will say about the way things work here, it's easy to not be distracted. When I was at UE, I had my laptop with internet connection in my room, I had a TV, a DVD player, a microwave and fridge, Mario Kart 64, all things that easily distracted me, and thus my work was always put off until the night before it was due. Even big papers I would have a hard time starting until I got "the fear". That's the term that my friends and I gave the feeling of anxiety you get when you realize that you have a 10-page paper due tomorrow and you haven't started on it. Here, there are so fewer distractions, it's so easy to get work done. My Greek and Latin homework aren't due until Thursday and Friday respectively, and except for a page-long translation for Greek that I will do today, I'm done with all of it. This is a feeling that I've never really had before, getting something done early, and then just having time to relax and not worry about it. It's nice, and I hope that I can continue this for the rest of the semester, and even when I go back to UE. So speaking of Greek, I had a dream last night that I was in Greek class, and instead of Dr. Ware I had Tom Cruise as my professor. He was a real jerk. Plus, he was wearing sandals and socks, and one of his socks had a big hole in it. I had done all of the homework, and then he told us that we actually only needed to do very little of it, and that most of it wasn't important or was too hard. So I was mad that I had done all of my homework and hadn't needed to. Weird dream, and I can't for the life of me see Tom Cruise as a Greek professor, or a professor at all, for that matter. Although it did seem to be true to life, that he was still a jerk. Next weekend may or may not be different than this weekend. The only thing planned right now among my friends is that the school is going to a football (that's soccer in America, but they do bring up a valid point: in American football, the foot isn't really utilized, so why call it football?) game on Friday, although I wasn't planning on going. Being in a loud noisy stadium watching something that I don't particularly care for doesn't appeal to me. So I think that I might try and find some other people and go somewhere, or go by myself if I have to. It just seems like such a waste to be over here in Europe and not take advantage of it. We'll just have to see where things pan out. There are lots of places that I want to go just here in England that I don't think that my friends want to go, and I refuse to neglect the opportunity. I went to church this morning at the Anglican Church here in Harlaxton. It's a nice place to go, and all of the people are very friendly. The minister there is a woman, which is different. Now before anyone jumps on my back and accuses me of looking down on or demeaning women, I'm not saying that it's bad or that I'm against it; no, I think it's fine, I've just never had a woman as a minister, so it's just different. Something new to experience. Anyway, during the service we even sang a few hymns that we would sing at my home church, so that was a nice feeling of familiarity. The service itself is basically the offspring of Catholic and Protestant services, with a fairly even mix of the both of them, although I've only been to one Mass, so I suppose I can't say that with certainty. But the service is all read from a small booklet, with responses and everything, except that a few of the prayers and the sermon are original. I don't have anything against that sort of thing, I've seen it done both ways and don't mind. Just as long as the correct basic truths are given, which they are at this church; so that's all that really matters. Sometimes I feel like Christianity having so many denominations is just so petty and I'm sure that it looks bad to anyone on the outside. How can we profess to be a faith of unity when there are only a handful of things that everyone agrees with, and the rest is fervently argued over? Anyway, that's all the further I'll go, as I'm not going to write a dissertation. Today should be fairly easy-going, and maybe the same will be true for the week to come. I'll leave you with this joke that the minister told to open the sermon: A man from another country came to America, and while he was there he went grocery shopping. While shopping he saw that they had powdered milk; you just add water and you get milk. He was amazed by this. He then saw that they had powdered orange juice; you add water and you get orange juice. He was still amazed by this. He then saw that they had powdered baby formula, and he just couldn't get over that.