The College Timezone

I've been having a particularily difficult time adjusting to the wildly different timezone college operates in. I get up at 6, eat ready, eat breakfast and go. I'm in that sort of "lets take over the world today" morning mood when I get out the door, in fact the first words I pray every day are "Come, let us rejoice in the Lord!" [Psalm 95], only to find a ghost town. There are bikes and cars everywhere; I have evidence to believe that there are living, breathing humans on the campus, but they are all huddled up behind their closed curtains.

I should add here that breakfast has also been a difficulty. On days I have class the dining hall opens at 7, yet my first class is at 7, and I have class until 10, so I can't eat breakfast there. And on days I don't have class they open at 10 (ridiculous, huh?), which is awfully late to have breakfast. I normally eat what is really two meals, and don't go back until dinner. I'll tell you, at this very moment I'm waiting until I can eat a proper breakfast. I say a proper breakfast, because I do have food in my room. At first I was eating Cherrios every morning, which, no matter what quantity I eat them in (I could have the whole box, two boxes, three!), only serve to make me wildly hungry in less than two hours. I would be less hungry having half a piece of toast than a box of Cherrios. Luckliy a friend of mine sent me some granola which not only tastes good (I was initially sceptical... both for taste and political reasons, actually), but also does a better job at filling me up. Yet even still, right around 10:30 I get awfully hungry.

I think that the morning is the most grevious loss for college students. It's such a wonderful time of day. The sun is shinning, you are full of energy (provided you go to bed on time...) and you have a full 12 hours ahead of you. The problem is that college students don't go to bed on time. Right around the time that I pray Compline, which is the very last thing I do in the day, everybody else is starting the partying. Thursday, as I prayed "Out of the depths have I cried until thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice!" [Psalm 130], there was a salsa dance going on in the basketball court outside my window. When I was praying "Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; Your word has been fulfilled. My eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people, Israel," [Luke 2:29-32] everybody was going to the football game (I should point out that for college students, going anywhere is not a passive action simply involving walking or riding, but rather it is a very active action which involves the whole body, particularily the vocal capabilities; in less sperfulous English: college students are LOUD!).

So yes, my day seems to operate in direct opposition of this University.