Day 5: Studying; A Full-time Occupation

1/20 Second Day of Classes, first day of Discussion groups (Colloquy). We have two groups, and we switch groups every two weeks. The first group starts at 8:30, and the second begins at 10:15. My friends are all in the first group, while I’m in the second but I’m grateful for the chance to be with other people without any close friends. I actually mistook the time, and showed up 10 minutes late on my first day, but made up for it by contributing in conversation about Antigone. I love that play, and these discussions remind me a lot of AP World Literature class, so I’m very comfortable (which I guess many people are not). I wish that we had more time to discuss literature in depth, but alas after an hour and a half we broke for lunch.

Grabbing PB&J sandwiches for the road, we hit the bus system and got lost downtown.
Eventually we gave up and used the tube, which lead us to the British Museum. I have never looked so intently at all of the boring little pieces before. I mean, of course they took on much more significance when we had studied Greco-Roman literature, art, history, and philosophy, however, there was a lot of pottery and coinage and reliefs. My favorite part was examining in great detail the Parthenon! We got to look up close at the Pediments that once adorned the East and Western ends of the temple. Also, in between rooms, as we were booking towards the next Roman segment, we rushed past the Rosetta stone in almost movie-like comedy. None of us even realized what we had done, until Daniel exclaimed the travesty. Oh well, we were on a mission; the Rosetta stone will have to wait until another visit.

After navigating quickly back (having finished all of our museum assignments for the week) we had the most delicious dinner yet (I hadn’t been holding very high hopes). It was pork stew (real meat in the middle of the week!) and it was spectacular. The soup and dessert were equal to the main course, and my dishes were scraped clean. Then it was off to my room to read, read, and read some more. I enjoyed Plato’s “The Republic”, and found Epictetus’ “Enchiridion” to have some very thought provoking/interesting points. The best part of “The Republic” was his mathematical way of laying out his points, and of course the allegory of the cave. I really enjoyed Socrates. Alas, I finished reading at 11:30, and then spent some chatting with Katie before hitting the sack, very soundly.