Jumping Into Mesoamer... uh Homework actually

Whew... these past four days have been soooooo busy! I guess I never figured that the two weeks of classes before the Mesoamerica tour would be so cram-packed! I've had between 6-9 hours of classes each day, plus homework in between, 150 pages of text to read, and three test so far. I almost forgot why I'm even here. It feels like we'll never get to Mexico because we have too much homework to do! Our "midterm" starts next week. I've been INSIDE all the time since I got here! Even if I could go outside and go rock climbing or something, it's been cold here (compared to Arizona); still freezes at night and gets into the 40's in the daytime. I'm not used to this (97 degrees in AZ) so I'm inside anyways!

Hmm, obviously I don't have time to be updating my blog. Everybody in my classes are also going on the Mesoamerica Tour. So far we are all just "acquaintances" with each other but I'm sure that will change once we have time to talk instead of doing so much homework. I love the subjects we are learning and I think we have some of the best teachers (I'm taking English: Introduction to Literature, and Field Biology (more like study of ecology)). I miss having people I'm familiar with here with me: Jo, Angela, Sven, Mary, etc.

Well, here is a poem I wrote a long time ago. I will probably be embarrassing myself by putting this on the Internet, but it's interesting to see a struggle I was thinking of three years ago...(I just learned in class that this is a Sonnet - 14 line poem :)

Outside is my life
Outside is my reason
This place I am in is mine no more
They see me as a wanderer; a floater
I am a man of direction; of steady perseverance
I cannot feel free when I lie to myself
The judgments of others keep us in bondage
In bondage to a mental prison in a false world
And in our houses, office, and cities
Concerned with what they think, and not who we are
I want no more to be concerned with this
I will go outside
Outside is my life
Outside is my reason
11 July 04