So, this week was my first week as a member of the Cambridge Masters Swim Club (CMSC). I'd been really missing swimming on a real team and didn't really have the opportunity to do so in the suburbs. Now that I live in Somerville, however, I have easy access to the city's many Masters clubs. I chose CMSC because they practice at Harvard University, and it's fairly easy for me to get there from Tufts and from my apartment. So, on Tuesday, I went to my first practice. It was pretty brutal. My body was definitely telling me that I hadn't been in the water seriously in two years. Despite the pain, I had a great time. I joined with a friend of mine, and we both already knew someone on the team, so it wasn't too difficult to meet people. And the feeling of working hard alongside other people is just so great! I'd really missed that. And I felt like I was getting better yesterday, so that was heartening. I just have to keep swimming!
So, figuratively. I started class at Tufts this week. Originally, I was signed up to take a Latin class and an intro psych class (which is a requirement for the degree). They were both on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Latin class at 9am and the psych class at 1pm. So on Tuesday, I headed over to the Classics department, ready for class. It was totally empty, so I went online to double check the location of the class. Of course, it had been changed at the last second. I found out where the class was now located and ran over to that building. The classroom, however, was full of kids taking some art and architecture class. Panicking now at 9:05, I ran back to the Classics department, only to find it still empty. I had absolutely no idea what to do, so I just went back to the building the class was supposed to be in. Very luckily, I saw the professor wandering around looking as lost I was. We chatted for a while about the people who had commandeered our room then she said, "Well, it doesn't really matter anyway, because there are only two people registered for this class and I need six to run the class. And you're the only one here anyway. So I guess the class is canceled." She handed me what would have been the syllabus and headed back to her office, leaving me totally dumbstruck.
I then entered another state of panic. I'd been counting on taking this Latin class, actually had been looking forward to it. I had no idea if I needed to take two classes this summer or not and wasn't sure I could get into any other classes if I wanted to anyway. And the other classes that I was interested in were all in the evening, which I very expressly did NOT want to do during my first session of class. I was feeling super frustrated and sent off a few very panicked e-mails to me advisors. Resigned to not getting an answer anytime soon, I went home to have lunch before returning for my afternoon psych class.
I'm not sure which was worse - having my Latin class canceled in the morning, or that first psych class that afternoon. It was so boring I'm surprised I made it thought the whole three and a half hours without falling asleep. I could barely understand what the professor was talking about and to top it all off, I was freezing in the over-air conditioned room. Needless to say, I was definitely repeating "Just keep swimming!"to myself quite a bit that evening.
I'm happy to say that things have mostly worked out. My Latin class was officially canceled, but I don't have to take two classes this summer. The second psych class yesterday was much better - I actually paid attention the whole time! Hopefully the rest of the summer continues to go smoothly.
Here's to sticking out tough weeks, and to that I-haven't-worked-out-in-forever soreness that hurts oh so good.
ciao
