Some Ponderings From An Adult Learner

So, it's a tough choice tonight: Bill Clinton's Democratic National Convention Speech or Red Sox v. Yankees in HD.  I'm bouncing back and forth, and figured I'd make a few notes about my first day of school.  To put it bluntly, I've had a bit of anxiety about returning as an "adult learner."  I was in the CVS the other day and the cashier dude asked me if I was a William and Mary student--I replied, "Yes, of sorts" and he asked me if I was in the law school.  After hashing out the details of my situation, he told me he was headed to college at ODU in January and couldn't wait...although, he was a bit nervous already.  I assured him that despite being on my way to my 3rd degree, I was pretty nervous too!  I mean, what do the kids wear these days? And I didn't even have time to stop into Grand City (aka "Grand Shitty," Maine Street, Brunswick, ME) to pick up my new pack of Crayolas and some notebooks.  And until late last night, I didn't even know what class I was taking today...turns out, I had two!  At any rate, I'm not the only adult learner and I survived, but made some of the following observations:

• Flip-flops are de rigueur
  
• Everything is electronic (except for the telephone list, which I think is just an oversight...or perhaps a southern thing)--even the syllabus is electronic!
• All the lectures are recorded and available as MP3s--how cool is that???
• Professors send out their lectures as PowerPoint files the day before the lecture!
• Textbooks can be downloaded from the internet!  Thanks to some professor named R.H. Stewart at Texas A&M, I am saving 100 bucks in textbook fees and merely downloading a PDF of his constantly updated book--what a concept!  This guy is awesome. If I ever meet him at a conference I think I will hug him.  He will think I'm nuts!
• I fired up my shiny new computer today and found it chock full of every program I could have asked for, including Tides and Currents--finally, an organization that realizes the importance of having the resources you need!
• 50 minutes goes by fast!  

I'm sure there's more, but perhaps the humidity has gone to my brain.  The heat of earlier this week nearly killed me, but thanks to a well air conditioned car, I was able to regain my senses on my commute home and it has subsequently cooled. I'm off to a good start!  School is fun!