Matriculation Baby, Matriculation

Well the week finally arrived and back to school I go. Wednesday evening I went to Matriculation Ceremony where I signed the register and officially joined Trinity College. I was extremely nervous and luckily Shelley was there to smile at me and keep me calm. We had to go separately since I had to meet at the Quad with the rest of the newbies and other Trinitrons to march to the theatre. We loosely gathered together and then at precisely 7:15 a bagpiper led us down the walkway. It was really quite amazing. As we walked through the doors, we were being greeted by a few of the academic dons and the one at my door mistook me for a parent (*sigh*), I had to explain that I was a STUDENT!!! Oh well. Once inside I tried to remain calm and I sat and waited for the procession of faculty to arrive. After the faculty arrived, the ceremony commenced. A great deal of the official parts were in Latin which thrilled my wife who took a few years of Latin. Midway through the ceremony we were ushered onstage and then signed the register officially joining Trinity College. After it was over, we went back to the Quad for some refreshments and I was able to introduce Shelley (and myself) to the Dean of Students. All in all a great night. Thursday morning I went to my first classes. 19th and 20th Century East Central Europe- I have a great professor, Dr. Piotr Wrobrel who is from Poland and has a great accent. He's got a great sense of humor and the class looks demanding but interesting. 20th Century American Diplomacy- I have two professors, one for the fall, one for the spring. Both were in class this week and will sort of be interchangeable. Dr. Carol Chin, is an American who recently moved here (like me) and Dr. William Walker is a prof I have for one of my Tuesday classes so it will be great to have him for two courses- he also has friends in Salt Lake so we are going to bond over our love of the Wasatch Mountains!!! Well I'm still working on some Politics 101 stuff (sorry Tara it's not ready yet...but I'm working on it). But this weekend is crammed. I've got tons of reading to do for next week, and I've got a softball tournament Saturday! Sunday is FOOTBALL...woohoo. Speaking of football, as a service to my readers (and for entertainment purposes only) I'll share one of my football betting cards with you (not the profits...what? you think I'm crazy? just the picks in case you are in to that sort of thing). I have it really nice since our house is two doors away from a little corner store where I can make my Pro-line plays each week. This week's card: TEN @ MIA take the Under of 38.5 BAL @ CLE take the Over of 37.5 JAX @ BUF take the Over of 35.5 DET @ CHI +/- 3 (if the either team wins by 3 or less) SEA @ NO take Seattle to win by 8+ SD @ HOU take Houston to win by 4+ If I win all 6 a $2 ticket earns $120.70 (ChaChing)