A week

So, this was the week in which I Started classes. I have four:

Self and Society - it's a sociology class, but I'm not exactly sure what to expect from it yet. It certainly seems interesting. I signed up for it because at the time I was trying to decide between three majors - English, anthropology, and sociology - and my adviser told me I should pick a class in both of the last two so I could sample them (I'd already had three English classes). And it seemed like the most interesting one in the sōsh department. I now am pretty sure I'm not going to major in sociology, but it still looks like an interesting class.

Intro to computer science - I'm taking this for two reasons. One is to perhaps shed a little light on the more technical aspects of my font designing stuff. Previously I've felt at times as if I needed to be a programmer in order to make my font come out right, because the process is so much more arcane than anything a normal person would need to do on the computer. The other reason is that it's a prerequisite for Computational Linguistics, which I want to take to build a linguistics concentration. Also, I predict that by the end of this class I'll finally understand all the smug little inside jokes that the author of xkcd makes with his background in computer science and nerdiness. The class is fun - our professor is really enthusiastic, and she makes a real effort to connect to the students - but it seems to be moving at breakneck speed. We'll see if I'm accurate in that assessment later down the line.

Spanish 285 - The professor has a French name, which is kind of funny. Seems like all my classes have really hit the ground running, and this one is no exception. One week in, and we've already read an entire act in the play we're starting the semester with. (It's El Gesticulador, or The Imposter in an English translation that exists somewhere, and it's pretty fun.) She also has a lot of energy. I have two really energetic professors. Today in class we were host to a candidate professor; he spoke with a very Castillian accent, but it was also mixed with an American accent, so it ended up sounding pretty strange. He had a flawless command of the language, it's just that he sounded really peculiar speaking it.

And lastly, Intentional Communities - this is an anthropology class, and wouldn't you just know I'd take a class like this? We'll spend the semester talking all about these intentional communities. There are a few people in the class who I knew and liked before. There's Jordan, who drove me to Ohio once, and talked about homesteading. Also there's Cammy, who I talked with briefly one day at a loggia party (like, a minute), and she resounded so well that I was going to ask her out except that I never saw her again. But I don't think I will now, because I have a different plan that (with any luck) I'll be able to write about here soon.

Other stuff? Well, I've been snowfooting. The way I decide whether to put shoes on is, if I'm going between two places that are pretty close to each other, I won't bother, but if I'm going out specifically to be in the snow for an extended time, then I put them on. Thus, I go barefoot to all my classes and to the doors of the dining hall (where I have to put on the sandals that I keep there). But when I went out and found a couple geocaches in town, I put on not only my shoes but also all my other winter gear, including my shapka that I got from Nana & Papaw for Christmas. I found two of them, but the other one that I was looking for was buried under too much snow. I think I'll look for some more this weekend.
-I've been researching the trains here. The line is owned by Union Pacific, and they redid some parts of it this fall with ribbon rail. It goes from Marshalltown to Eddyville, something like 80 miles. Trains come south out of Marshalltown every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday afternoon (and pass through town in the evening). Then they get new cars and head back up to Marshalltown later that night, presumably to refill them. They carry almost exclusively grain hoppers and tank cars, though occasionally Weyerhaeuser sends some lumber south too. The line connects in Eddyville to a much higher-volume BNSF line that runs lengthwise across Iowa, but the UP engines apparently stay on this short line. Yesterday evening I saw engines 1924, 394, 737, and 733 go south, and the same four came back north.
-So that's the trains that come through campus. There's also a line that goes through town, the Iowa Interstate line, but I don't see that one much, so I don't know much about it - and anyway, I wouldn't want to try to compete with these people. That they have a website that extensive for the Iowa Interstate railroad (not an especially large railroad) tells you a little about what there is to do in Iowa. The two lines intersect in town next to a restaurant called the Depot. I hear there's a geocache near the rail diamond (that's what they call an intersection) there. I may go find it this weekend.