Today, I woke up at about 7:59, looked at the clock, and thought: “Hellllllllllllllll no.” So I went back to sleep, hoping to wake up a time more appropriate for a 21 year old with nowhere to be in the morning, and I started dreaming about some fantasy land where I rode a dragon and this telepathic Empress was dropping me off cliffs to see if it would catch me. Clearly my subconscious has a problem. Anyway, in my dream I started hearing a knocking at my door, which was translated into something along the lines of “you’re in a bunk bed and someone’s pounding on the floorboards.” By this point my brain needed a break and said, “You might as well just wake up now.” I rolled over in bed to look at my clock and saw that it was 11:55-a respectable time to start a Friday. The knocking still bothered me though, and I suddenly realized that it had been at the door of my room in our suite. FRIG, I WAS LATE FOR JAZZERCISE!
I found some workout shorts on the floor and tugged on a ratty white Relay for Life T-Shirt from a few years ago, briefly thinking “shoes? Eh I’ll just take em off when I get there.” So there I was at noon on a Friday running barefoot across campus to attend my weekly jazzercise session run by a woman from the Admissions Office. I’d say that’s a pretty typical day for this summer.
Anyways, I reached the jazzercise room and found it completely empty, so I looked at my phone and saw it was starting at 12:10 rather than 12 noon. Still a little dazed from the dream about the dragon, I started some basic yoga and drank out of my nalgene. At this point, my suitemates Will and Justin arrived on the scene, followed by a flood of jazzercise attendees. The three of us were the only men in the room, the only ones college-aged, and I had no shoes. Will and I grinned at each other, and I thought, “God I love summer.”
Jazzercise turned out to be a delightful workout, and the three of us returned to our six-person suite dripping sweat and feeling great. Seeing that it wasn’t yet one (my unofficial start time for work), I pulled out our Wii Fit Balance Board and we played a few rounds of Obstacle Course and Snowball fight, naked except for a pair of boxer briefs. Meanwhile, I made a bagel and cream cheese for myself out of our fridge, and lazed out in my underwear while Will and Justin prepared for work, which they did in buildings around campus. After they left, I took a shower and opened up my book The Cistercians in the Middle Ages, which I had read yesterday and voraciously highlighted. Today, I would be transforming the highlights into a word document on the history of the Cistercian Order, ultimately to become a chapter of my thesis. Ready to begin my strenuous summer research, I spread myself out on the couch in our common room, and started reading and typing. God I love summer.
At 5pm, Will and Lindsey returned from the Linguistics Lab and we took off for Haldeman pool, where drillmaster Lindsey led us in interval training as part of our weekly fitness schedule. After we got back, we drove to Target for a (more than) weekly shopping trip for groceries before walking to the village for dinner at local Mexican-American place Espiau’s. We spent the remainder of the evening relaxing, talking, and planning tomorrow’s trip to the Natural History Museum. Not for the last time, God I love summer.
Now, you may have noticed that I almost entirely skipped over the research part of my day–the entire reason I’m being paid to be on campus this summer. Well, believe it or not, medieval monastic history isn’t for everyone, so I’m making it the subject of my next post! For now, I’ll end with one final refrain:
God I love summer.