Yin and Yan

It's the 2nd day of term and I can say that I'm truely happy to be back at university. It could be a bit too soon to talk as I may very soon become very unhappy with the workload. But I hope that I'm more mature and will cope easier than the first time. What I need to develop is a greater sense of humour and slight disdain. Even though it's all hugely enjoyable, stimulating and "Important", is it really? We, humans do tend to take ourselves too seriously as if all our actions will amount to something really important. But unless we're Albert Einstein or George Bush they probably won't. Of course our lives matter hugely, to us, and to the people close to us. But in the bigger scheme of things (I mean universe-scale), probably not. Also when we are taking our careers or passtimes all too seriously, we should remind ourselves that we're all going to die anyway, so what's the point of getting stressed over some work today, someone's impression of us, or our reputation amongst a few academic snobs? There are some things to get worried about, like if we were going hungry, or cold, or someone we loved was dying, but that's because our dear precious lives would be running out, or being lived in quite intolerable conditions. Academics, often take themselves seriously, but without a sense of humour, they're probably not that smart, perhaps they're talking BS despite their glorious vision of themselves or vision they project and we accept. Deep down they're probably just like the rest of us insecure wrecks. I'll remind myself of this too, if I get intimidated.

But back to the positive stuff, I've had two wonderful lectures so far. The one being, Ecosystem Management and Planning; and the other Wildlife Management. Both are rather interdiscplinary but I'll probably only take the Ecosystem Management course. This course was presented in a very open, interactive format. The lecturers (there are two of them) are dynamic, stimulating and seem to know their stuff. It just made my head buzz and I even risked offering a few opinions. Usually just the thought of speaking up in class or in a conference is enough to make my bloodpressure rise and heart pound with adrenaline.

Despite the joys of varsity, I am getting homesick. I often catch myself thinking of home, the sunshine, the beaches, my friends, Stuart, my parents, my pets... And I feel very overcome with emotion. Of course the struggles of finding your way around a new place, discovering the rules of operation and the isolation increase this feeling. But even once these factors improve, I will always miss home. South Africa is a beautiful place, with special people and I do love it very much.

South Africa has a lot of good things and doesn't have some bad things. For example, it doesn't have a cutting cold wind, that burns the inside of your nose, freezes your lips and makes everything cold. I experienced the wind today, a cold and menacing wind. Fortunately most buildings are connected, but sometimes by very roundabout ways. Today, I probably spent at lease one additional hour, taking these back routes to avoid going outside. Though eventually I had to go outside to get my health insurance card. And slowly the huge pile of admin papers are dwindling...