I'm back in my small dorm room, listening to music around 9:00pm. I had thought about doing something exciting tonight (since it is Saturday) but I have too much studying to do. Maybe around 11:00pm I’ll go over to the dorm next to ours and watch a movie with some people, if I get my stuff done.

Today has been a fairly quiet day. I woke up really late—around 11:00am—and went to brunch at our cafeteria. I met a friend there (Sara) who has an older sister who is visiting from Rice University this weekend (Laurie). We had a fairly intense meal from 12:30 to 1:45. While trying to swallow crusty hash browns and stale coffee, we discussed the death penalty, genetics, eugenics, abortion, and the presidential race. It was an interesting conversation, and I think we solved some of the world’s problems….
Yeah, right!
I enjoyed brunch today. I don’t really like it when conversation in the cafeteria always centers on the food, gossip, and grades. It’s refreshing to talk about things that are even more important than food.

Since today has been so uneventful, I’ll try to tell you about yesterday. Yesterday was a lot of fun. After classes finished and I attended mass at 5pm, I went out into the rain to play a muddy game of Ultimate Frisbee with some brave souls. Ultimate Frisbee is a really fun game, but it is especially exciting when you are sliding in huge mud puddles and covered in mud! The rain was cold, but once we started running around it got better. Our team lost (Grrrr!). After the game, some of us had a mud fight. (what mature college students we are)

Then, after dinner (around 9pm) I went over to the student apartments across the street to practice with a band I’m in. It’s a really fun band. We have a guitarist/singer, a clarinetist, a bassist, a drummer, and a violinist (me). The guitarist/singer writes jazz music for us to play. Pretty much since the first few weeks I’ve been here at the University of Dallas, we’ve been playing together at least once a week. We played for about 200 UD students about 3 weeks ago. But, anyway, back to last night. I went over, and we practiced some new songs and goofed around, playing Irish music, folk, and even some rock music. I have trouble believing how long we play in our practices. Yesterday, we played from 9pm to 1:30am and it felt like nothing!

So, I realize I haven’t said anything about my studies. My classes are definitely on my mind. I think I am learning a lot this semester. However, the activities and people at college really are part of the whole experience, I think. Even as I’m not sure whether I’ve learned a lot in my classes, I can say without a doubt that I’ve learned a lot from the activities and people I’m encountering here. Meeting new people and learning about them has really been a great, fun learning experience this semester. There are certainly a lot of people to meet and to learn from here.

“Have I changed at all since I came to the University of Dallas?” I ask myself. I know I must have. But, I really can’t point to one obvious example of how I have grown. It strikes me as very ironic how we change without realizing we’ve changed. It is strange how little we know ourselves, in some ways. If I could stand outside myself and watch myself from the time that I arrived at UD, feeling lost and excited, to the present moment, as I sit here typing for apricot, I would probably be able to point to some definite changes, some evolution in my “Ben-ness”. Fortunately, however, I’m not stuck outside myself all the time, watching myself. Life is not a spectator’s sport. Luckily, I’m able to stumble around being Ben without knowing too much about where I came from or where I’m going!

Signing off from the University of Dallas in Irving (not Dallas), Texas,

Ben