Ha'va'd Ya'd

I had my first writing class the other night. I have to admit, I'm totally scared and intimidated to be doing this class! But while I'm scared, I am excited to be doing something out of my comfort zone that will really challenge me.

When one thinks of Harvard, one might think of professors with elbow padded-corduroy blazers walking amongst brick buildings covered in ivy. The scenery for my class didn't quite pan out like that. The class is being held in one of Harvard's new science building, actually in the basement of this building. The staircase down opened up into a huge concrete room with harsh neon lighting. To try and warm up the very large, cold space were close to twenty BRIGHT red couches. I kind of felt like I was in a museum-type setting.

Beyond that everything else was as I expected. My class is fairly diverse in gender, age and race. The people seem interesting, poignant and could pull off sentences that started like, "Well, my first Masters is in...."

The classroom was outfitted with one of those double-layered, chalk (actual chalk) boards that the professor can pull up and down, as seen in Good Will Hunting. My professor didn't use this, but I definitely felt more "Harvard" with that in the room.

The professor seems great. He is animated, well spoken and interesting. We were discussing the difference between two Letters to the Shareholders: one used passive language while the other was more active. During the discussion he drew a parallel of himself to House. He said sometimes he feels he has to diagnose problems and he had thought about showing up to class with a scruffy beard, a cane and popping some pills. A sense of humor in a teacher is always a plus!!

My first assignment is very do-able so we'll see how the class progresses!!