Do I Really Have to Go to School?

Today is my last day completely free from academic responsibility, and I decided to spend it--why not?--poolside. Leisure-reading, people-watching, and  dozing in between book chapters. I began noticing new people at the pool today. Sure, there was that one British family that wear socks and sneakers and bandanas to the pool and always takes over the one shady cabana that they use for drinking their tea. And there's that one supermodel couple who I still haven't heard speak a language yet so I have no idea of their nationality. The guy looks Italian but the woman looks German. They make a huge deal about showering off in the outdoor shower before getting in the pool and then take like three laps, hop out, and head back to their hotel room. There's also the occasionally topless mom who is surprisingly not French (I have yet to hear French spoken  on this island) and an old man who likes to sleep in the shade.

But in addition to the standard cast of characters, today I noticed a bigger number of single people. Young people who were there on their own...with freaking highlighters and printed pages of text. I recognized two of them from one of my classes last semester and normally, I'd welcome the opportunity to connect with some of the others who will be in my classes, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I mean, I know I am going to be that person by tomorrow afternoon. In fact, I'm staring at my own highlighters and paper clips sitting on my desk right now, but they are still in the original bag in which I packed them. And they are staying there until 8:30 tomorrow morning. In my classmates' defense, we were advised to look over the posted syllabi for our upcoming classes and read ahead if we wanted to be on top of things. And luckily, there was no reading posted for my class so I suppose they are being good students and doing what they're supposed to. But I think if I were them, I would have done my reading before I left the states. I even made "accidental" eye contact with one of the girls as I was leaving the pool, and I think she probably recognized me but the problem is, for the next 16 hours or so, I'm still on vacation. When in Spain...mañana.


So don't hate me, but this is the view from my hotel room. Which was upgraded after I found an absolutely enormous bug crawling across my ceiling, down the wall, and threatening very wildly to join me in bed. Small sacrifices.

I'm about to get ready to attend orientation, which begins in a few hours. And where I'll be feigning great surprise to find out "you're staying at my hotel too?" And saying things like, "Oh, I thought I saw you at the pool this afternoon but I wasn't sure it was you!" When really, I was sure it was you. But I was on vacation.