Damp October Monday Morning

We have hybrid students on the Wesley campus this week; there will be breakfast for all of us every morning from 7-8.  There will be lunch tomorrow, but as far as I can tell, no other food.  I wonder how many hybrid students will be staying on campus, and if so, what they'll make of the campus.  Will it seem a bit more empty than they anticipated?  How many students will be part of this hybrid group?

It's a new approach to the MDiv program, so they'll be the first group.  Over 4 years, they'll have 8 onground intensives, and I think that each one lasts a week.  Let me remember that if I had somehow managed to hold onto my administrator job, this hybrid approach might not have worked for me.  I am grateful that I can focus on my studies in a way that I couldn't if I still had the administrator job.

I think about the students who will be staying on campus.  I hope they brought some layers of clothes.  My apartment feels chillier this morning than other mornings.  I am glad that I bought some flannel pajama bottoms at a Land's End clearance sale in September:

The seminary has a physical plant that is set to either AC or heat.  We don't change from AC to heat until the last 2 weeks of this month.  This year, after a September with warmer temperatures than average, we've got a chillier than average start to the month of October.

This morning, I've decided not to go to breakfast.  It's chilly and rainy.  Likewise, I will wait and walk later this morning when it's warmed up a bit--but it won't warm up much.  It's going to be cloudy and rainy all day.  I'm happy to have a good reason to stay inside; I've got lots of writing I need to attend to.

I do wonder if hybrid students are staying on campus, where will they be staying?  I haven't noticed more people staying in my apartment building, but it makes sense that the hybrid students would be put in the New Residence Hall, if there's room.  That building was finished in 2017, unlike the other 2 residence halls that were built in the early 1960's.

I'm in the building that has apartments with small kitchens, a building finished a year or two before I was born.  I'm glad that I find the older bathrooms charming, even with the mid-century modern colors.  I'm just glad to have a subdued mint tile on the walls, instead of that Pepto-Bismal pink.  The tile on the floor is a muted gray.

Five weeks ago, I woke up in this apartment for the first time.  Strange to think how much has happened, how the weather has shifted from heat advisories to a damp rawness.  Happily, my upbeat mental weather has stayed fairly consistent.