Dear friend, honestly, how much time does it take you to write an average-sized paper? Do you put it off till the day it's due, or you get it done and out of the way? Last night I spent 6 hours working on the paper for my English class (wonder if my teacher will ever read this:)). No, the paper wasn't hard; actually, it wasn't even due today. I just got into the process of looking for the right thoughts, right words - it was like solving a sudoku. Do you ever get that feeling that it's not even a paper, but some kind of a puzzle, a challenge, or a problem that needs to be solved? No, you probaby don't, I know...:) I take that essay and I build it like a house - with its own style, proportions, decorations, balance and structure. Word by word.

Too bad sometimes it takes most of the night to do it.
Too bad sometimes you have to wake up to go to class the next morning.
Too bad coffee is that expensive.

You know, I like how open-minded writing in college is. You really get to express yourself; put your own ideas on the paper. Moreover, its actually welcomed here. Though I noticed that for a person from another culture such freedom could even be overwhelming - you suddenly don't know what to write about. Few years ago writing essays for me was just wording ideas expected from the student, ideas that can't be argued. One had to guess what would be the "right" thing to say in the paper - a thought that would others agree on, instead of expressing your own vision. Part of the reason it was so is that topics of typical high school essays were never controversial, but rather traditional, promoting morals and patriotism. That's why writing papers was a routine for me in Ukraine.
And here my English teacher offers the class to go and watch the life in the Pray-Harrold hallways, like today. Surely, not without some educational purposes, but it still excites me - see, I love watching others. So I find a spot, observe for sometime, and write everything down. You know, people are so different, so unique even in doing the most casual things, like buying that mentioned above coffee... In front of me people sit on the floor next to the empty bench, bump into each other, wear wierdest outfits, sip hot soup being bent over the laptop, gossip, and desperately wish they could take a good nap... Often looking at somebody I enjoy imagining what this person is like according to the way he or she dresses, behaves or talks. Then, of course, one day I meet that person, and he or she turns out completely different from what I thought. I smile and promise myself to not trust the first judgement. Then I smile again, because I know that I won't keep the promise...

That was my Pray-Harrold experiment.

You hold on and keep your promises -

Svitlana

P.S. Read such a funny saying recently: "If you put off the paper till the last minute, it only takes a minute to do it". Do you agree?