Near the Horizon

The sun rose today on another day on which yet another holiday starts for the students at the University of Stellenbosch. Yet another, but they are running out. When the sun rises on the first day of yet another quarter for the students at the University of Stellenbosch, it will be the last one for a small group of undergraduates (well, at least as undergraduates).

After last night's test a few friends and I went out for drinks. As we were driving home, one of them remarked “we're graduating at the end of the year”. I'm not that confident: I'd hate to say something like that and then be proven wrong. We are all fallible. But last night's test didn't go too bad, so we'll probably progress to the exams and then... well, if all goes well, pop the corks, baby!

Where has three years gone?

Last night we wrote Fluid Dynamics (in applied mathematics). It can be pretty hectic and for someone who is not familiar with the mathematics, the volume integrals and dyadic tensors can look pretty impressive, hehe. But our lecturer tries to shield us from the really hairy stuff. After many years (he's retiring after this one), he knows all too well how quickly fluid calculations can spin out of control. Like I said, the test shouldn't be a disaster.

The other test we've written so far is Optimization (also applied mathematics), which was on Monday. That wasn't too bad either. I still have two computer science papers to write after the holiday, but that's a few weeks off still.

The weather has changed dramatically over the past few days. For two or three days now it has been really humid. I can't stand humid weather. Some of the people I was out with last night really enjoyed it, but I only started liking it when some of the humidity was starting to dissipate. There is a big difference between a nice, warm summers evening and an evening which is chokingly humid. Anyway, today was my first going-out-in-a-T-shirt day in many months, so it would appear as if the winter is getting beat. Spring has been in the air for a few weeks already and I'm looking forward to summer, even if the winter seemed to pass very quickly.

It was also full moon last night. That was really nice. I enjoy it when it is full moon; not because it is magical or moods or tides or luck or whatever, but because it is simply a beautiful. Sometimes you need just that. I was sitting on the roof that covers some of the cars parked by our building having a sundowners and watching the clouds, because the sun had already sunk behind the mountain. I was thinking about how people, well, at least I, need simplicity. You need to be able to enjoy the moon as we all see it. Cynics will tell you it is just a cold, lifeless rock, but that's not what I see: the moon shines by it's own brilliance and for me it is calming, even if it is also a time piece showing you how the months fleet by. I could guess what forces hold clouds together in clumps or go read up about it, but I'm not going to, because I don't want it ruined by explanations and the human understanding of physics. I'm still a scientist, but I'm also a person who needs romance and mystery in life.

Today was awesome. I only had one class late in the morning, so I could take my time getting up. Afterwards I went for coffee and ice cream with a girl friend. We wandered a bit through the town I almost never go to and it was nice being away from campus. It felt like the “arts” part of town there are a few not-so-modestly-priced streets cafés and tourist traps scattered about it. It's weird to think of the place where you work and study everyday as a tourist attraction, but you don't have to walk far to see the people with the cameras walking to or from buses. Anyway, what I mean to say is that if you don't take a break every now and again and look for them, these things pass you by, not you them. Walking down Victoria street it was strange to see the blossoms on the branches of the trees that had been bare a few weeks earlier (and which had shed its dead leaves a short while before that). I also chatted with a few other people in the day, but now I'm alone again. But I really did enjoy the day.

I'm still not 100% recovered from whatever is wrong with me. I could manage a four-flight jog going to my only class this morning, but my throat is still a bit sore. Meh, maybe I'll recover when I'm back home. I'll probably leave tomorrow morning after a bit of cleaning. I have no real plans for next week, but I'm going to relax and enjoy myself.