Random Scrap:
My first day at school was just a few days after the orientation session. With new books in the backpack I headed to the campus. It was a beautiful sunny morning. Architecturally College of the Desert was quite a modest with mostly one level stories concrete buildings connected with each other by covered pillared passages. There were a lot of date palm trees outside of the buildings and a big fountain with a pool in front of the Hillb Student Center. My first lesson was taught by Dr. Rios, a professor recommended to me by Kamil. The classroom was not very big few five or six rows of tables accommodating maybe about forty people. There were more people than seats - as I found our later those were people on the waiting list hoping for someone to drop out. The teacher called the names of students and then asked everyone what we thought the origins of our names were. It was the first lesson and right away I had to speak in front of group. It was intimidating. "Pole in Polish means field so I guess farmers" I improvised to a reassuring nod from the professor. Everyone was so nice!