Last Monday was the official start of the spring 2013 semester and with that came my very first study abroad class. As the semester begins, I always have a few reservations for the classes in which I’m enrolled.What are the people like? How is the prof? Will the class mind if I show up without any pants? You know, the typical questions most collegiate scholars ask themselves before the first day of class. This study abroad class is actually just one of three different classes in which I’m enrolled, one of which is completely internet mediated.

So when I showed up to class on Thursday, I wasn’t in full shock mode because I had already been working on my online class and also met with my economics class on the Monday of that same week. As I took my seat and started chatting with my colleagues, I realized that the people in this class were all pretty decent and that as the semester goes along, we should get along swimmingly.

Shortly after the six o’clock hour, Dr. Morris started class and regaled us with many facts about Belgium, our tentative itinerary, things to expect and other broad descriptions of the country we will soon be visiting. My excitement for the trip exponentially grew as she was discussing our featured business trips which includes no less than two brewery tours. She was dishing out all of this exciting and wonderful information, that I couldn’t eat it up fast enough. That is, until she told the class that we had a textbook for the “classy” part of the course.

Damn.

A million thoughts ran through my head. She didn’t tell about this before class! She didn’t even tell the bookstore about it so we could order books before classes started! This is ridiculous!

The time that lapsed between her announcing that we needed a book to when she announced the exact book we needed was only a matter of seconds but in my mind it felt like minutes. I was constantly trying to rationalize the need for purchasing another overpriced book from the bookstore when I had already drop $2600 to go on this trip and take this course anyway that I was appalled that this price tag didn’t include a book. However, to my surprise and amazement, she pulled out a big cardboard box and started handing out this “textbook” to everybody in the room. It was at this point when I screeched liked a little school girl that I’m sure my classmate sitting next to me thought I had just swallowed a mouse. My prof handed a stack of books to the beginning of the row and before I knew it, I was holding on to the most useful, worthwhile and lifesaving book I’ll ever use in a class.

Not only was this book the super awesomest textbook I’ve ever owned but I didn’t have to even pay for it. She simply handed them out to everybody in the classroom like it was Christmas and you know what? It felt like Christmas. The only thing missing was my drunken relative spewing racial slurs at everyone. The ironic thing was that I would’ve been more than happy to pay the $20 or so that the book cost because it will be infinitely more useful and helpful than any other textbook I have ever used. Sure, I technically paid for it with my tuition money or the extra cash that I used for the trip but it still felt free which means that it was free. I’m trying to figure out exactly how my next class will top the experience I had in this first class and personally I cannot wait to find out.