i brought a box of clementines to greek today and taught people how to say happy chinese new year in mandarin. i am very fond of my greek class they are a tremendously nice lot of people. there isn't exactly what you'll call class spirit or friendliness. in my ovid class, people were gregarious and self-assured and noisy and convinced that oh we're such a witty class aren't we? in herodotus everyone seems to be in their own little worlds quietly grinding away. they don't get together and review lines and they don't propose class activities like celebrating herodotus's birthday or write funny remarks all over the blackboard before the teacher comes in. they don't even complain much, now that i think about it. they just walk into class and slide into their seats with slightly worried looks. occasionally one or two would volunteer, softly, "i'm not so sure i'm getting used to this dialect thing" or "yesterday's assignment was really long" and get some commiserating nods back. and yet there's a very strong sense that we're united in some kind of unspoken anxiety and sympathy. you couldn't find a quieter and nicer bunch of people and i like them awfully. besides, if anyone needs some good luck it would be the people in that class!