Karen spent the morning tidying up her rooms from her unpacking, getting everything arranged just-so.  When she was satisfied, she smiled and nodded to herself, then turned to a dining chair she had setting in her living room, a tall stack of folders upon it, along with a bunch of loose papers.  She hauled them up and moved to the sofa, sitting down and beginning to arrange the folders and papers upon the coffee table, pulling said wooden table closer to the sofa.  She stared around for a moment, then bit her lower lip and stood, going over to a leather messenger bag sitting on the floor beside the dining chair.  She bent down to it and pulled out a few pens, a highlighter, and a permanent ink marker.  Going back to the folders and paperwork, she got to work on developing a lesson outline for the semester, and a lesson plan for the next three weeks.<br/>It was when she reached week two of her lesson plan that the gnawing hunger in her stomach could no longer be ignored.  With a sigh, she put down her pens, staring.  ...She was reluctant to leave it incomplete, especially when she was on a roll with it.  But she simply could not focus any longer.  With a huff, she stood, stretching, then moved and shut off her CD player.  She stared at the clunky piece of junk.  It'd been her dearest friend over the past few years.  Loyal and true, working despite all the abuse it'd taken.  Including the time her ex had thrown it at her.  She scowled to herself and shook her head.  No thinking about that...man.  If you could call him that.<br/>She forced a smile on her lips.  Why?  Because smiling always made her problems go away.  Or at least made them turn tail and run.<br/>Well...except for hunger.  That was a problem her stomach announced loudly.  She couldn't make that go away with a smile.  "Alright, alright, I'm going," she murmured, chuckling to herself.  She moved and grabbed up the keys to her room, exiting to the corridor and locking up her suite.  She then looked around and frowned.  ...It was...to the left, correct?  Building up courage to explore, and hoping she was heading in the right direction for the cafe/cafeteria, she made her way through the halls.<br/>As she walked, she soon found the smells of food drifting through the halls.  "Oh, thank God," she murmured, starting to absently follow her nose.  It wasn't for a few turns before she noticed that she should be watching where she was going, so she'd be able to find her way without having to smell the food.  Starting to take more notice of her surroundings, she continued on, taking note of sculptures and different types of architecture throughout the hallways, all designed to help students and teacher alike to navigate.<br/>Finally, a corridor ended, opening up into a large room, filled with people milling about.  She surveyed the room, taking notice of the line for food, and the seating arrangements.  Nodding to herself, she got into line, eying the menu choices.  A southern dish was available; chicken and waffles.  Something she had tried during her travels and found that she enjoyed greatly.  She smiled to the 'lunch lady' and requested the dish, watching as the woman put it together and pushed the plate towards her.  Murmuring a quiet thanks, she turned to find a seat.  Her eyes roamed about and landed on a young man on the faculty side of the cafeteria.  A very young man, seemingly too young to be a teacher.  But if he was on the faculty side, then surely he was a teacher...right?  Curious, she moved toward his table and stood in front of it for a moment before managing a soft, "May I sit here?"