I'm fairly sleepy at the moment, from staying up until four last night essay-writing... old habits die hard, I guess. The good thing is, I got to sleep until nine this morning, and tomorrow I'll sleep until noon. College life is wonderful. The sheer number of distractions available at every moment is terrible for time management, but it keeps life very interesting. It's already been nearly five weeks, but it doesn't feel that way. I'm not sure what it does feel like, really, except that I feel very much at home here. It took me about zero adjustment to settle in at Brown, which is surprising considering what a nervous wreck I was on moving day. I could hardly even contain myself on the car ride, but then in a blur everything was moved in and we took a stroll around campus and I spotted
mashexy with whom I had a joyful reunion and then before I knew it my parents were like, "Well, now that you have company, we can leave!" And they left. And
mashexy and I remarked on how nonchalantly they had abandoned me (Masha said they probably went back to the car, sat down, looked at each other, and high-fived... I did not find this idea so funny), and then we walked around, had an inspiring chat with the university chaplain, gave up jostling with a hundred other people for the opportunity to talk to President Ruth Simmons, and soon went our separate ways to our separate dorms (which happened to be on opposite sides of campus, as it were) to meet our respective units. And time has just rolled by ever since.
College Hill is seriously one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been to. Just walking around anywhere is a pleasure, although I'll probably regret having said that once winter kicks in.
My dorm, Morriss, is on Pembroke campus, formerly the women's college associated with Brown until they merged a few decades ago. So it's a bit of a walk from most things, but I don't mind that either because I get to walk down Thayer Street, which runs north-south through the east side of campus and is basically as awesome as a street can get in New England. It's a patch of the city where music and seating spill out from restaurants onto the sidewalks, where jazz musicians and street vendors vie for the attention of pedestrians, where swinging nightclubs coexist with old-fashioned movie theatres and Indian knick-knack shops. While it's not exactly the most world-class or happenin' street ever, it's definitely got a certain vibe of its own.
If you want to head down the hill to "downcity," Providence isn't a dull place to be either. It's got the biggest mall in New England, straddling the river within walking distance from the foot of College Hill, which is also where Waterfire takes place on the summer and fall weekends.
Waterfire (a sort of "public art" community event celebrating the recent beautification of Providence, designed by a Brown graduate) isn't really aimed at college kids, but the atmosphere is really cool, with the music and storytelling and, well, fire on the water. Romantic folks can shell out $140 to rent a gondola complete with wine and candles, but my fellow broke schoolmates and I each put in $10 for a ride on an ordinary boat, and even though we ended up spending most of the ride trying to hit the undersides of bridges rather than staring at the flames and breathing in the carbon monoxide, it was helluva lot of fun anyway.
Wow, this entry sounds like it's been stolen from a bad travel guidebook. Which I really did not intend, by the way-- I only wanted to post up some of my scenic pictures, because even if they suck I still hate to see them sitting around on my hard drive being useless. But despite the fact that I haven't actually written anything about people or myself, I'm seriously fatigued now and still have work to do before class tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep. To be continued...