college shopping and s.a.d.
yup, i'm behind. lots o' things on my mind today too.
uvm didn't make much of an impression on me either way when all was said and done. they have a good program and the department i'd be working with is small enough that i'll have the flexibility and access to professors that i need to learn what i want to learn. on the other hand, uvm and burlington are really condensed. i'd been to burlington previously and it reminded me of ithaca, but i think it might be too cramped for me. also, there wasn't a whole lot of green space on campus. however, i still think i'm going to apply.
sterling, first of all, is tiny. i thought i would appreciate it, and in a way i did, but i think it's too small to be good for me academically. also, they have so many core requirements that are highly unlikely to even be classes at other schools that i would be hard-pressed to graduate in two years. as a freshman i would probably have been way more interested in sterling, but as a transfer it's pretty much ruled out.
unh wound up being the one i liked the most. the campus isn't cramped or condensed but it's still very walkable. i actually got to sit in on a class and got the impression that people there are on a similar wavelength as i'm on. they don't have a codified program in sustainable agriculture, but their existing majors are a) related enough and b) flexible enough to allow me to do what i want. also, they have tons of resources... a new organic dairy, for example. i'd have to be very self-directed at unh to get the most from it, but i think that's good for me. i need the challenge. i'm planning to apply.
hampshire was portrayed to me before my visit as a sort of "simon's rock for big people". which in many ways it was... and which was exactly the problem. i might as well go back to src as go to hampshire. been there, done that, loved it, wrote the book. also, when i mentioned my summer internship to one of the farm managers (by name of farm, no less, i didn't even have to say more than that), she instantly said "you'll learn a lot more there than i can teach you." obviously she wasn't thinking about trying to sell a prospie on her program! cross hampshire off the list.
cornell i'm going to visit when i'm home for the last weekend in march. obviously i'll post about that later.
my mom mentioned back in the fall that i might want to read up on seasonal affective disorder, given my increasingly strong desire to hibernate. i brushed it off until a couple days ago, when i looked at various lists of symptoms and went "check. check. check. oh god yes, check. check." so not surprising, especially given that my circumstances this winter were such as to make dealing with it almost as difficult as possible. now that the light is strong enough and i'm making a point of going outside everyday, i'm starting to come out of it and i'm realizing that i was a completely different person this winter than i was last summer. both seasons were hard on me for different reasons, but this winter was just horrible. i kinda even feel like the cushmans don't really even know me because i was not even fully functioning as myself for the majority of the time they've known me. i'm focusing my energy on making sure that i get into habits this summer that will be easier to continue through the winter and i'm going to be deliberate about my living circumstances so that i can get outside and get sunlight and exercise this winter. however, i have a burning question: why didn't anybody call me on the fact that i was acting like a completely different person for months? when i came back to my mom's suggestion of seasonal affective disorder, i got there through my own thought processes. all winter i knew that i wasn't in the greatest of circumstances but i didn't realize until now just how bad it was. and if it was that bad... why didn't anybody say something to me about it?
hard to tell in print, i'm sure, but that's simple, genuine curiosity. no accusations or feelings of betrayal here (i double-checked).
uvm didn't make much of an impression on me either way when all was said and done. they have a good program and the department i'd be working with is small enough that i'll have the flexibility and access to professors that i need to learn what i want to learn. on the other hand, uvm and burlington are really condensed. i'd been to burlington previously and it reminded me of ithaca, but i think it might be too cramped for me. also, there wasn't a whole lot of green space on campus. however, i still think i'm going to apply.
sterling, first of all, is tiny. i thought i would appreciate it, and in a way i did, but i think it's too small to be good for me academically. also, they have so many core requirements that are highly unlikely to even be classes at other schools that i would be hard-pressed to graduate in two years. as a freshman i would probably have been way more interested in sterling, but as a transfer it's pretty much ruled out.
unh wound up being the one i liked the most. the campus isn't cramped or condensed but it's still very walkable. i actually got to sit in on a class and got the impression that people there are on a similar wavelength as i'm on. they don't have a codified program in sustainable agriculture, but their existing majors are a) related enough and b) flexible enough to allow me to do what i want. also, they have tons of resources... a new organic dairy, for example. i'd have to be very self-directed at unh to get the most from it, but i think that's good for me. i need the challenge. i'm planning to apply.
hampshire was portrayed to me before my visit as a sort of "simon's rock for big people". which in many ways it was... and which was exactly the problem. i might as well go back to src as go to hampshire. been there, done that, loved it, wrote the book. also, when i mentioned my summer internship to one of the farm managers (by name of farm, no less, i didn't even have to say more than that), she instantly said "you'll learn a lot more there than i can teach you." obviously she wasn't thinking about trying to sell a prospie on her program! cross hampshire off the list.
cornell i'm going to visit when i'm home for the last weekend in march. obviously i'll post about that later.
my mom mentioned back in the fall that i might want to read up on seasonal affective disorder, given my increasingly strong desire to hibernate. i brushed it off until a couple days ago, when i looked at various lists of symptoms and went "check. check. check. oh god yes, check. check." so not surprising, especially given that my circumstances this winter were such as to make dealing with it almost as difficult as possible. now that the light is strong enough and i'm making a point of going outside everyday, i'm starting to come out of it and i'm realizing that i was a completely different person this winter than i was last summer. both seasons were hard on me for different reasons, but this winter was just horrible. i kinda even feel like the cushmans don't really even know me because i was not even fully functioning as myself for the majority of the time they've known me. i'm focusing my energy on making sure that i get into habits this summer that will be easier to continue through the winter and i'm going to be deliberate about my living circumstances so that i can get outside and get sunlight and exercise this winter. however, i have a burning question: why didn't anybody call me on the fact that i was acting like a completely different person for months? when i came back to my mom's suggestion of seasonal affective disorder, i got there through my own thought processes. all winter i knew that i wasn't in the greatest of circumstances but i didn't realize until now just how bad it was. and if it was that bad... why didn't anybody say something to me about it?
hard to tell in print, i'm sure, but that's simple, genuine curiosity. no accusations or feelings of betrayal here (i double-checked).