The End of the Beginning
Wow, so I guess I'd better play catch up. I'll just start with the part where I start college.
Mum let Doug sleep at the house on the sofa. Then he slept the whole way to New Orleans. They both did a great job helping me unpack. The elevator broke, which sucked. We went to Target, the first two-story Target I'd ever seen. They had a little shopping cart escalator that was the coolest thing ever. We ate at Semolina's after, and I had a wonderful pasta pesto. I was SO impressed with that dish.
I started getting unexpectedly emotional somewhere near that point. I've never been one to miss my family or get homesick, but when I started thinking of being left alone, away from Doug and everyone else I knew, I choked up.
We got back to the dorm right before the floor meeting was about to start. So I had to hurry to say goodbye to Mum and Doug. They had to leave quickly, which was probably better because I was crying. I kind of hid in my closet until Rachel's parents left, and then Rachel gave me a hug.
That night I went out for a tour of the frat parties. Not much to say there.
Sleeping in my dorm bed was weird. Sleeping in a hotel is one thing, because you know it's not your bed. But sleeping in a new bed that's yours, in a new place, just feels weird.
Rachel's parents came back the next morning and took her to breakfast. That night I went with her family and their friends to eat at Muriel's. It was freezing. Then we had another floor meeting. The RA is pretty cool. She's very calm and very laid back.
The next morning, Rachel's parents took her to breakfast while I went to a meeting. They came back and I hung out in Ashley and Kayla's room while they said goodbye. Then we went to another meeting.
I don't know if it was that night or the next, but we went out again. Ashley, Kayla, Rachel, Chelsea, Carrie and me. We went to Sig Ep, Zeta Psi, and Sigma Chi. Chelsea and Carrie were drunk. I was drunker. I took pictures of Kayla and random dudes. I took a picture with a random dude. I played flipcup. I stole chips. I offered the chips to strangers. I told everyone to look at the moon. I screamed fuck in the quad. At least 50 times. I tried to take a picture with a fire hydrant. I choked on my chips in the Monroe lobby and was given water by the desk attendant. I stole a door decoration. And then somehow made it into my own bed again.
Went to a meeting. Stayed home the next night.
Went to a meeting, watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy with like 8 people in Ashley and Kayla's room, and then went out with Stephanie, Gabby, Christa, and Danielle.
That night was ok. There wasn't a whole lot going on. The group kept splitting up and I spent most of it following people around and trying to find others. I did meet a lot of people though. I'm enjoying meeting all these people. There was a kid named Ollie who reminded me a lot of Aaron and Austin. I met a girl from Pi Phi named Emily Manuel who is friends with Gabby. Then I met another Pi Phi named Sarah who was friends with her. We hung out outside the Boot for a while, then went to Sammy, and then finally went home "early" at almost 3 AM.
Today I slept late. Or tried to at least. I'm not sleeping very well here. I started organizing my wardrobe, then Rachel and I rearranged the room. We walked to Rite Aid and I got some food. Then I organized some more. We went to dinner at Bruff with Ashley, Kayla, Chelsea, and Carrie. When we came back, Rachel said she needed to have a talk with me.
I was really worried at first. I thought she was going to tell me that something I did annoyed her, or that I smelled bad or something. But then she choked up and I got kind of confused. After a minute, she told me that she was going to be transferring to Villanova next year and that she didn't konw if she should stay at Tulane for this semester. She explained that she only came to Tulane for the weather, and didn't have a boyfriend at the time. After the hurricane, she didn't want to come back, but couldn't stay at Villanova, so her mom made her come. Well Villanova called tonight and told her she could go back. So she asked me what she should do. I asked her if she thought she could be happy here and why she came here in the first place. After talking a while, I told her that as much as I hated to lose her as a friend and a roommate, she needed to go back to Villanova if her heart wasn't in Tulane. We then talked about when she would fly back and where we could get boxes to pack her stuff. She called her mom and told her she was going back to Philly.
Her mom wasn't happy. Her mom thought she made a bad choice coming here in the first place and wanted her to tough out the consequence. I felt really bad for her at that point. But we had more important things to think about, like her flight, and packing. We went down to the front desk to ask where we could get boxes. He wasn't much help, so I suggested the bookstore, or the cafeteria. As fortune would have it, we found a dumpster full of cardboard boxes in back of the bookstore. So Rachel did the dumpster diving as I stacked them on the sidewalk. The front desk attendant was pretty surprised to see us come in with so many boxes. We went up to the room and I helped her put together boxes and pack her stuff. We got most of it done, and she still has tomorrow to finish.
Tomorrow I start class.
Mum let Doug sleep at the house on the sofa. Then he slept the whole way to New Orleans. They both did a great job helping me unpack. The elevator broke, which sucked. We went to Target, the first two-story Target I'd ever seen. They had a little shopping cart escalator that was the coolest thing ever. We ate at Semolina's after, and I had a wonderful pasta pesto. I was SO impressed with that dish.
I started getting unexpectedly emotional somewhere near that point. I've never been one to miss my family or get homesick, but when I started thinking of being left alone, away from Doug and everyone else I knew, I choked up.
We got back to the dorm right before the floor meeting was about to start. So I had to hurry to say goodbye to Mum and Doug. They had to leave quickly, which was probably better because I was crying. I kind of hid in my closet until Rachel's parents left, and then Rachel gave me a hug.
That night I went out for a tour of the frat parties. Not much to say there.
Sleeping in my dorm bed was weird. Sleeping in a hotel is one thing, because you know it's not your bed. But sleeping in a new bed that's yours, in a new place, just feels weird.
Rachel's parents came back the next morning and took her to breakfast. That night I went with her family and their friends to eat at Muriel's. It was freezing. Then we had another floor meeting. The RA is pretty cool. She's very calm and very laid back.
The next morning, Rachel's parents took her to breakfast while I went to a meeting. They came back and I hung out in Ashley and Kayla's room while they said goodbye. Then we went to another meeting.
I don't know if it was that night or the next, but we went out again. Ashley, Kayla, Rachel, Chelsea, Carrie and me. We went to Sig Ep, Zeta Psi, and Sigma Chi. Chelsea and Carrie were drunk. I was drunker. I took pictures of Kayla and random dudes. I took a picture with a random dude. I played flipcup. I stole chips. I offered the chips to strangers. I told everyone to look at the moon. I screamed fuck in the quad. At least 50 times. I tried to take a picture with a fire hydrant. I choked on my chips in the Monroe lobby and was given water by the desk attendant. I stole a door decoration. And then somehow made it into my own bed again.
Went to a meeting. Stayed home the next night.
Went to a meeting, watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy with like 8 people in Ashley and Kayla's room, and then went out with Stephanie, Gabby, Christa, and Danielle.
That night was ok. There wasn't a whole lot going on. The group kept splitting up and I spent most of it following people around and trying to find others. I did meet a lot of people though. I'm enjoying meeting all these people. There was a kid named Ollie who reminded me a lot of Aaron and Austin. I met a girl from Pi Phi named Emily Manuel who is friends with Gabby. Then I met another Pi Phi named Sarah who was friends with her. We hung out outside the Boot for a while, then went to Sammy, and then finally went home "early" at almost 3 AM.
Today I slept late. Or tried to at least. I'm not sleeping very well here. I started organizing my wardrobe, then Rachel and I rearranged the room. We walked to Rite Aid and I got some food. Then I organized some more. We went to dinner at Bruff with Ashley, Kayla, Chelsea, and Carrie. When we came back, Rachel said she needed to have a talk with me.
I was really worried at first. I thought she was going to tell me that something I did annoyed her, or that I smelled bad or something. But then she choked up and I got kind of confused. After a minute, she told me that she was going to be transferring to Villanova next year and that she didn't konw if she should stay at Tulane for this semester. She explained that she only came to Tulane for the weather, and didn't have a boyfriend at the time. After the hurricane, she didn't want to come back, but couldn't stay at Villanova, so her mom made her come. Well Villanova called tonight and told her she could go back. So she asked me what she should do. I asked her if she thought she could be happy here and why she came here in the first place. After talking a while, I told her that as much as I hated to lose her as a friend and a roommate, she needed to go back to Villanova if her heart wasn't in Tulane. We then talked about when she would fly back and where we could get boxes to pack her stuff. She called her mom and told her she was going back to Philly.
Her mom wasn't happy. Her mom thought she made a bad choice coming here in the first place and wanted her to tough out the consequence. I felt really bad for her at that point. But we had more important things to think about, like her flight, and packing. We went down to the front desk to ask where we could get boxes. He wasn't much help, so I suggested the bookstore, or the cafeteria. As fortune would have it, we found a dumpster full of cardboard boxes in back of the bookstore. So Rachel did the dumpster diving as I stacked them on the sidewalk. The front desk attendant was pretty surprised to see us come in with so many boxes. We went up to the room and I helped her put together boxes and pack her stuff. We got most of it done, and she still has tomorrow to finish.
Tomorrow I start class.