I want to be like Herb
I'm sleepy....
Currently, I am typing from the computer lab in the 9th floor of Courtney's dorm at the University of Michigan.
Now, I don't normally feel old, but being in a dorm room with a bunch of 19 year olds makes me feel really old and really depressed. Im not much older than these kids, and hell I dated guys my age when I was their age...but something is different now. The stages of our lives just make us worlds apart and much more than the actually 3-5 years difference that exists.
Communal bathrooms = strange. If there is one thing that I appreciate about GW, it is most certainly the dorm rooms. Thank you GW for spoiling me and not forcing me to wear flipflops to shower and to do the special maneuver that I call...switching from towel to underwear/robe in front of people without anyone seeing you naked. Ok, that title is long. I am working on a new one. Maybe the $40,000 a year and the massive student loans I now have to repay was worth my own private bathroom (with marble sinks let's not forget).
Things I have learned on this trip:
it's weird traveling across the country for a week and not really having a weekend. Despite not seeing Dan, and working 60 hours a week, I do prefer this lifestyle to being in front of a desk all day.
What can I say, I'm just not an office person. I've known this forever. I guess I am just trying to fake it.
Presenting at a conference = lots of fun. Attending a conference as an audience member = nap time. Also, I am convinced that our deforestation problem is due to conference binders and all the papers they put in them. I swear, that thing weighs 10 lbs, and probably puts my bag overweight. Now, I have to spend $50 to get home a bag with a 10 lb binder that I dont even want and probably will never look at again. Who needs powerpoint presentations for each of those workshops, huh? If i didn't attend it, it probably means that it wasn't relevant to me. So, why would I need the powerpoint? If conferences got rid of binders and handouts, it would probably save the forests.
Spending my birthday with my uncle was special. It has never happened before and it will probably never happen again. I am lucky that I had fate to throw this opportunity at me. And for those of you who called me on my birthday: Thank you. It meant a lot.
24 is apparently officially the mid-twenties. I tried to argue this with my uncle but I lost.
Now that I have a digital camera, I try to be all artsy with my photographs. I know I think that they come out pretty good, but I think everyone else will probably think that they suck. My sister is sick of me taking pictures of the trees. She wants me to take more "fun pictures."
I love my headphones. They engulf me in a "coccoon of sound" and block out the screaming 5 year old on the 4 hour plane ride. Enough said.
I love being at college. I love talking to students, and helping them, and working with them. And there is something about a big college town. Seeing everyone decked out in the apparel that brands their school like a marking of pride. People dont have pride like that much anymore. Except for the crazy rednecks who paint American flags on the back windows of their trucks. But nobody thinks MIchigan kids are crazy for doing that with their school's logo. Man they must make a lot of money in merchandise. It's like their entire wardrobes are made of UMich gear. This is something I really feel like I missed at GW, and something that you can't really get at a school in a big city. Students there are just more concerned with how they look. The hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants look would not fly at a bar on a Saturday night in DC.
There's something else about a college town...it's just more alternative and independent I guess. Really cool little shops, neat streets. Sure they have stuff like this in cities, but its not the same. And I know that not every college town is alternative either. I would just love to run my own little indie shop and hang out with the students all day. There is this one store: Herb's Guitar Shop. It's in a house with a porch, and I can just picture Herb jamming out on the porch with his guitar all day waiting for the next student to drop by and talk about Martins. I'm not saying I want to run my own guitar shop, but I dig that kind of scene.
I want to work in a college town.
I really love hooded sweatshirts. I think I am going to have to buy more. It's like wearing a blanket around you all day!
Well, my journey is almost complete and I will be back tomorrow. Don't be suprised if I go into hibernation for like 2 weeks.
Currently, I am typing from the computer lab in the 9th floor of Courtney's dorm at the University of Michigan.
Now, I don't normally feel old, but being in a dorm room with a bunch of 19 year olds makes me feel really old and really depressed. Im not much older than these kids, and hell I dated guys my age when I was their age...but something is different now. The stages of our lives just make us worlds apart and much more than the actually 3-5 years difference that exists.
Communal bathrooms = strange. If there is one thing that I appreciate about GW, it is most certainly the dorm rooms. Thank you GW for spoiling me and not forcing me to wear flipflops to shower and to do the special maneuver that I call...switching from towel to underwear/robe in front of people without anyone seeing you naked. Ok, that title is long. I am working on a new one. Maybe the $40,000 a year and the massive student loans I now have to repay was worth my own private bathroom (with marble sinks let's not forget).
Things I have learned on this trip:
it's weird traveling across the country for a week and not really having a weekend. Despite not seeing Dan, and working 60 hours a week, I do prefer this lifestyle to being in front of a desk all day.
What can I say, I'm just not an office person. I've known this forever. I guess I am just trying to fake it.
Presenting at a conference = lots of fun. Attending a conference as an audience member = nap time. Also, I am convinced that our deforestation problem is due to conference binders and all the papers they put in them. I swear, that thing weighs 10 lbs, and probably puts my bag overweight. Now, I have to spend $50 to get home a bag with a 10 lb binder that I dont even want and probably will never look at again. Who needs powerpoint presentations for each of those workshops, huh? If i didn't attend it, it probably means that it wasn't relevant to me. So, why would I need the powerpoint? If conferences got rid of binders and handouts, it would probably save the forests.
Spending my birthday with my uncle was special. It has never happened before and it will probably never happen again. I am lucky that I had fate to throw this opportunity at me. And for those of you who called me on my birthday: Thank you. It meant a lot.
24 is apparently officially the mid-twenties. I tried to argue this with my uncle but I lost.
Now that I have a digital camera, I try to be all artsy with my photographs. I know I think that they come out pretty good, but I think everyone else will probably think that they suck. My sister is sick of me taking pictures of the trees. She wants me to take more "fun pictures."
I love my headphones. They engulf me in a "coccoon of sound" and block out the screaming 5 year old on the 4 hour plane ride. Enough said.
I love being at college. I love talking to students, and helping them, and working with them. And there is something about a big college town. Seeing everyone decked out in the apparel that brands their school like a marking of pride. People dont have pride like that much anymore. Except for the crazy rednecks who paint American flags on the back windows of their trucks. But nobody thinks MIchigan kids are crazy for doing that with their school's logo. Man they must make a lot of money in merchandise. It's like their entire wardrobes are made of UMich gear. This is something I really feel like I missed at GW, and something that you can't really get at a school in a big city. Students there are just more concerned with how they look. The hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants look would not fly at a bar on a Saturday night in DC.
There's something else about a college town...it's just more alternative and independent I guess. Really cool little shops, neat streets. Sure they have stuff like this in cities, but its not the same. And I know that not every college town is alternative either. I would just love to run my own little indie shop and hang out with the students all day. There is this one store: Herb's Guitar Shop. It's in a house with a porch, and I can just picture Herb jamming out on the porch with his guitar all day waiting for the next student to drop by and talk about Martins. I'm not saying I want to run my own guitar shop, but I dig that kind of scene.
I want to work in a college town.
I really love hooded sweatshirts. I think I am going to have to buy more. It's like wearing a blanket around you all day!
Well, my journey is almost complete and I will be back tomorrow. Don't be suprised if I go into hibernation for like 2 weeks.