Vermont Hoooooo
So I've been settled up here for nearly three weeks. Non-academically, things are going great. Academically, ehhhh, not so much.
My roomate, Tyler, is a nice guy. He's kinda' weird sometimes, but so are most people over here. He's big into 4chan which is cool, I guess.
I've made a couple of friends already. I've noticed that I tend to make friends better with people who I read as someone who won't fuck me over or are scummy in general. I mean, I pick up on the way they act over the course of a few days and I'm drawn to them. It works wonders.
Funny thing is that I've come across many people from NJ. This one guy is from Mountainside and was working a register at Bob's Store when I bought a pair of Vans the week before school started. And I've made good friends with Cullen Toner who also somehow ended up here. I like him a lot. He's an honest guy, pretty smart, and fun to be around.
Something that I love about being up here is that it's in the middle of nowhere. The town of Putney is so tiny. It doesn't even have a police department, just a sheriff. There is a general store that has pretty much everything. There's also big store that sells hand-crafted baskets and things like that. There's a teensy-weensy diner that I've only been to once. It's only a block away, so I don't know why I don't go there more often. Actually, everything is down the road. I have no clue how many streets make up Putney, but I've only been on two of them. There's a BBQ place in town that I suppose it sort of like Grease Trucks, but I have yet to go there.
I'm only 10-15 minutes away from Brattleboro, the closest major city. I believe public nudity is still legal there, so I think I'll try hitting that up before a law is passed banning it.
There's a small indie record store in Brattleboro called Turn It Up. The place is pretty cool. They have a ton of CD's, vinyl, and movies. The prices are a steal. Always. CD's range from $5-$10. If anything is more than $10, it's probably because it's 2-disc. The only problem is that I'm not really interested in a lot of what they have in stock. Their metal, punk, and hardcore sections are kind of weak, but I really can't complain all that much. I saw a bunch of Faith No More and Nick Cave. When you find something there, you find something there. Here's what I've gotten from there so far.
"Girls Own Juice EP" -A.W.K. (looonnnnggg out of print) $5
"Harvest" -Naglfar (came with bonus DVD that I didn't know about until after I purchased it) $5
"Live From the Black Hand Side" -Danzig (didn't know it existed) $8
The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The cafeteria sits atop a big hill, along with the dorms, and has very huge windows, so I usually grab a seat by the windows where I'm able to gaze at the ranges of green mountains and cloudy, blue sky. When it rains, the mountains are covered in patches of fog. It's beautiful.
Last week I decided to go exploring with two friends down the road that the school is on. None of us have ever been down this road before and didn't know where it lead. We got into a car and drove down it for maybe 20-30 minutes. It went through a whole bunch of woods that lay next to the river that separates Vermont and New Hampshire. It goes by some farmland, too. It was very cool.
Putney is very close to the border of Mass. and New Hamp., so blindly driving in any direction for a few minutes can lead you into another state.
I've been taking much better care of my body since I got here. I've been eating pretty well and I try to go to the gym every other day to lift weights and work on abdominal exercises. I've nearly cut out all soda and caffeine from my diet. I've been sticking to mostly flavored water and unsweetened iced tea at meals.
The academic work is strenuous. I find it difficult to sit down and do it. It's very, very different from the work I got in high school. I'm going to have to adjust to this stuff a lot. I should be good eventually.
It's starting to get fairly cold out. From what some locals have told me, it can get to be -20 below. This is the best news for me. I'm so excited. There are plenty of good spots for sledding on campus and I'm hoping that I'll pick up skiing again.
The campus itself is pretty fancy. There are a bunch of auditoriums. A rock-climbing wall in the gym. Two weight rooms. A lounge with pool, foosball, and air hockey tables. A swanky library. A cafe. This place is pretty amazing.
I'm trying to work on getting bands to come up and play for the students. I've already run the idea by whoever's in charge of that kind of business and they said that they would love to see some live music happen on campus and that the school would pay for everything, which came as excellent news for me. I just need to find a band that would be willing to come out to the middle of nowhere and play for a bunch of college kids.
I'll try to get pictures up soon, if I end up taking any.
I like it here.
My roomate, Tyler, is a nice guy. He's kinda' weird sometimes, but so are most people over here. He's big into 4chan which is cool, I guess.
I've made a couple of friends already. I've noticed that I tend to make friends better with people who I read as someone who won't fuck me over or are scummy in general. I mean, I pick up on the way they act over the course of a few days and I'm drawn to them. It works wonders.
Funny thing is that I've come across many people from NJ. This one guy is from Mountainside and was working a register at Bob's Store when I bought a pair of Vans the week before school started. And I've made good friends with Cullen Toner who also somehow ended up here. I like him a lot. He's an honest guy, pretty smart, and fun to be around.
Something that I love about being up here is that it's in the middle of nowhere. The town of Putney is so tiny. It doesn't even have a police department, just a sheriff. There is a general store that has pretty much everything. There's also big store that sells hand-crafted baskets and things like that. There's a teensy-weensy diner that I've only been to once. It's only a block away, so I don't know why I don't go there more often. Actually, everything is down the road. I have no clue how many streets make up Putney, but I've only been on two of them. There's a BBQ place in town that I suppose it sort of like Grease Trucks, but I have yet to go there.
I'm only 10-15 minutes away from Brattleboro, the closest major city. I believe public nudity is still legal there, so I think I'll try hitting that up before a law is passed banning it.
There's a small indie record store in Brattleboro called Turn It Up. The place is pretty cool. They have a ton of CD's, vinyl, and movies. The prices are a steal. Always. CD's range from $5-$10. If anything is more than $10, it's probably because it's 2-disc. The only problem is that I'm not really interested in a lot of what they have in stock. Their metal, punk, and hardcore sections are kind of weak, but I really can't complain all that much. I saw a bunch of Faith No More and Nick Cave. When you find something there, you find something there. Here's what I've gotten from there so far.
"Girls Own Juice EP" -A.W.K. (looonnnnggg out of print) $5
"Harvest" -Naglfar (came with bonus DVD that I didn't know about until after I purchased it) $5
"Live From the Black Hand Side" -Danzig (didn't know it existed) $8
The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The cafeteria sits atop a big hill, along with the dorms, and has very huge windows, so I usually grab a seat by the windows where I'm able to gaze at the ranges of green mountains and cloudy, blue sky. When it rains, the mountains are covered in patches of fog. It's beautiful.
Last week I decided to go exploring with two friends down the road that the school is on. None of us have ever been down this road before and didn't know where it lead. We got into a car and drove down it for maybe 20-30 minutes. It went through a whole bunch of woods that lay next to the river that separates Vermont and New Hampshire. It goes by some farmland, too. It was very cool.
Putney is very close to the border of Mass. and New Hamp., so blindly driving in any direction for a few minutes can lead you into another state.
I've been taking much better care of my body since I got here. I've been eating pretty well and I try to go to the gym every other day to lift weights and work on abdominal exercises. I've nearly cut out all soda and caffeine from my diet. I've been sticking to mostly flavored water and unsweetened iced tea at meals.
The academic work is strenuous. I find it difficult to sit down and do it. It's very, very different from the work I got in high school. I'm going to have to adjust to this stuff a lot. I should be good eventually.
It's starting to get fairly cold out. From what some locals have told me, it can get to be -20 below. This is the best news for me. I'm so excited. There are plenty of good spots for sledding on campus and I'm hoping that I'll pick up skiing again.
The campus itself is pretty fancy. There are a bunch of auditoriums. A rock-climbing wall in the gym. Two weight rooms. A lounge with pool, foosball, and air hockey tables. A swanky library. A cafe. This place is pretty amazing.
I'm trying to work on getting bands to come up and play for the students. I've already run the idea by whoever's in charge of that kind of business and they said that they would love to see some live music happen on campus and that the school would pay for everything, which came as excellent news for me. I just need to find a band that would be willing to come out to the middle of nowhere and play for a bunch of college kids.
I'll try to get pictures up soon, if I end up taking any.
I like it here.