a completely different place
I'm sure we all wonder what the future will bring. How other people or even you, yourself, will change a few years down the road? Tis an interesting thought indeed and the perfect inspiration for this entry. Because four years from now, who knows the person or place I will find myself?
Find Myself
On the way to Orientation, I couldn't help but get overly excited. The land was voluptuous made of spelunking sites, forests, hills and characterized by high altitude-caused cooler weather. Sarah, her and my mom, and I reached orientation at UTK a day early. So we ended up going to market square to eat at a place called Tomato Head where me met up with Can and Sarah's sister. Very wonderful indeed! Also, it was nice seeing Can. There's a prime example of how drastic a person can transform. She's so much more... confident, outgoing, comfortable. For this I am happy. Then, I played some bike polo with Sarah's sister and friends. Yes bicycle polo. They made their own mallets out of golf clubs and plastic material. I wasn't very good at it, especially considering I was riding someone else's bike who had a couple inches on my height, but it was fun trying. Possibly even more fun watching however. Everyone drank quite a bit of various alcohols before playing. Needless to say there were some wipe outs and even a couple collisions, but thats to be expected when a multitude of bikes chase after a single tennis ball. One of the most interesting girls I met- Meryl. Couldn't help but continuously smile, compliment everyone, and include everyone in conversation. Definitely my favorite drunk I've ever met. She also seemed very... sincere, accepting. That's one thing I'm anticipating greatly from college. The feeling of acceptance. Like I belong. Like age doesn't matter. We ended our night going back to the dorms while the others went swimming in a quarry around 4 in the morning. The lack of curfew- I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Although I did regret it the next morning. I think Sarah did as well, ha! Because.....we had to get our picture taken for student identification cards. And did I look as high as could be!!! My hair was everywhere, almost as if I had been electrocuted, my eyes were half-opened and my grin was saying "gigity gigity." Besides that, we were struggling to keep ourselves awake. But in my defense, I think the source of my exhaustion was scheduling classes for next year. The reason: I am sorely disappointed in the major that I had picked. At first I picked Biosystems Engineering because of interest in biofuels such as creating fuel from switch grass. Then, I discovered the major dealt mostly with agriculture and farming in general. So I turned to Environmental and Civil Engineering but when talking to the head professor instead of trying to coax me to his college, it seemed as if he didn't care and tried to coax me out of it. Also, the only environmental part of that major is water treatment. Don't get me wrong, everyone NEEDS clean water. It just isn't what I pictured myself doing. I want to learn something everyday. I don't want to spend the majority of my time under jail-like fluorescent lights. I want to do research on the environment and the impacts humans have on it. I want to find various ways to solve these problems. I want to work in/with nature. I just don't know how to get to that point. Also, I don't know if I want to be an engineer. To tell you the truth my parents kind of talked me into it even though they (at least my dad) tells me I should do whatever makes me happy. I came to scheduling with a list of classes I wanted to take to get general education requirements out of the way, but engineer majors have strict schedules. Astronomy would have been nice. Or maybe even a philosophy class on feminism. Or EVEN an environmental ethics class. Turns out the only thing I chose was world geography. Everything else was required of me. SO, my schedule for first semester? Well LOTS of chemistry, math, geography, and economics. By the time Sarah and I rejoined at some technology lecture, I was slouching and felt like all of my energy had been vacuumed out of my them empty corpse. Could it be a sign that I shouldn't major in engineering? Quite possibly! Regardless, I will get my engineer major because it's "safe" says mom. Then off to peace corps for two years and then finally to grad school at my either one of my dream schools in New York: Stonybrook or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry where I can actually find a major that I enjoy. If I can't handle it, I might even change to an Environmental Science major after this coming year. One things for certain: I'm going to try as hard as possible to get a job in the green house. MEH. After tons of lectures, Sarah, our moms, and I split to see our sisters. First we stopped by where Jessica (Sarah's sister) works: YeeHaw. It's a really cool printing shop that uses old timey printing presses to create posters. They have to cut out designs from wood themselves or use already carved/cut letters or designs. Then mom and I visited Can at her apartment and went to "Earth Market." The store was an exact copy of Whole Foods and we found some tasty stuff: chocolate ginger, jungle peanuts, and more. Then we went to Mellow Mushroom with her friend "Tchang". I liked him at first but after some time I discovered his pessimistic, rude side. Then they returned me to the University so that I could go to "Orange Bash." Dropped off, I went back to my dorm to wake up Sarah. We then played pool and ping pong quite terribly but had loads of fun and even met a kid named Dylan. He has quite a crazy beard for his age, glasses, and braces. Majoring in computer science. Afterward, Sarah and I walked to McDonalds and were joined by many others where we met Andrew Thompson and his friend. Interesting guy he was. The next day we got to check out the dorm hall we'll be in: Massey. It used to be an all-girl house but as of next year will be co-ed. There are community bathrooms but, hey, at least I don't have to buy toilet paper or clean it. Each floor has a kitchen (perfect for baking cookies with Sarah) and each dorm has THREE windows, tons of space, and mint green shelves. I'm quite excited indeed! EXCEPT the jerks surprised everyone at orientation with a terrible factor: TUITION WILL BE RAISED 3,000 DOLLARS. We'll see how long I'll last there. I'll just have to work my ass off. Definitely get a job and pay tuition by the semester.
There, I felt like a completely different person. I felt an overwhelming happiness. A sort of freedom. A sense of responsibility. An ability to comfortably converse with adults and professors. An outgoing tendency to introduce myself and actually meet people. I'm going to make certain I participate in everything I missed out in high school: football games, school events, soccer, school spirit, outgoing personality, more clubs, etc. Everything about this place just feels so different. I do believe it will bring out the best in me. Now to find more scholarship...
Don't get me wrong, I will miss aspects of HOME. My family. Matthew. Spencer,Jake,Richard,Andy. Shelby Farms. Quiznos. Financial Security. Corn Maze. Musicfest. BBQ Nachos. It will all be there when I return, hopefully.
~Peace~
Find Myself
On the way to Orientation, I couldn't help but get overly excited. The land was voluptuous made of spelunking sites, forests, hills and characterized by high altitude-caused cooler weather. Sarah, her and my mom, and I reached orientation at UTK a day early. So we ended up going to market square to eat at a place called Tomato Head where me met up with Can and Sarah's sister. Very wonderful indeed! Also, it was nice seeing Can. There's a prime example of how drastic a person can transform. She's so much more... confident, outgoing, comfortable. For this I am happy. Then, I played some bike polo with Sarah's sister and friends. Yes bicycle polo. They made their own mallets out of golf clubs and plastic material. I wasn't very good at it, especially considering I was riding someone else's bike who had a couple inches on my height, but it was fun trying. Possibly even more fun watching however. Everyone drank quite a bit of various alcohols before playing. Needless to say there were some wipe outs and even a couple collisions, but thats to be expected when a multitude of bikes chase after a single tennis ball. One of the most interesting girls I met- Meryl. Couldn't help but continuously smile, compliment everyone, and include everyone in conversation. Definitely my favorite drunk I've ever met. She also seemed very... sincere, accepting. That's one thing I'm anticipating greatly from college. The feeling of acceptance. Like I belong. Like age doesn't matter. We ended our night going back to the dorms while the others went swimming in a quarry around 4 in the morning. The lack of curfew- I don't think I'll ever get used to it. Although I did regret it the next morning. I think Sarah did as well, ha! Because.....we had to get our picture taken for student identification cards. And did I look as high as could be!!! My hair was everywhere, almost as if I had been electrocuted, my eyes were half-opened and my grin was saying "gigity gigity." Besides that, we were struggling to keep ourselves awake. But in my defense, I think the source of my exhaustion was scheduling classes for next year. The reason: I am sorely disappointed in the major that I had picked. At first I picked Biosystems Engineering because of interest in biofuels such as creating fuel from switch grass. Then, I discovered the major dealt mostly with agriculture and farming in general. So I turned to Environmental and Civil Engineering but when talking to the head professor instead of trying to coax me to his college, it seemed as if he didn't care and tried to coax me out of it. Also, the only environmental part of that major is water treatment. Don't get me wrong, everyone NEEDS clean water. It just isn't what I pictured myself doing. I want to learn something everyday. I don't want to spend the majority of my time under jail-like fluorescent lights. I want to do research on the environment and the impacts humans have on it. I want to find various ways to solve these problems. I want to work in/with nature. I just don't know how to get to that point. Also, I don't know if I want to be an engineer. To tell you the truth my parents kind of talked me into it even though they (at least my dad) tells me I should do whatever makes me happy. I came to scheduling with a list of classes I wanted to take to get general education requirements out of the way, but engineer majors have strict schedules. Astronomy would have been nice. Or maybe even a philosophy class on feminism. Or EVEN an environmental ethics class. Turns out the only thing I chose was world geography. Everything else was required of me. SO, my schedule for first semester? Well LOTS of chemistry, math, geography, and economics. By the time Sarah and I rejoined at some technology lecture, I was slouching and felt like all of my energy had been vacuumed out of my them empty corpse. Could it be a sign that I shouldn't major in engineering? Quite possibly! Regardless, I will get my engineer major because it's "safe" says mom. Then off to peace corps for two years and then finally to grad school at my either one of my dream schools in New York: Stonybrook or SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry where I can actually find a major that I enjoy. If I can't handle it, I might even change to an Environmental Science major after this coming year. One things for certain: I'm going to try as hard as possible to get a job in the green house. MEH. After tons of lectures, Sarah, our moms, and I split to see our sisters. First we stopped by where Jessica (Sarah's sister) works: YeeHaw. It's a really cool printing shop that uses old timey printing presses to create posters. They have to cut out designs from wood themselves or use already carved/cut letters or designs. Then mom and I visited Can at her apartment and went to "Earth Market." The store was an exact copy of Whole Foods and we found some tasty stuff: chocolate ginger, jungle peanuts, and more. Then we went to Mellow Mushroom with her friend "Tchang". I liked him at first but after some time I discovered his pessimistic, rude side. Then they returned me to the University so that I could go to "Orange Bash." Dropped off, I went back to my dorm to wake up Sarah. We then played pool and ping pong quite terribly but had loads of fun and even met a kid named Dylan. He has quite a crazy beard for his age, glasses, and braces. Majoring in computer science. Afterward, Sarah and I walked to McDonalds and were joined by many others where we met Andrew Thompson and his friend. Interesting guy he was. The next day we got to check out the dorm hall we'll be in: Massey. It used to be an all-girl house but as of next year will be co-ed. There are community bathrooms but, hey, at least I don't have to buy toilet paper or clean it. Each floor has a kitchen (perfect for baking cookies with Sarah) and each dorm has THREE windows, tons of space, and mint green shelves. I'm quite excited indeed! EXCEPT the jerks surprised everyone at orientation with a terrible factor: TUITION WILL BE RAISED 3,000 DOLLARS. We'll see how long I'll last there. I'll just have to work my ass off. Definitely get a job and pay tuition by the semester.
There, I felt like a completely different person. I felt an overwhelming happiness. A sort of freedom. A sense of responsibility. An ability to comfortably converse with adults and professors. An outgoing tendency to introduce myself and actually meet people. I'm going to make certain I participate in everything I missed out in high school: football games, school events, soccer, school spirit, outgoing personality, more clubs, etc. Everything about this place just feels so different. I do believe it will bring out the best in me. Now to find more scholarship...
Don't get me wrong, I will miss aspects of HOME. My family. Matthew. Spencer,Jake,Richard,Andy. Shelby Farms. Quiznos. Financial Security. Corn Maze. Musicfest. BBQ Nachos. It will all be there when I return, hopefully.
~Peace~