university

Today from college… Thoreau and forgetting things.
I might start doing these posts every few days… or I might not… basically don’t expect anything from me!

Farrand Field in the evening

I was in my Introduction to Environmental Design Theory class this morning (it’s a bright and early 8am’er!) and couldn’t help but hear the conversation behind me.

“It’s a fine line… we need to look good this early, but we can’t look like we’ve tried too hard.”

“Yeah like I don’t want the guys thinking I tried to look good but I don’t want to just roll out of bed.”

A few minutes passed and the conversation made a riveting topic switch…

“The trick is showing up to the party with like, a small group. Because like, if we show up in a big group we might as well have ‘freshman’ written on our foreheads.”

“Yeah, like I feel like 6 is the perfect number… wait no maybe that’s like, too many.”

I had a hard time not turning around to identify these dipshits fellow classmates that were having this conversation at 7:54am. If only they knew the irony around the fact they were having a whole conversation about not trying too hard. Ladies… I’d say if you’re strategizing, you’re already trying too hard.

So eventually the professor walked in and I no longer had to resort to the girls behind me for entertainment. Half way through our lecture the professor put up a quote by Thoreau that almost made me laugh… out loud. The quote read as this:

“Which would have advanced the most at the end of a month — the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted, reading as much as would be necessary for this — or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a Rodgers’ penknife from his father? Which would be most likely to cut his fingers?”

Here I am, trying to convince myself that college is where I am meant to be… when this quote shows up. It seemed almost pointed towards me– highlighting the drastic change from my life last year and this new college life.

Would I love to return to that “jackknife making boy gal?” Well of course. But in the end, I suppose it’s a good idea to “attend lectures on metallurgy design theory” also.

Alana doing homework... this wasn't even stagedOn another note, we had a free-write in Writing class today. The starting point was: ‘I don’t remember…’

Mine went as follows:

“I don’t remember a lot of things. Sometimes I try to forget, and sometimes things just escape my mind. Regardless of how or why it happens, I have to figure– I’m better off without those memories. As least, that’s what I tell myself after missing a deadline.”

My inner most thoughts… they speak the truth.

08/28/14

A Quick Trip: Boulder, Colorado

Last weekend I packed a bag and headed over to Boulder Colorado for my University of Colorado Boulder orientation. Yes, I am going to University, and it sounds weird to me too.

 

The trip began on a poor note. I won’t share the scream worthy details of the horrible experience I had with United Airlines, but I’ll throw out a few hints:

Emergency Landing… multiple hour-long lines… 9 hour delay… stand-by lists… horrible customer service… sitting on the runway for 2 hours… miscommunications… lines… and more lines. 

I think it was a healthy reminder of how horrible travel can be at times.

After arriving at my dorm at nearly 3:00am… I collapsed in bed and set my alarm for 6:30 am. Do the math, and you’ll find that there wasn’t so much shuteye. I won’t bore you with the details of orientation, although I don’t think I could even begin to explain how boring it  actually was. We sat through hour after hour of informational sessions that made it too easy to begin to doze off. In between sessions we walked in herds- none of us too sure about where to go or how to get there.

We were obligated to stay up until at least 10pm that night, which (at the risk of sounding anti-social) I was not too happy about. I was hanging out on the field listening to the people around me that had such a fresh-out-of-highschool attitude. Their eyes were glossed over with pure excitement- it was their first real night away from their parents. Some of them commented on their freedom, “Dude, we can like, do whatever we want… this is awesome.” But none of them actually knew what to do with this ‘freedom,’ so they continued to just talk about how ‘dope’ things will be in the fall.

Despite some of the people I met that turned me off, I also met a lot of cool people. I enjoyed spending time with my roommate for the night and her two friends. I also got to officially meet my roommate for the fall, Hannah– pronounced [Hah•nah], not [Han•uh]. I went to dinner with Eli and Kelsey, two TES alum that were kind enough to let me store a suitcase at their house until August. And of course I met a hand full of other nice people that I hope to run into on campus next year.

While killing time in a Starbucks before my flight, I struck up a conversation with a lady sitting across from me. She then invited me to join her son and his friend on a hike. Since their flight was at the same time as mine, I hopped in the car with them and we headed to the flat irons. We didn’t have too long to hike, but Nate, Tomoki and I made the most of it. Although we didn’t make it all the way up we have plans to finish that hike in August. It was the perfect way to end the trip, so a HUGE ‘thank you’ goes to Nate, his mom, and Tomoki!

The trip was overall positive- getting me excited to head out their in a few months. I have to admit I’m most excited about being in Colorado… but I’m slowly and surely warming up to the whole school thing too.