no-sleep sleepover

Since my dorm floor is so tight-knit we like to plan events to have together as a floor. Sometimes we have "study breaks" where we all come out of our studious stupors and make playdoh dinosaurs together in the common room while eating chips and salsa and listening to music... Stuff like that. Last night, we all camped out in the common room and watched A Waking Life, which is a stunning movie; I highly recommend watching it. It's like what What the Bleep Do We Know could have been like if they'd actually addressed anything in that movie. It's beautiful. Then we all slept in there for our official floor slumber party. It was lovely. Lots of cuddling and talking and generally adoring each other. Today, my floor is going to see a performance of a Sophocles play in another part of the city. It promises to be exciting, even though the're not using the traditional masks. It's a great play and I'm really excited to go with this group of people whom I adore so very much.

ebb tide

On this day a month ago, I boarded an airplane in a city two hours from my home of 18 years and moved to a college new city in a new state where I knew almost no one and knew even less about the place. Pretty exciting for a little girl like me. Nervous doesn't even begin to describe my first few days here, but being in a world comprised of intellectuals and smart folks is easier than the world I inhabited back home. Imagine that.

I've made really great friends already. This weekend, my friend Melissa (who lives kitty corner to me and comes from the surrounding area and thusly has a car and knowledge of the area) drove me and Rachel and Danielle out to the beach for the day. It was stunning. Of all of my favourite things in the world (which is an extensive and inclusive list) cold beaches is one of the things that falls very close to the top. It was delightful to be off campus, out of the city and on the beach. Melissa and I went in all the way even though the water was freezing. We were numb when we came out and our clothes were all sticky and salty and awful... but it was worth it. The equinox was last night so that was our celebration of the changing seasons. It was the best equinox celebration imaginable.

Because I live in the Living and Learning building, I have a class with about half the people in the building. The building is small, though, so our class ends up being about 17 people. It makes us a really close-knit community. We all hang out in the common room and study together just about every night. We go into the city together, (go to the beach together), go to campus events together, help each other out, make food together. Its perfect and lovely. I'm so glad I applied for L2. There are possible plans for us to go camping together up in the mountais sometime before it gets too terribly cold.

I bought two house plants for my pretty little room (which has been deemed by many on the floor to be 'the best room they've ever seen' thanks to my roommate's and my careful planning of decorations.) Their names are Walter and Henrietta and I kiss them and talk to them to keep them happy in this somewhat depressing climate. In return, they keep me happy and upbeat in this aforementionedly chilly and grey tendencies of this town.

Tonight is the slam poetry festival on campus and Buddy Wakefield, who is my absolute favourite slammer is coming TO CAMPUS. Yes. I am so excited! In light of that, I should probably be proactive about my homework tonight...

In spite of the amazingness that I am experiencing up here, I sometimes still get a little homesick. I particularly miss the people that I am not yet used to not seeing regularly. And that's all she wrote. Fin.

the first mass email from the land of Academia from (9/7/08)

Good Sunday morning! Forgive me sending out another mass email, but it seemed the best way to fill everyone in and also finish the crushing load of homework I've acquired for the weekend.

Today, I cooked pancakes for about twenty people in my dorm. It was loads of fun. My friend John who lives next door bought ten pounds of just-add-water-pancake mix at the Fred Meyer (which is sort of like a wal-mart for those that don't know) and maple syrup and nutella and peanut butter. Then we all went to the Bone (the cafeteria which is officially known as the Bon Appetit) and filched bagels to store in our cupboards for midnight study snacks. My dormmates are all excellent people and it's fabulous having class with so many of them.

When I applied for campus housing, I applied to a new theme hall called Living and Learning, which is basically an experimental project in which we all have our Core Exploration and Discovery class together and we also live in the same dorm. It's a very exciting way to live. Almost every night, most of us hang out in the common room and discuss all kinds of fascinating things... Topics have ranged from Darwin's possible role as a spiritual guide, to the dangers of cloning, to the correlation between food and community... and much much more. Quite fascinating and frequently catalytic to long bouts of laughter.

This semester, I am taking:

the aforementioned Exploration and Discovery class

Intro to International Affairs

Origins of Islam

and French 201...

I spent the last hour reading the Koran, the Bible and my international affairs book... all very interesting though I'm not sure I entirely understand the Bible. Or the Koran (which is actually nothing like the Bible. I can kiss that assumption goodbye). Or some of the theories in my IA book (though it's not so much understanding the theories themselves as it is comprehending how someone could actually ascribe to said theories).

In spite of many warnings that the weather here would be terrible, it has thus far only rained twice in the two weeks that I've been around. Every non-rainy day has been sunny and warm and today actually feels a little bit like home. However, I am certain that the weather is crafty and is trying to lure me into thinking it will be survivable and any day now, it's going to become a solid block of cold, drizzly days which will pile up until late April.

Homesickness has as of yet remained at a manageable level, but we'll see what happens in the next few weeks. Any contact is appreciated (especially letters. I'll put my address at the bottom of this email) as is general good thinking in my direction. Now my homework calls with a shrill and unignorable (is that a word? I think not.) voice. Enormous love to all.