I've been here...

almost two full weeks on my own. I don't really believe it. Some hours it just feels like the longest vacation of my life and any minute I'll actually head home and life will be back to normal. Other hours I feel the full realization of being completely here-in this state-in this car-in this apartment-alone. My adventurous spirit, the small bit I had, has abandoned me and it becomes hard to take the trash out or use the pool or merge into traffic because those things do not feel familiar.

I do like walking around campus. It reminds me that there are "others" in the world. The "others" being freshman, with their fresh-from-high-school haircuts and combination smiles of fear and ego. Hooray... It is a bit shocking to be on a secular campus. It has been a long time since I've been in this world. I can honestly say it has been since my own high school. I read the school newspaper today. It was full of the basic freshman tips. "Don't leave your food unattended, the squirrels will get it"... "The fire alarm will always go off in the middle of the night"... "Dinner at the dining hall does not count as a date"... a relief to know that students all around the nation are receiving the same advice and will know what to do in case a transfer is necessary, or if you never learned proper hygiene. Yet at the same time, there were other tips that were completely foreign to me. "A good friend is someone who will bail you out of jail-but a best friend is someone who is in the cell next to you" ...?? Possibly the title of a country song? "Coed dorms are fun but hooking up randomly with a floor mate is never a good idea if you have to see them daily" Really? Do you think this was learned through trial and error? Does that not worry anyone besides myself?

On the up side, the campus is truly beautiful and once I understood that to be sweaty is to be in style (except not really, it's a fine line...) I can almost forget that I am away from everyone and everything I miss. Not to mention my toilet sounds like Donald Duck choking when flushed. Total bonus, no?