Monday, September 14, 2009

A very long post about college

I haven't posted in quite a long time. Mostly because I don't really feel that there is anything post-worthy and I still don't but I feel guilty not posting so we'll give it a shot.


College is wonderful.
I love waking up every morning and looking at the gorgeous mountains. I love walking to class and seeing Lake Champlain, and I love the people. I don't know how to describe the people at UVM other than good. I have never been to a place before where I felt that everyone around me could actually do something to change the world. At UVM not only do people care about world issues, they actually know something about it and are trying to make the world a better place. I love walking around campus, meeting new people and hearing their goals because it gives me hope that the world is not going to self-destruct - there are people who really do want to save it and I am lucky enough to be surrounded by them.

My dorm is wonderful.
My best friends thus far are my neighbors - what can be better than that? I live in the GreenHouse, which means I applied to live in a community that commits to living environmentally friendly. I am so happy that I made the decision to live here because the people are just amazing. Going back to the whole change the world thing, the students living with me really do want to reduce their carbon footprint and the faculty that teaches the GreenHouse Program are so excited to show us how. We have composting buckets in the garbage room - and the compost we produce goes into a garden that grows organic vegetables. There is going to be a tri-applethon where students get an opportunity to go apple picking but instead of using motor-transportation people with either walk, bike or canoe to the orchard and then walk, bike or canoe back. There is a guild within the GreenHouse that creates environmentally friendly artwork, one of the items on the agenda is organic hand made tye-dye. And the list goes on, there are just so many opportunities to learn how to live the way that I want to live.

My classes are wonderful.
On the first day of my philosophy class, my philosophy professor introduced himself as Don and said that we can call him whatever we like as long as it is not "Mr. Lobe" or "Professor Lobe". He also explained why he did not feel that some words were curse words: "Fuck and shit are not bad words. Everybody shits and fucking is good so how can something that feel good be bad?" and "Lets say that someone cut me off while I was driving. I would never say "that bitch cut me off" because the word bitch is derogatory I would say "that fucking asshole cut me off" because again fucking is good and everyone has an asshole." Needless to say the class is interesting. I can tell that the guy is a genius, sometimes I can't even understand what he is saying but in a class of 20 I really enjoy having to try to decipher his lectures. I love going to his class because I think differently than in any other class. I am taking biology, chemistry, and statistics so philosophy gives my science brain a break and allows me to use some creativity and analysis.

Clubs are beginning to be wonderful.
I love a packed schedule and luckily my time is starting to fill up. I am apart of the FeelGood club which makes grilled sandwiches to end global hunger. All of the food for the sandwiches are locally donated to the club and we sell them for a $4 donation that goes directly to the Global Hunger Project. I think that we have already made somewhere around $5000 dollars this year (in 2 weeks) so I am very excited to continue with it. I am trying to do some more volunteering with an environmental club called VSTEP and am looking into alternative winter and spring break options as well. I take a free salsa class on tuesday nights and just got myself a 10hr/week job. On top of that I am considering taking up pottery and using the pottery studio on campus.
So yeah I'm getting busy.
Labs start this week which means an added amount of work. I'm hoping to handle it all. I feel like even though I'm pretty involved there are so many other clubs I wanted to join that I just don't have time for. You may have noticed that there is no singing or acting on that list. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not. I'm working on trying new things - if I miss it enough I can always audition for a choir next semester.

I think thats about it. I'm coming home October 24th for the annual Pig Roast. I am pretty excited to eat a home cooked meal (especially if I can cook it myself). More than that I'm excited to sit in my pajama's at the kitchen table and watch the news. Or (again in my pajamas) sit around the fire pit and enjoy the sunset. Its the little things that I miss the most. Oh and BAGELS. I miss bagels so much. The only bagels I get are thomas' and no one who is not from Jersey understands that Thomas' Bagels are not bagels. They are merely thick bread with a hole in the center and they are disgusting. People should not have to toast their bagel in order to make it crisp. It is possible that the first thing I do when I get to Jersey is order an egg and cheese bagel at Lox Stocked followed by some pizza at Mario's. Surrounded by friends from home, of course.

8 comments:

  1. Your post made me realize that I really, really miss bagels, too. Although I introduced my roommate from Utah to munchkins today, which was funny; she had actually never even been to a Dunkin Donuts. I told her it was one of the many delightful opportunities in Jersey and the east coast to kill yourself slowly.

    I'm so glad you're having fun at college; I knew you'd love it right away!

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  2. "They are merely thick bread with a hole in the center and they are disgusting."
    SO. TRUE.

    Anyway, you sound like you're having a wonderful (and extremely busy) time, which is awesome. Your philosophy prof sounds like ridiculous amounts of fun. I'm so jealous that you get to take a bio class - it's all chem for the first year here.

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  3. Like I said before, I'm WAYYYY busy too so I totally hear you. Also, despite only being in New York, these people also have a distorted view of what good bagels are. They also have no idea what taylor ham is...none of them. While you probably couldn't care less, being a veggie monster, this made me want to cry hahahaa. But I'm glad you're loving life.

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  4. Sarah you are telling me that they do not have munchkins in Utah? Seriously?

    Katie- I expected you to get a kick out of my philosophy professor.I can't believe that you don't get to take bio! How many chem's are there to take?

    Chelsea - i haven't even thought of trying to bring up the topic of taylor ham because i am convinced that it will fall on deaf ears.

    Oh and to all of you I am constantly mocked for my jersey accent. The way that i say "sauce" and "coffee" bring great amusement to my hall mates. Anyone else?

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  5. Ditto on the Jersey accent. Also they talk about how I say, "Yeah," a lot, because there's a lilt in the middle that I never noticed/thought was weird, but apparently everyone else does.

    Chem: Freshman year, all year. Then 1 semester of orgo is required sophomore year (though they recommend two sems), but I get to take intro bio at the same time, so it's not as bad.

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  6. oof. I can't tell what is better...I have chem for 2 years (one year general one year orgo) but i also get to take bio....

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  7. Chem is killing me already. Third chapter. I can't stand the way that every time I take a chem class they change everything around on me. Like, middle school: planetary model of the atom, electrons are particles that revolve around nucleus. In high school they were like, lol jk there's spdf orbitals that particular electrons exist in. Now college is telling me that electrons are kinda sorta maybe waves? And particles. They behave like both. Or something. I have no idea what's going on. Waves? Seriously?

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  8. The girl across the hall from me has almost a long island accent which WAY overshadows my slight jersey accent. But, yes, nevertheless, people have noticed. It's annoying. But between that girl and my brittish and scottish neighbors, there are far more interesting accents surrounding me taking away some of the burden lol.

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