Well, I've moved into my dorm.  I don't think I've discovered that I'm missing anything crucial yet.  Hopefully that will continue... lol

The room is small, but so was my bedroom back home.  It's not very nice/amazing though, sadly. lol  It looked really broken down before I started putting my stuff up.  The paint's chipping on the dresser drawers/closets/walls/ceiling light.  But my room looks beautiful with my brand new sheet-set and fuzzy propped-up pillow-chair thing.  There's plenty of room for storage.

And best of all, my dorm is really close to the student center (where there is food and all kinds of random student-needed services) and right near the Quad, which houses almost all of the buildings I'll be taking classes in this semester.

I walked the closer half of the campus this morning.  Found all of my classroom's buildings, and went to check out Old Main, (the oldest building on campus.)  I discovered this little pathway that leads around the building, (and walks across the edge of a cliff / hill).  It was beautiful.  Lots of trees.  And the building looks like a large church, I think.  So amazing.  Anyway, on the back, there were all these carvings in the stone from people putting their names and the dates into it.  The entry that most fascinated me was "M. S. Tudyk 8/5/23"  I was like....wow!!  1923...That's cool.  I walked where that person walked.  And I stood where they put there name in the stone.

It made me think of my grandfather.  He died fairly soon after I was born.  (I've heard he refused to go to the hospital for what turned out to be lung-cancer, because he wanted to see his next grandchild.  So I was born a while later, and then I guess the hospital couldn't do much for him because he had waited so long.)  Anyway, there is a point to this: I was picturing him walking around the campus when I got to Old Main this morning.  He went to college here, and my mom did too.  It's kind of fun to feel connected to that history.  I'm walking around the buildings that my grandfather saw some 70 years ago.  It's very cool.

I stood and journalled behind the building for about half an hour, ranting about the history of this place and the names carved in the stones.  It was my favorite sight to see this morning.

I'm starting to adjust to living here.  It's a little weird being away from home.  But it hasn't been too bad yet.  Well, except for when I hugged my mom and sisters goodbye at the shuttle bus that would take them to their car.  Yesterday, they got on the bus and left me here; I was so heartbroken. lol  (Such a baby...)  I nearly bawled all over them, trying to say goodbye.  But the three of them are the people I am most close to in my family.  I'm really going to miss not living with them and seeing them everyday.  It kind of terrifies me.  So it was hard to say goodbye yesterday...and hard to talk to my mom on the phone when she called a little later.  I know I'm only 45 minutes away from home, but that place isn't home as much anymore.  This dorm is my home.  At least for now.  So I'm trying to get used to living here.

I think I'll go out and do some more sight-seeing.  If my legs can handle it. lol  The whole campus is built on a hill.  It feels like you're constantly walking up and down stairs.  One of my sisters decided she hated the campus when she first walked it yesterday.  Too many stairs and steep slopes.  I agree it's kind of ridiculous after a point, but it's so pretty here I'm not complaining.

Here's hoping I'll meet some people soon!  I've been too shy to do much.  I ran into a girl in the bathroom yesterday (community bathroom) and she randomly unloaded on an issue she's having with her boyfriend.  But I didn't really catch how to pronounce her name and I don't really know her.  She lives next door though, and from the sound of it, she is quite the talker.  I am not.  I prefer to sit quietly than to start conversations...unless the other person looks really shy, in which case I forget my nerves and try to make the other person feel better than I do.

Tonight there's an ice-cream social going on at the dorm next door.  Our dorm and that one are right next to each other, so I'm finding that we do a lot of things together.  So tonight, I guess I'll go and get some ice cream and see if I can find anyone else who looks like they haven't really met anyone...  Hope I don't chicken out. lol  I'm actually really shy...the internet is where I talk the most.

*~*Laura*~*