I'm a Johnnie!

It's official! I am now matriculated into St. John's College of Santa Fe. It really doesn't feel that different yet mostly because orientation isn't over and my parents haven't left yet. It feels more like summer camp where the games are "Get a job now!" and "Paperwork! Lose it and you lose!" But come Monday I'll be crying for summer camp and not college. I'm actually on my way to my first real class but I think it's the only one this week. It's seminar so I had to speed reread (try saying that five times fast!) the first six chapters of the Illiad so I can go talk with my fellow classmates about some terribly important question regarding the text. I'm not sure what yet but it's going to be something like "Is pride a virtue?" or "Is vengeance just?" but those will probably come up when we get further in the book.

You know what's even worse than packing to make you feel like the person with the most stuff on earth? Unpacking into a dorm room. I looked at my six 66 quart tubs (seems like a bad omen doesn't it?) and back at my room. There was no way I could fit everything I brought into all of the nifty storage. Which was true. I have two tubs still mostly full serving as my bedside table and my parents took back about half of a tub. But it worked out fairly well and with the help of my parents I managed to squeeze a fridge into a corner of the room. But I have very few complaints about my room, even the size. The small size encourages me to stay tidy and I don't spend that much time in here anyways. A fan makes up nicely for the lack of air conditioning and I could've brought way more books than I did, I barely filled one shelf. Which is nice I suppose because I got all that extra storage space I didn't plan on.

It's pretty quiet so far but I'll let you know as more comes up.

Random facts:

I am somehow amicably sharing a shower with 7 other girls. This is a mystery to all of us but I like to think it's because we're all very polite people.

St. John's has resident dogs that I can pet! I miss my boyos so this makes me very happy!

Food here is good but I'm going to wait and see as the parents trickle out how it subtly changes. But I have high hopes. I'm a very hopeful person these days.

I got a job! I don't know if I've lost any paperwork yet though...

Every time you see a sign telling you to drink water (which seem to be posted every five feet) you really should take a gulp. Altitude sickness + summer heat = Fainting Californians. Even I got dehydrated and I live in a very similar climate.


Hopefully next time there will be more interesting things going on once classes get started. I'll let you know!

I'm leaving for college in 3 days. I wonder why my parents are allowing me to do such a foolish thing. It's madness. This is why it's so hard to go back to school. Because when you're young you're too stupid to know that it's crazy but when you're older you're too smart to be drawn back in easily. I'm only half serious here but it's hard to feel excited about school right now. I was excited about two weeks ago and now I'm either too busy checking minutiae off my list or worrying about all the things that could go wrong. It doesn't help that I have no library books to distract me. It's the most surreal thing about this experience right now, not the fact that I'm leaving until Thanksgiving or that I'll soon be living with people I don't even know.  It's going to my room to grab a book and realizing that I have no library books. 

Speaking of books, it's incredibly hard to pack them. I have a fairly large private library for my age and it's difficult to anticipate what I'll want to read in my off time. Will I want to read something fun like Good Omens, a classic like the Divine Comedy, or a comfort book like the Princess Bride? I'm beginning to see the attractions of e readers not only because of space but the weight. I hate packing in general because it forces me to realize how much stuff I have. I didn't even know I had 8 pairs of shoes. When Gandhi died he owned 2 bowls, one spoon, one fork, two pairs of sandals, a prayer book, a diary, a watch, a letter opener, and strangely, a spittoon and porcelain monkeys. Thank God for the porcelain monkeys they make him seem more human. But as much as I like to talk about simplifying and reducing my possessions I seem to have an awful lot of them. 

Even with all the stuff I'm leaving behind I don't think I'm going to miss most of it (except my queen size bed.) I'm going to miss celebrating Halloween with my friends and harvesting potatoes and playing with the dogs. I've never lived in another town before so it's going to be hard leaving behind everything familiar and all the things that make the seasons. But I've always wanted an adventure. When I was twelve I wore tennis shoes for a whole 100 degree summer and kept a backpack at the ready so that when I hit the road on my quest I would be able to run quickly and have everything I needed. Adventures always have a degree of risk to them but I'm pretty sure I won't be running into any monsters (Greek class might count though.) 

My next post will most likely be from my dorm room so until then!