The First Semester

Thoughts on the first semester in Massachusetts:

1.  My audiology prof is a very generous grader. So is my anatomy prof. Thanks to them I'm passing with flying colours.

2.  I don't think these summer courses were anywhere near the real difficulty of the program. I'm glad I had these 10 weeks to get back into the swing of things.

3.  There's a very strange dichotomy in my class. The ladies sit on the right side of the room, the girls sit on the left, the two groups don't really communicate much, and the only guy (from Taiwan) switches back and forth as to where he sits. But he socializes with the ladies (ie. my age and above). There're one or two of the young'ins who wouldn't even acknowledge you. I don't know why that is. But I'm hoping things will change for the better as we slave through the next two years together.

4.  I really have to stop my procrastinating ways.

5.  Living in downtown Boston will be good for me. Yes, I will get claustrophobic and need breathing space, but it will make me more adaptable.

6.  Nashua, NH is the best place to shop. Tax free, woohoo! I'm sad to no longer be living just 20 minutes from it.

7.  The Christmas Tree Shop in Nashua has really good deals. So does Target. See tax benefits above.

8.  I like Walden Pond, bugs notwithstanding.

9.  I've ended up in more bodies of water in the last 10 weeks than I have in the last two years: Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, a hot tub, Walden Pond, and my relatives' backyard pool. That's really weird.

10.  What is it with much-younger guys hitting on me? First the cashier at the Store 24 across from school, then a teenager in Santa Monica, then a creepy Korean-looking college kid knocking on my car window after the Chelmsford Library (which btw is the town hall in the Simpson's) closed, saying he's seen me around a few times and "do you wanna get to know each other better." Uh, NO. I sound harsh, but you had to be there to appreciate the creepiness of the situation. Strange men of any age who approach me on the street freak me out. Even if they're seriously good looking like this college kid who smiled at me while we both shopped at Target and Staples.

11.  I bought a picnic blanket so I can sit by the Charles River on a good day and study. That's another first. I don't remember studying on the green ever at Penn. I think it must be the coziness of my future apartment.

12.  Most of my classmates are local. I'm one of two Canadians. The other girl from Regina has lived here for 10 years though. Then there's the guy from Taiwan. So I'm not the only non-white, not the only international student, and not the only Canadian. It usually doesn't bother me much to be the only person who's of a different background. But I'm happy they're in the class with me.

13.  I'm looking forward to moving into the city and be closer to my friends. I'm so going to drag one of them to go exploring together.

14.  The bullfrogs in the backyard are hereby collectively known as Jeremiah.

15.  I learned what a firefly looks like and that my cousin Heather can catch them in broad daylight.

16.  My cousins, though years younger than me, are seriously kick-ass people. We're all silly individually. We're even sillier together. Must be the genes.

17.  According to my cousin Jen, I'm a city girl (see evidence in #18 below). I countered that I'm a suburbanite, but she doesn't agree that Scarborough is a suburb.

18.  I learned today that I didn't have to go to the mailbox to mail my letters, as I have been doing. I can simply put the letters in the mail box at the end of the driveway, flip the red flag up, and the mail man will pick it up when he comes 'round to deliver the mail. I was going to try that out tonight, then thought better of it because of the check I was mailing. (You never know who'd take your stuff. My old across-the-street neighbour in Scarborough used to take exactly one bag of our discarded newspaper on recycling day. Another would dump their bag of trash on our lawn. My dad had to put up signs and notify the city of the problem.)  Anyway maybe when I come back I'll mail a random postcard and try the little flag thing. It's kinda cool. So who wants a postcard?

19.  Recycling is profitable. I earned $23.35 by taking the recyclables to the local supermarket for refunds. And the other shoppers must have wondered who the crazy chick was, with her multiple cart-loads of pop...er...soda cans and bottles (hey, at least I didn't mutter to myself while I was feeding the cans into the machines). Alas, with gas being so expensive these days, the money didn't buy me a full tank, even though my car is small!

20.  I went scavenging for the first time today when we went to pick up Jen at Harvard (she tortured herself with a summer of orgo). From her dorm's lobby I found a full box of fabric softener and some printer paper. She got a really nice picnic basket. I also rescued a really pretty skirt from the donation box from her friend Sherry. Scavenging is fun.

Right now I fee like the little turtle in Tiny Toons who escaped from Elmira's evil clutch, riding in the basket of a red tricycle, flying over the moon, and exclaiming, "I'm FREE!!! Free as a bird!!!"

Ok. #21. I really have to stop my procrastinating ways. I'm driving home tomorrow and should have been in bed hours ago.