Rain, Pictures, and Word Vomit

Good day, young explorers of the mind. Today, you will embark on a journey. A mental journey, my friends (for why would I be the one to make you suffer through physical exercise?). It is time to travel back to the day I arrived in Maine. It was a rainy day, one quite like today (she said as she solemnly looked out at the drizzly Lewiston weather). I ate at a pub endearingly named "Gritty Mcduffs" and begrudgingly allowed a half-hysteric mother to snap photographs any time something was deemed important. Like a sign. Or another sign. Or a building . . . with a sign. I believe I heard the phrase "just one more picture" about twenty thousand times. Hyperboles aside, it was a fairly pleasant day.

The next day my parents and I drove to Bed Bath and Beyond. This was when it started to really storm. I was quite excited by the weather, but judging by my parents' pale complexions, I might have been the only one. We headed into Office Max to buy some school supplies and I took my sweet time deciding what pencils to buy ("There are so many types! Should I get the ones with the big erasers or just a whole bunch of cheap pencils?! Look at this pencil's nice grippy thing! This one is smudge proof!" "Nicole, they're pencils. Choose."). Needless to say, MissIndecisive was resurrected and it was an hour before my parents and I strode up to the counter with folders and organizers in tow (If anyone was curious about the pencil thing, I got both fancy pencils and cheap ones). At that moment, the power went out. Alas, the materials we had brought up to the check out station could not be bought. Instead, my family and I ate lunch and came back to buy the stuff later on. There was also a lot of picture taking. But this time my friend Adina was pulled into the shots. I must apologize to her again soon. And pay for her therapy.

Fast forward to my AESOP trip. You will be pleased (or resentful. You guys could go either way.) to know that on my surfing trip I did, in fact, surf. I caught waves, stood up, and rode them to shore. I also got hit in the head by my surf board twice and got beat up by a few waves, but, you know, you take the lows with the highs. I met a bunch of wonderful freshmen on my AESOP trip, and the junior leaders were amazing as well (and, quite attractive, if I do say so myself. Which I do). Sam (one of my leaders) and I bonded over a mutual love of Firefly, Arrested Development, Doctor Who (Which I haven't watched the newest episode of yet! Rich! I am so full of fury!) and surfing. He was a little jealous of the fact that I lived in Newport Beach (Thus, I was nicknamed "California" while we surfed. Although, it might have been less of a term of endearment and more of a "I forgot your name, but I remember you live in Cali" kind of thing). Anyways, my AESOP group had a lot of fun chilling at the beach and hanging out by the campfire. While we roasted s'mores we met a new friend. He was found trying to steal our graham crackers. We named him DeadMau5. It was a mouse, by the way, for those of you (Derek) who don't get the pop culture reference (Derek) or just couldn't piece together the facts (Derek).

When my AESOP group got back to campus, Orientation began. Let the awkward socializing begin. Or so I thought. Apparently, I am quite good at being social. People actually talked to me. I made some friends at the Pizza Social, and the Ice Cream Social, as well as at The Commons, which is the cafeteria for the entire school. They have 64 types of cereals to choose from (My friend Jack has decided to consume every cereal choice, one flavor at a time), a vegan bar, a vast range of desserts always at the ready (ice cream station!) and awesome pizza. The meal plan is this: if you have your i.d. card, you can eat. Whenever.

During Orientation there was a President's Welcome, in which the president and the main(e) (Haha, get it? Maine? Aaaahhh . . . ) admissions director talked to the entering freshmen and their parents. The admissions director talked about how amazing the entering class was. She talked about "a gentleman in the crowd" (yeah, yeah, whatever) who had devoted all of his time to building a stronger community (or whatever, I wasn't paying attention) and a girl who interviewed people from Bill Clinton (*yawn*) to Jane Goodall (or something like that, I wasn't listening). She also boasted about having a "young woman in the audience" (eh?) who traveled to Central America (I'm listening . . .) to study primates (Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!) and research their behavior and environment (Me? Is she talking about me?!) as well as work with well known organizations to help spread awareness about the issues of primate well being (Oh, yeah! Me!). Out of all of the 513 students to choose from, I was spoken about as an example of some of the "exceptional" students of the entering class. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. They must have had a bad year in admissions.

Anyways, I have been spending most of my time with my new friend Jack, who I met at the Pizza Social. He's almost as funny as I am. Almost. He really likes ice hockey (Derek) and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah (Derek). He also is half Jewish and reminds me a bit of Daniel Flaxman. In a good way, of course. We've been going to orientation things together (there was an awesome one that was led by two speakers. They were a gay couple. They were wonderful. Rachael would have liked them.), movies at Bates (Thor), and lunches (BBQs) etc. Of course I have other good friends as well. Oh, what's that? No I don't? Oops. I should get on that.

Today was my first day of classes. All of my professors and hilarious. My Chem professor started out by saying that he was teaching us with the assumption that we know nothing about chemistry (an accurate assumption, to be sure) and that he wasn't going to bother teaching us mathematical concepts and formulas because we would promptly forget them after the class was over. As you can tell, he is my kind of professor. My FYS professor is the same as my Environment and Society professor, and she's quirky and clever. She already has us writing a paper that is due on the 14th (which is why I originally logged on to my computer. I got distracted, as you can see). My Chinese teacher is funny, as well. She makes jokes, and just says things that makes the class burst out in smiles and laughter. Although, sometimes the funny things she says are not intended to be funny. But alas, they make me giggle none the less.

My room mate, Lydia, is very kind. We have gotten on well together. No fights, no tense moments. Just helpful behavior and a mutual respect for each other's privacy and belongings.

Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoyed reading my word vomit. I literally just typed down whatever came to my mind, so I'm sorry for the messy structure. I'll get better with time. I'll plan next time. I just wanted you guys to know what I was up to. I miss you guys quite a bit. No one here plays Taboo or Catan, so that's a bit upsetting. Although they do play bananagrams and have a scrabble club, which is good. Bates also has a competitive eating club, which could be an adventure. Sorry, I'm rambling again.

I should go do some college work. Wouldn't it be funny if after all that time I spent working hard to get into college, I just started slacking off?

The answer is no. No, it would not be funny.

Don't Blink,

Nicole Danser