As I mentioned in my last post, I am now 'comfortably' residing in Columbia, Missouri (Misery, for those of you northerners who hate humidity & southern accents). Really though, it's great weather down here most of the time (so far), the smallness is nice, esp. the park trails and small University campus (well, it's big, but not on 3 banks like the UofMN), cheap cost of living, quiet apartment (unlike my last Mpls apt where i lived less than a block from both interstate 35W & the industrial train tracks, for which i paid a higher price), and so many other great things about smalltown living. Of course, concessions have been made- no more: Jamba Juice, choice of Indian restaurants (there are 2 in town, luckily), never ending, daily musical events, Mediterranean pizza from Papa Murphy's (the closer to the south you get, the fatter the fast food gets-- and yes, i have determined this is the south: it is south of the Mason-Dixon line), etc. Zeus help me from having any strain of "y'all" exit my mouth around xmas time.
The photo on this post is from my little 5-day trip from the 7th-11th of August to Washington, D.C. It's a great self-portrait (focus on the view of course, not me) looking west down the mall from the Capital building plaza (area in front of Capital). I had fun focusing the camera to the distance, then turning it on myself and getting the photo. Because my friend Laura, with whom i was staying, had to work during the hot and humid days in her nicely AC'd Virginia office, I went out alone and braved the mall, museums, and massive humidity. I swear i went through 3-4 liters of liquids one day w/o using the WC. Last time i did that was on-site at the excavations on Crete. Pretty impressive absorption and sweating power the human body has-- not to mention, i walked for about 8-10hrs each of the 3 full days i was there... Needless to say, it was fun and exhausting and the same time.
I think the most fun i had while i was there, besides seeing my long-time friend, was visiting and actually using the Library of Congress. In case you don't know what that is, it's America's national library, essentially; and, the LC #s you use to find books at your local or university library were assigned based on the LC's (Library of Congress's!) cataloguing system, which as you all know replaced the old dewey decimal system which still lingers in some parts of most libraries nationwide. So- the LoC is very prestigious and has an immense collection of important books, and a fantastic rare books collection. I got to look at, research/take notes on, and photograph some rare books from the same time period as those i had been working on all summer from the 16th century AD/CE. It was so much fun, i wish i could have had more days to just sit in the library and do research! But, alas, the museums and monuments were calling my name...
After the August 10th British red alert and American orange alert on the airways, i returned home on the 11th without incident, and, might i add, without any carry on luggage- including water, lotion, chapstick, etc. At least it was a quick trip, except for my sprained left knee, which made terminal hopping not as fun (I had a stopover in Chicago). I made it back in one piece, hobbling home to my apt, only to spend the next 3 days straight packing up my possessions trying not to overanalyze the psychology of the moving and change processes. I think the fatigue sufficiently suffocated any doubts or worries; for, that first evening/night in the new apt was quite a blur. I went into 'get it done' mode for the unpacking process for 4-5 days, then started school on the 21st after a whirlwind of events over the previous days and weeks.
I think I am finally beginning to settle in now. I am definitely one to feel more at home and at ease in a picked-up, completely (or 99%) unpacked apt. I guess it's what they call making it 'home,' rather than just where you eat and sleep and study. Also, i feel as though my mentality for this leg of schooling is much more work-geared and rather than class/school-oriented. As much as i like lectures and the like, i am certainly tired of them. So why am i in graduate school you ask? Well, it's how i get to what i want to do, so i am ambitious and driven to do it. At least in graduate work there are more projects and research and reading, rather than busy-work. This is what i'm after; i want to do research and read all day and write up what i find. That's my goal. I don't want to be a professor or teacher, really, but i want to do work that is beneficial to a museum setting, rather than a classroom. What i research can then assist in the classroom setting and dissemination of knowledge in general in a more indirect (or direct, i suppose) avenue. So, back to my work vs. class attitude mentality: i am approaching and attacking my graduate work as though it were a 8-5 job, rather than the whimsical and aimless, wandering undergraduate strolling down every university campus, listening to their ipod and trying to forget the lecture they just left. Yes, undergraduate should be the description i just gave, in a way; it should give the student time to 'figure things out' and explore their career options, and go to parties, and try new classes and clubs. But, graduate work is different. You go because that's exactly where you want to be, and you have some goal in mind, even if a little fuzzy at the moment. I'm hoping that this mentality will force all my undergraduate tendencies into submission, a.k.a. procrastination, late nights, movie marathons on mondays, afternoon naps, etc. I'll keep you up to date on how my goal approach is working out as time goes by.
In other news, i love biking to campus everyday here. I ride about 2mi there, then 2mi back each day (except the pouring down rain days on which Nate will drive me the 3 miles it takes by road). I bicycle this state park path called the Katy Trail, which has an access path from my apt complex down into the woodsy area. At first I was a little hesitant, because well, im a city dweller and ppl dont ride that far alone on a bicycle by themselves in the woods. But, as I tried out the path the weekend before school started, and came to realize those couple days afterward, this path is used as a pathway for commuters everyday to and from campus and other areas around Columbia. My new favorite phrase is, "Nothing's far in Columbia," and it's true. The path is 2 miles of shady, pleasant lovliness in my mornings and afternoons. I have a great new hybrid bike that i got for my birthday this summer which makes things even more pleasant. I counted 7 little wooden bridges and a tunnel (under the only road it crosses on the way to campus), countless other little streams and creeks running to and from those crossed by the bridges, cardinals everywhere chirping (more in one place and consistently than the Twin Cities--- mom, i know you're jealous), wildlife, both flora and fauna, galore. Just in my first week i had 3 major faunal sightings: first, a whitetail doe jumping out in front of me one morning on the path, about 50 feet ahead of me, for which i stopped to gawk and wait for the others I knew must be behind her (where there's one deer, there's more)- which turned out to be 2 new and nervous fauns; second, a pudgy, over-sized, and certainly well-fed dirty muskrat; and third, the same 3 deer, who the second time jumped out in front of me at about 15 feet and scared me this time. Aren't you supposed to scared the deer? Well, this mama wasn't really scared, but her 2 babies were and wouldnt come out of the thickety woods, 10 feet off the path. The mother simply munched and casually watched me and her kinder from about 10-15 feet, until finally she decided that the young, and inexperienced would not cross in front of me while i was slow close. I had even backed off a little, so as not to separate them and throw someone into a frenzy, but to no avail. She, again casually and w/o any real sign of fear or lack of confidence, crossed right back in front of me (again, about 10 feet) to reunite with the fauns.
I told Nate and other fellow grad students about my sightings, but no one was ever as excited as me. I think some ppl become immune to wildlife encounters when they live in more rural areas (unlike Mpls), but despite all the national park trips and camping ive done over my lifetime, i am still always fascinated. Some may blame my [sub]urban upbringing, but nevertheless one should never lose touch w/the human connection to nature. We are only one species.
I suppose that's enough for now, ill write more soon! :)
email or write or msg me if you have even just a second!
-c
