I think I only briefly announced this on Clarke and Sara's blog, so to explain the lack of updated, my parents surprised me Wednesday night with an early birthday present, and the gift happened to be a 4-day 3-night stay in St. Louis with Kristen.
I flew in Friday afternoon after an excessively long day of travelling. Flights from Atlanta to St. Louis direct are upwards of $800, but flights from Birmingham, AL to St. Louis through Atlanta are only $200. So my dad and I drove the 3 hours to Birmingham only for me to fly back into Atlanta an hour later before moving on to St. Louis, where I sat between two enormous men. When I'm rich, I'm buying out a a full aisle of seats whenever I fly.
Once in the city, I took the Metrolink train downtown, admiring industrial East St. Louis as it passed. It's Midwestern through and through here, and I don't know why that excites me so much, but it just feels so much like home in this region, and it reminds me what a big factor it was in selecting colleges. I had to disembark and transfer to a WashU shuttle after the river, except I boarded a Metrolink city bus instead, and didn't realize it until I passed the campus and saw it disappear behind me. There were some very scary "urban" passengers, which is code for "I'm afraid of black people who yell," and so I hopped off in a very affluent suburb a mile from campus, and hauled my bag all the way back.
The reunion of Kristen and Drew was very happy, although not so much that it was such an occasion, and after a while it felt like any normal day together. Which is a good feeling, because it means that nothing has changed, and it's not "weird" that we're together again.
The campus here is beautiful, and I hope that my sister considers it for college. Everything is "academic gothic," and made of red granite, although it's definitely not as Harry Potter as UChicago, which just owns when it comes to spires and gargoyles. Yes, Laura, there's a laundry place called "Wash U Wash." About 15 minutes away there's a strip called the Loop which has a good number of trendy restaurants, theaters, and sex shops to appease any scenester. And despite the fact that we have people at Emerson and NYU, I guarantee you that you have never seen so many Jewish people in one place.
I've gone out a number of times with Kristen's friends. I like them, although I'm not really sure I'd hang out with them if I was here, which makes me wonder more what kind of people I'll befriend in less than a week. I find it so hard to fall in with groups. I've started this trial run of medication which basically prevents me from having panic attacks in social situations, which is embarrassing to admit, but probably an encompassing explanation of my past behavior for some of you. It's working only OK this weekend, but I find it very stressful living in a cramped dorm with Kristen and another stranger and all sorts of drunk strangers running through the halls and looking at me weird when I walk to the bathroom.
Kristen's dorm does suck, which I'm coming out right now to say. It's over 40 years old, and everything is extremely small and cramped and creaky, and the walls are paper thin. To all of the 5 Chicago people reading this, Palevsky is like the Ritz compared to this place.
Last night, Kristen and I and 10 people on her floor took cabs to a Greek restaurant to celebrate her 19th birthday. I've decided that my girlfriend has instilled a love of Greek food in me, but honestly, I don't see how anyone could not be one over after an appetizer of FLAMING GOAT CHEESE. Yeah, the fried cheese that was ignited by our waiter totally owned. I will reprint the words in caps so it sinks in. FLAMING GOAT CHEESE.
Afterwards we saw American Splendor, which I liked a lot, but which had an absence of something that I can't put my finger on, and so I think someone else should go see it and let me hear their opinion. The theatre we saw it in was amazing, though; the lobby was filled with framed golden age movie posters and glassed Gone With the Wind and Casablanca dolls and chandeliers. After this and Madstone, I'm getting very much spoiled on movie theatres.
Today is the WashU's Sesquicentennial Celebration, which I suspect is more of an excuse to use the word 'Sesquicentennial' a lot. The campus is filled with tents and pavilions and people from all over St. Louis who just came for the free food, and some for concerts and lectures like "Structural Control and Its Use in Structures" and "Nanoparticles: Friend and Foe." But it's a beautiful fall day, 72 degrees and sunny, the leaves are golden, and the air smells like popcorn and hot dogs. It's always an odd time for me when fall comes, because it seems like I look forward to it all year and I've convinced myself that I'm happiest in the fall, which I'm not sure is true and I question more and more every year whether or not, really, a tree is all it takes to make me happy.
Kristen's at a Chem session right now, so I'm just blogging and reading and drinking tea. I've discovered that I'm a tea man, so my list of dorm acquisitions will have to include a hot pot and an apron that says "I Am A 43-Year Old Woman."
Flying back tomorrow; I'll get in touch with all the seniors when i get back.
I flew in Friday afternoon after an excessively long day of travelling. Flights from Atlanta to St. Louis direct are upwards of $800, but flights from Birmingham, AL to St. Louis through Atlanta are only $200. So my dad and I drove the 3 hours to Birmingham only for me to fly back into Atlanta an hour later before moving on to St. Louis, where I sat between two enormous men. When I'm rich, I'm buying out a a full aisle of seats whenever I fly.
Once in the city, I took the Metrolink train downtown, admiring industrial East St. Louis as it passed. It's Midwestern through and through here, and I don't know why that excites me so much, but it just feels so much like home in this region, and it reminds me what a big factor it was in selecting colleges. I had to disembark and transfer to a WashU shuttle after the river, except I boarded a Metrolink city bus instead, and didn't realize it until I passed the campus and saw it disappear behind me. There were some very scary "urban" passengers, which is code for "I'm afraid of black people who yell," and so I hopped off in a very affluent suburb a mile from campus, and hauled my bag all the way back.
The reunion of Kristen and Drew was very happy, although not so much that it was such an occasion, and after a while it felt like any normal day together. Which is a good feeling, because it means that nothing has changed, and it's not "weird" that we're together again.
The campus here is beautiful, and I hope that my sister considers it for college. Everything is "academic gothic," and made of red granite, although it's definitely not as Harry Potter as UChicago, which just owns when it comes to spires and gargoyles. Yes, Laura, there's a laundry place called "Wash U Wash." About 15 minutes away there's a strip called the Loop which has a good number of trendy restaurants, theaters, and sex shops to appease any scenester. And despite the fact that we have people at Emerson and NYU, I guarantee you that you have never seen so many Jewish people in one place.
I've gone out a number of times with Kristen's friends. I like them, although I'm not really sure I'd hang out with them if I was here, which makes me wonder more what kind of people I'll befriend in less than a week. I find it so hard to fall in with groups. I've started this trial run of medication which basically prevents me from having panic attacks in social situations, which is embarrassing to admit, but probably an encompassing explanation of my past behavior for some of you. It's working only OK this weekend, but I find it very stressful living in a cramped dorm with Kristen and another stranger and all sorts of drunk strangers running through the halls and looking at me weird when I walk to the bathroom.
Kristen's dorm does suck, which I'm coming out right now to say. It's over 40 years old, and everything is extremely small and cramped and creaky, and the walls are paper thin. To all of the 5 Chicago people reading this, Palevsky is like the Ritz compared to this place.
Last night, Kristen and I and 10 people on her floor took cabs to a Greek restaurant to celebrate her 19th birthday. I've decided that my girlfriend has instilled a love of Greek food in me, but honestly, I don't see how anyone could not be one over after an appetizer of FLAMING GOAT CHEESE. Yeah, the fried cheese that was ignited by our waiter totally owned. I will reprint the words in caps so it sinks in. FLAMING GOAT CHEESE.
Afterwards we saw American Splendor, which I liked a lot, but which had an absence of something that I can't put my finger on, and so I think someone else should go see it and let me hear their opinion. The theatre we saw it in was amazing, though; the lobby was filled with framed golden age movie posters and glassed Gone With the Wind and Casablanca dolls and chandeliers. After this and Madstone, I'm getting very much spoiled on movie theatres.
Today is the WashU's Sesquicentennial Celebration, which I suspect is more of an excuse to use the word 'Sesquicentennial' a lot. The campus is filled with tents and pavilions and people from all over St. Louis who just came for the free food, and some for concerts and lectures like "Structural Control and Its Use in Structures" and "Nanoparticles: Friend and Foe." But it's a beautiful fall day, 72 degrees and sunny, the leaves are golden, and the air smells like popcorn and hot dogs. It's always an odd time for me when fall comes, because it seems like I look forward to it all year and I've convinced myself that I'm happiest in the fall, which I'm not sure is true and I question more and more every year whether or not, really, a tree is all it takes to make me happy.
Kristen's at a Chem session right now, so I'm just blogging and reading and drinking tea. I've discovered that I'm a tea man, so my list of dorm acquisitions will have to include a hot pot and an apron that says "I Am A 43-Year Old Woman."
Flying back tomorrow; I'll get in touch with all the seniors when i get back.
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