first day of school

so, clearly, it's been a while since i "blogged," which is probably some breach in blogging etiquette, especially since this one is so new. fortunately, i really don't care about blogging etiquette.

i've been down on the cape, brewster, to be specific, with limited internet access since the last time i blogged. wow, that just gets so much easier to use as a verb, doesn't it? brewster is really the only part of the east coast i've had any extended exposure to, and so i'm not really sure how accurate it is as a sample since most people have on bathing suits under their clothes and little to no footwear. what i can tell you is, almost everyone i'm not related to has a serious boston accent, which at first is a little mark wahlberg-exotic but quickly becomes grating. my respect and admiration to those who have fought its peculiar nasal twang; i haven't even been here a month and my mouth is already starting to form some sort of boston-california hybrid patois.

last weekend i participated in moving, which on sep. 1st is a citywide event in boston. my roommate and i furnished a large part of the apartment with things we found on the street in our neighborhood (this is called "trashpicking"). you have to be careful in our neighborhood (brighton) though - apparently brighton and allston have some bedbug problems, so anything with fabric or cushions shouldn't be brought home. my room is pretty much all set up, although i've drummed up a few "necessities" in order to make another final run to chez target while i still have my grandparents' car, which they were kind enough to yet again lend me to get me through the first week of school. i look forward to doing my homework at the bus stop starting next week.

today i had my departmental orientation, which reassured me that i had made the right decision and this is what i want to study. this revelation, coupled with my new confidence that boston is where i want to be because i'm just nuts about my family (not sarcastic), makes me feel a lot better about uprooting myself from the good beer, cheap housing, and well-maintained bike paths to be found in portland. on the other hand, it also scared the heck out of me because they drove home that 1. this is going to be really, super hard 2. it's nothing like undergrad, meaning i have no idea what people are going to want from me or how to dominate the classroom in my usual glib style. i'm terrified to write the papers, i'm terrified to take the exams, and terrified to make the decisions, and i'm terrified to pay for the whole thing. but, today i saw that there are 41 people in pretty much my exact same position, and if they can figure it out, so can i. i also made a couple friends, found a spot to study in the library, and got a consortium card, which will probably come in handy later.

right now i'm in my new room (which is awesome), moving around some money so it looks like i have a little to blow at target and maybe trader joe's, and listening to guitar wolf. it's thrilling to be starting over, not knowing anyone and waking up in a place i barely recognize with people speaking in a foreign dialect right outside my window. it's also really, really frightening. things are awesome for the moment, but i will keep you updated.