Adjusting to college life

I went running through the redwood grove in the arboretum this morning. I like running through this neck of the woods--it reminds me of Big Sur and Yosemite. Anyway, as I was running I passed by tour groups of potential UC Davis students and their parents.

In these two weeks I've done many of the things I'll be doing for the next few years at UCD. I've been sleeping in my new bed for fourteen nights and I've gone to my first few Ultimate practices. I've started all my classes, met everyone on my floor, studied and done homework. I've played plenty of frisbee and made plenty of phone calls home. I've even done my laundry and I'm starting to get tired of the DC food.


But despite all this--and the strange sensation I get sometimes that I've always been here--I still feel very new here. And that is, of course, a very natural feeling because I am very new here. But it is strange to consider that there is an entire class of high school seniors (a class I am very tied to, at least at my own alma mater) thinking seriously about their futures and applying to colleges just like I was a year ago. I haven't yet removed all my move-in day boxes and they're already poking around my new home!

But so goes college life. Everything moves fast here.

In the spirit of trying to make Davis my own and to begin to feel at home here I've been taking the opportunities that come try new things (within reason, of course) and to explore this area. I attended my first opera (free tickets!) courtesy of Dame Kiri te Kanawa and the Mondavi Center, and tonight I'll see the Shaolin Warriors. I've done rock climbing and the ARC and played raquetball, and I've been doing some running around town, and I'm getting involved in activities around Segundo North.

On a different note, the land here is very different from Nipomo. When I run through through the flat, tree-covered streets, I almost feel like I'm running through Kansas City. My California has rolling hills and great oak trees and the ocean; this California has endless flatlands and farms and great rivers. But this is all part of the experience. It's good for me to live in a place like this--it only makes me appreciate Nipomo and the Central Coast all the more.

And not that I have too much time to miss the hills and the ocean and my home. I've got work to do! And every minute I spend writing this is another minute I'm not studying for chemistry...