That's right bitches! Post flu-shot I felt kinda crappy, plus it has been gloomy and raining for the past 4 days (preview of winter I'm told...grand), so I hiked to the coop (yeah, only coop's here, kinda weird) and bought the ingredients needed to make chicken soup from scratch.
Got home, realized I didn't have a pot large enough to cook a GIANT amount of chicken soup, so I used a wok...which ended up working but just barely.
So the soup was delicious (even Sean would be proud of my culinary skill) and I got to spend 35 minutes pulling apart a chicken...which was actually kinda fun but also entirely gross.
Other interesting trend I am noticing- at least one of my roomates is always downstairs in the kitchen area and they usually have friends with them. This has actually turned out to be good, since most of their friends try to talk with me and that encourages all of us to talk. So end of the day, I had great soup and a nice 2 hour talk with a roomate and her friends.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
You will all be so proud
I woke up this morning and decided to try out the MRI again and I made it through the entire study! Yeah me!
Then I stayed and spent the next 3 hours learning how to use the scanner, and now I am pretty much ready to run subjects, provided I have a scanner buddy. I also went out to lunch with the scanner guy (don't worry, he's married) and now I can pretty much feel comfortable asking all my stupid questions and calling him when I have problems.
Progress!
I also got paid today for the 3 studies I worked on and I've made $90 - so this is clearly a gig I'm going go keep up.
Oh, and I met with my advisor for 30 seconds and he basically told me my awesome idea was crap, but I am not discouraged!
Then I stayed and spent the next 3 hours learning how to use the scanner, and now I am pretty much ready to run subjects, provided I have a scanner buddy. I also went out to lunch with the scanner guy (don't worry, he's married) and now I can pretty much feel comfortable asking all my stupid questions and calling him when I have problems.
Progress!
I also got paid today for the 3 studies I worked on and I've made $90 - so this is clearly a gig I'm going go keep up.
Oh, and I met with my advisor for 30 seconds and he basically told me my awesome idea was crap, but I am not discouraged!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Social Acceptance!
I had a lab meeting today that went really well, and I also asked some really not-retarded questions during our first seminar on the visual processing system and proved that maybe it wasn't ONLY charm that got me into Dartmouth....thought most of it is still charm.
Also, and more importantly, I got my first nod towards social acceptance today! Someone in the department is leaving and is having a little movie watching party tonight and I was actually on the invite email! Me! and it was a relatively short list. I am very excited. I need to do work tonight, but I think it is probably better in the long run to take advantage of getting in good with these people so they can help me later and be the great resources within the department that I am just not getting form my advisor.
In that spirit, I am going to show up with chips and cookies, because everyone is funnier, prettier, and smarter when they come with delicious food.
Also, and more importantly, I got my first nod towards social acceptance today! Someone in the department is leaving and is having a little movie watching party tonight and I was actually on the invite email! Me! and it was a relatively short list. I am very excited. I need to do work tonight, but I think it is probably better in the long run to take advantage of getting in good with these people so they can help me later and be the great resources within the department that I am just not getting form my advisor.
In that spirit, I am going to show up with chips and cookies, because everyone is funnier, prettier, and smarter when they come with delicious food.
Silly Asians
I came home from the gym and found about 15 Asians ballroom dancing (girls in poodle skirts) in our living room to bizarre 50's music...which was in English and being played through a Chinese music website.
..............
Later Post: I just ventured downstairs to make a sandwhich and I realized that none of the Asians in my living room live here. I wasn't so much bothered by that as by the fact that I didn't notice that upon entering the room earlier and walking through 2x to get water.
..............
Later Post: I just ventured downstairs to make a sandwhich and I realized that none of the Asians in my living room live here. I wasn't so much bothered by that as by the fact that I didn't notice that upon entering the room earlier and walking through 2x to get water.
I really shouldn't post this
but the smoker kid from the party Saturday night just emailed me a poem and I have to share. I know this makes me a bad person and I am going to Hell. Could be worse, I could have posted the email chain too.
The Truth
The sky so dark at night
I want to take off in flight
I cant see it yet
The one i haven't met
My whole life always being turned down
Feels like a dog lost in a pound
I wish people could know the real me
Again they look and can not see
For I am different inside
All you’ve seen is the outside
Been single for over 2 years
Sad to believe that brings me tears
When you talked i was speechless
Why bother with my sentence stress
Have you ever just looked at the stars
Makes me think about my heart with scars
Maybe someone's looking too
Makes my eyes extreme blue
Been dumped for being to nice
I don't know how to take the advice
For its just me being me
The one that people dream to see
No one is perfect in this life
Reading your e-mail was like being stabbed with a knife
I really am a sweet heart of a guy
I really hate having to say that good-bye
I wish i had your eyes so I can see
So i didn’t have to disagree
I’m sorry you really think that way
I think i’ll be okay
Thanks for saying hi first as, i’m really shy
I really do hope you will reply
p.s.
THIS IS ME
The Truth
The sky so dark at night
I want to take off in flight
I cant see it yet
The one i haven't met
My whole life always being turned down
Feels like a dog lost in a pound
I wish people could know the real me
Again they look and can not see
For I am different inside
All you’ve seen is the outside
Been single for over 2 years
Sad to believe that brings me tears
When you talked i was speechless
Why bother with my sentence stress
Have you ever just looked at the stars
Makes me think about my heart with scars
Maybe someone's looking too
Makes my eyes extreme blue
Been dumped for being to nice
I don't know how to take the advice
For its just me being me
The one that people dream to see
No one is perfect in this life
Reading your e-mail was like being stabbed with a knife
I really am a sweet heart of a guy
I really hate having to say that good-bye
I wish i had your eyes so I can see
So i didn’t have to disagree
I’m sorry you really think that way
I think i’ll be okay
Thanks for saying hi first as, i’m really shy
I really do hope you will reply
p.s.
THIS IS ME
Monday, September 28, 2009
..oh right, the actual "freak out"
Despite the fact that I am a claustrophobic, I have been trying to be a subject in several MRI studies to (a) make money and (b) build up the karmic credit for when I need people to put themselves through this process for the benefit of my research.
I should have known that going into the machine all upset about the NSF grant and a little yucky feeling from the Beer Olympics was a bad idea, but I did it anyway.
For those of you who are not initiated, let me explain why the MRI machine is hard when you have claustrophobia. (1) Your head is clamped into this special holder and then filled with foam padding so that your head can't move. (2) You have earplugs and heavy duty headphones to protect you from the noise of the machine, but they also completely eliminate one of the key senses and make you feel even more cut off and confined. (3) There are some lights and stuff that can mess up your vision if you go in or come out of the machine incorrectly - which does enter your mind when you think of saying "fuck this" and escaping from the machine. (4) You can't mechanically move the bed in and out of the machine, so it's not like you can just slide out if there is a problem. (5) You are put inside a very small tube and you really can't move your arms much. (6) Even if alert the researchers that you need to get out of the machine, it still takes some time for them to stop the scan, get into the room, and pull you out. I don't know if this helps explain what it feels like, but it can really create a sense of panic.
Back to Sunday afternoon. My friend The Canadian puts me inside the machine - breath kiddo breath, everything will be okay once you have some task to do that can distract you. After a bit The Canadian tells me that her advisor has stepped away and she needs me to sit tight until she comes back. I wait...I panic...I push the panic button but it takes a few minutes to get inside the MRI room and get me out of the machine.
Advisor comes back - I feel stupid not participating - I get back into the machine. Scanner breaks, they need to take Sarah out of the machine.
Third time, I am determined to fight this completely irrational phobia and get back in the machine. First 55 minutes go fine, but during the final anatomical scan there are no tasks to distract you and I start to panic. The Canadian knows I am on the edge and puts on some youtube clips for me to watch, so I watch the counter on the bottom and tell myself that I can do this, it is an irrational fear, and I am not in any danger. It's still hard. I am still getting the tightening in my chest thinking about this.
I get through her study, but I have another study scheduled for Wednesday morning. I didn't experience this level of panic during my first study, but now I am worried. The Wednesday study also involves me passively watching a movie in the scanner while they image me - which means no distracting tasks.
I'm torn.
I should have known that going into the machine all upset about the NSF grant and a little yucky feeling from the Beer Olympics was a bad idea, but I did it anyway.
For those of you who are not initiated, let me explain why the MRI machine is hard when you have claustrophobia. (1) Your head is clamped into this special holder and then filled with foam padding so that your head can't move. (2) You have earplugs and heavy duty headphones to protect you from the noise of the machine, but they also completely eliminate one of the key senses and make you feel even more cut off and confined. (3) There are some lights and stuff that can mess up your vision if you go in or come out of the machine incorrectly - which does enter your mind when you think of saying "fuck this" and escaping from the machine. (4) You can't mechanically move the bed in and out of the machine, so it's not like you can just slide out if there is a problem. (5) You are put inside a very small tube and you really can't move your arms much. (6) Even if alert the researchers that you need to get out of the machine, it still takes some time for them to stop the scan, get into the room, and pull you out. I don't know if this helps explain what it feels like, but it can really create a sense of panic.
Back to Sunday afternoon. My friend The Canadian puts me inside the machine - breath kiddo breath, everything will be okay once you have some task to do that can distract you. After a bit The Canadian tells me that her advisor has stepped away and she needs me to sit tight until she comes back. I wait...I panic...I push the panic button but it takes a few minutes to get inside the MRI room and get me out of the machine.
Advisor comes back - I feel stupid not participating - I get back into the machine. Scanner breaks, they need to take Sarah out of the machine.
Third time, I am determined to fight this completely irrational phobia and get back in the machine. First 55 minutes go fine, but during the final anatomical scan there are no tasks to distract you and I start to panic. The Canadian knows I am on the edge and puts on some youtube clips for me to watch, so I watch the counter on the bottom and tell myself that I can do this, it is an irrational fear, and I am not in any danger. It's still hard. I am still getting the tightening in my chest thinking about this.
I get through her study, but I have another study scheduled for Wednesday morning. I didn't experience this level of panic during my first study, but now I am worried. The Wednesday study also involves me passively watching a movie in the scanner while they image me - which means no distracting tasks.
I'm torn.
Sunday = Freak Out
So I know I have only been here about a week, but the academic transition is not going so well. I think taking a walk with the Vegetarian helped cement the issues I am having - she is completely overwhelmed with these complicated physics problem sets that she can't solve and has no idea where to start asking for help. Part of me would almost prefer that. I have no research to do, no readings for class, no quantifiable projects that I can work on to make me feel like I am accomplishing goals. All I have is this FUCKING NSF RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP.
The NSF grant is this ridiculous 45K grant that 1,564 first and second year graduate students are awarded each year. It's kind of a big deal. I already knew that I was a bit behind coming in to this biyatch, but reading the applications of the students from Dartmouth who have been awarded this grant was...humbling? baffling? terrifying? Most of these students had worked in 5-6 research labs conducting serious research and first-authoring a plethora of papers. I worked with Sandy. That's right, Sandy. So okay, I know that I have no chance of getting this thing, but I understand that is is a necessary exercise for me to do and I can add it to whatever CV I end up getting out of this whole process. The problem is that this exercise exploits all of the insecurities and problems I am working my hardest to control.
The first essay is a detailed explanation of the fabulous research you conducted already during your academic career. Okay...skip that. The second essay is your personal statement, which is actually that not bad for me to do because this is something I am very passionate about. The third essay, however, requires you to detail the research you plan to undertake with this grant. Um...hi, I've been here for 5 days, am I supposed to know what my 2 year research plan is? KP talked me down into realizing that I could take a project from a grant application my mentor submitted and use that as my base, but I am still freaking out about this part. I have also felt like my brain has been in this terrible fog since I got here and I am having trouble coming up with the nifty ideas I had always had when thinking about psychology. Maybe it's the lack of sex. Maybe it's the allergies. Either way, I need this problem fixed.
Well okay, I will admit that I had two pretty neat ideas today for research ideas and I hope to run them by my mentor this week and maybe get a go ahead to do some pretty crazy research. More on that later.
The NSF grant is this ridiculous 45K grant that 1,564 first and second year graduate students are awarded each year. It's kind of a big deal. I already knew that I was a bit behind coming in to this biyatch, but reading the applications of the students from Dartmouth who have been awarded this grant was...humbling? baffling? terrifying? Most of these students had worked in 5-6 research labs conducting serious research and first-authoring a plethora of papers. I worked with Sandy. That's right, Sandy. So okay, I know that I have no chance of getting this thing, but I understand that is is a necessary exercise for me to do and I can add it to whatever CV I end up getting out of this whole process. The problem is that this exercise exploits all of the insecurities and problems I am working my hardest to control.
The first essay is a detailed explanation of the fabulous research you conducted already during your academic career. Okay...skip that. The second essay is your personal statement, which is actually that not bad for me to do because this is something I am very passionate about. The third essay, however, requires you to detail the research you plan to undertake with this grant. Um...hi, I've been here for 5 days, am I supposed to know what my 2 year research plan is? KP talked me down into realizing that I could take a project from a grant application my mentor submitted and use that as my base, but I am still freaking out about this part. I have also felt like my brain has been in this terrible fog since I got here and I am having trouble coming up with the nifty ideas I had always had when thinking about psychology. Maybe it's the lack of sex. Maybe it's the allergies. Either way, I need this problem fixed.
Well okay, I will admit that I had two pretty neat ideas today for research ideas and I hope to run them by my mentor this week and maybe get a go ahead to do some pretty crazy research. More on that later.
Beer Olympics
Awesome. Totally awesome.
Team Japan represented in style with amazing ninjas costumes, a ridiculously involved robot costume, and someone's ridiculously Asian girlfriend dressed up as herself (seriously, I am not even making this up). There is this one kid who a bunch of us are starting to dislike, and he showed up without a costume and refused to give us an answer about why he didn't dress up, even when we were like "just say you thought it was stupid and we will leave you alone". He and few others ended up leaving mid-way through for a concert, which pissed off everyone and made the remaining few of us first years look much cooler by comparison. Thanks guys!
Some highlights:
* Everyone else was totally into it and had amazing costumes, great opening ceremony presentations, and they kept a ridiculously tight schedule for the events. Seriously, they had sober monitors whose only job was the make sure that events continued as scheduled and each team was following the correct brackets.
* I have some amazing games to import back to D.C. Baseball is this outstanding mix of beirut and flip cup that is really fun and great for team bonding. There is also this game cross-fire that is the opposite of beirut and is also amazing. Can't wait to come down (or have y'all come up) so I can show you.
* Like I said, other first years pussying out of the games made those of us who were playing and having a great time seem that much better. I am confident that most of the people now know who I am and think "wow, this girl is sure neat". More importantly, the social nodes (read: those who dominate the social interactions of a group) know who I am and think I am neat. Well, most of them saw super-shit talking competitive drinking me, so maybe they are scared. Either way......
* So this guy comes up to me and he is mildly cute after 8 hours of drinking, so I play along and the like. I find out he is not at Dartmouth, 22, and a smoker, so I immediately loose interest. Baby Smoker had not stopped emailing me since Sunday morning and the emails are absolutely hilarious. This kid refuses to use punctuation, spelling, capitalization, or any of the other silly formalities of email. I sent him a really funny response pointing these things (and several others) out and he responds with one complete sentence and then the rest is back to stream of crap writing. I would like to say I am flattered that he is so interested, but I think this just makes me sad.
....no wait, this makes me laugh, because it is absolutely hilarious.
Team Japan represented in style with amazing ninjas costumes, a ridiculously involved robot costume, and someone's ridiculously Asian girlfriend dressed up as herself (seriously, I am not even making this up). There is this one kid who a bunch of us are starting to dislike, and he showed up without a costume and refused to give us an answer about why he didn't dress up, even when we were like "just say you thought it was stupid and we will leave you alone". He and few others ended up leaving mid-way through for a concert, which pissed off everyone and made the remaining few of us first years look much cooler by comparison. Thanks guys!
Some highlights:
* Everyone else was totally into it and had amazing costumes, great opening ceremony presentations, and they kept a ridiculously tight schedule for the events. Seriously, they had sober monitors whose only job was the make sure that events continued as scheduled and each team was following the correct brackets.
* I have some amazing games to import back to D.C. Baseball is this outstanding mix of beirut and flip cup that is really fun and great for team bonding. There is also this game cross-fire that is the opposite of beirut and is also amazing. Can't wait to come down (or have y'all come up) so I can show you.
* Like I said, other first years pussying out of the games made those of us who were playing and having a great time seem that much better. I am confident that most of the people now know who I am and think "wow, this girl is sure neat". More importantly, the social nodes (read: those who dominate the social interactions of a group) know who I am and think I am neat. Well, most of them saw super-shit talking competitive drinking me, so maybe they are scared. Either way......
* So this guy comes up to me and he is mildly cute after 8 hours of drinking, so I play along and the like. I find out he is not at Dartmouth, 22, and a smoker, so I immediately loose interest. Baby Smoker had not stopped emailing me since Sunday morning and the emails are absolutely hilarious. This kid refuses to use punctuation, spelling, capitalization, or any of the other silly formalities of email. I sent him a really funny response pointing these things (and several others) out and he responds with one complete sentence and then the rest is back to stream of crap writing. I would like to say I am flattered that he is so interested, but I think this just makes me sad.
....no wait, this makes me laugh, because it is absolutely hilarious.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday Recall and Saturday Musings
Friday was a fairly decent day. We had a brown bag discussion that went WAY over my head (statistical methods of reporting fMRI) and then I had the meeting with my mentor that I had been worrying about all week. I have to say, I have had "hands off" advisors before but he sort of brings it to a new level. I sort of threw out some things I thought I should be working on and he nodded. I tried to get some deadlines and goals in place but he wasn't having it. So, as I have determined, my priorties for the next 3 months are as follows:
(1) Draft and submit an NSF funding grant by November 5th
(2) Work with honors student (after he decides which project) to help them complete their project
(3) Work towards fMRI certification
(4) Begin exhaustive literature search of all things fMRI and self-regulation and decide what I want my first project to be. I will probably jump start this project in the Spring (or, so that is what he thinks, but my Spring semester is going to be a killer WITHOUT starting a research project).
On the social side of things, I spent last night at a psychology party that was being held where I live. The graduate housing advisor is also in the psych department, so he basically uses the graduate money to throw awesome parties for us. Excellent. Then we moved on to a "training"party for the Beer Olympics which was pretty much the same crowd.
This morning I went into town with Jessica to get a new backpack (snazzy LLBean) and pick up some awesome ninja accessories for tonight. OOOO - you will all be so proud of me. When we got back she invited me to her Chinese roomates birthday party and I spent 2 hours hanging out with them and getting to know their culture a little better. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I may be 10% less of a racist by the time this year finishes. Crazy, I know.
Nothing much else to report, though I hope I will have some good stories from the party tonight to report. Oh before I forget, my friend KP is really paranoid about appearing on this blog, so I wanted to be sure to include a bit more about her.
KP is my "twin" and we are both first years in the first lab. KP is awesome and is a terrible person like me. In fact, the first day, I pulled her aside and was like "I can't stand x, y, and z" and she was like "OMG, I know but I didn't want to be that bitch to bring it up first". We have a great ying/yang going because she is insanely smart and good with computers but a little shy, so we both force the other to work up to us on the different levels.
Alright, next post should be coming tomorrow in some hungover awfulness. I hope tonight isn't going to come back to haunt me tomorrow afternoon when I have a 2 hour scan set-up for some extra cash.
(1) Draft and submit an NSF funding grant by November 5th
(2) Work with honors student (after he decides which project) to help them complete their project
(3) Work towards fMRI certification
(4) Begin exhaustive literature search of all things fMRI and self-regulation and decide what I want my first project to be. I will probably jump start this project in the Spring (or, so that is what he thinks, but my Spring semester is going to be a killer WITHOUT starting a research project).
On the social side of things, I spent last night at a psychology party that was being held where I live. The graduate housing advisor is also in the psych department, so he basically uses the graduate money to throw awesome parties for us. Excellent. Then we moved on to a "training"party for the Beer Olympics which was pretty much the same crowd.
This morning I went into town with Jessica to get a new backpack (snazzy LLBean) and pick up some awesome ninja accessories for tonight. OOOO - you will all be so proud of me. When we got back she invited me to her Chinese roomates birthday party and I spent 2 hours hanging out with them and getting to know their culture a little better. I don't want to jinx it, but I think I may be 10% less of a racist by the time this year finishes. Crazy, I know.
Nothing much else to report, though I hope I will have some good stories from the party tonight to report. Oh before I forget, my friend KP is really paranoid about appearing on this blog, so I wanted to be sure to include a bit more about her.
KP is my "twin" and we are both first years in the first lab. KP is awesome and is a terrible person like me. In fact, the first day, I pulled her aside and was like "I can't stand x, y, and z" and she was like "OMG, I know but I didn't want to be that bitch to bring it up first". We have a great ying/yang going because she is insanely smart and good with computers but a little shy, so we both force the other to work up to us on the different levels.
Alright, next post should be coming tomorrow in some hungover awfulness. I hope tonight isn't going to come back to haunt me tomorrow afternoon when I have a 2 hour scan set-up for some extra cash.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Does anyone even care about the learning stuff?
So, I have this feeling that the learning part of Dartmouth is not nearly as interesting as the personal life stuff, so I will try to keep that short.
Today I went to a dissertation discussion, had 20 minutes of my first Prosem class (this is the syllabus, you are all screwed), went to a panel discussion on being a TA, and signed up to be in 3 more MRI studies to make money.
Okay, personal stuff. Went on a walk with The Vegetarian tonight and she explained that she is socially retarded and didn't even see me the other day while she was out walking..so fweh..no enemies yet.
After the TA panel there was a booze and cheese party at which I met (1) a painfully cute and shy guy who I shall name Chem Nerd and (2) a huge group of economics and med school students. We all ended up going over to play pool, getting mexican food, and then back at someone's house for more drinking and cigars. Chem Nerd turned out to have some girlfriend-type in Michigan (lame!) but the other guys were awesome. They were cute, smart, a little bit older, and were filterless vile people like me. It felt really good to be around people talking graphically about sex and making racist/dead hooker jokes. I sent one (The Hispanic) an email asking him out for dinner - I am getting pretty desperate so I hope this pans out into something.
One last note, the Chinese are all in their rooms right now, and they are all singing, and it's sort of scaring me. Also, I have started to notice their long black hair everywhere, and it's kind of freaking me out.
That's all for me, though I am hoping to make a quick pop-in with The Virgin to say hi and see if I can convert him to my ways.
Today I went to a dissertation discussion, had 20 minutes of my first Prosem class (this is the syllabus, you are all screwed), went to a panel discussion on being a TA, and signed up to be in 3 more MRI studies to make money.
Okay, personal stuff. Went on a walk with The Vegetarian tonight and she explained that she is socially retarded and didn't even see me the other day while she was out walking..so fweh..no enemies yet.
After the TA panel there was a booze and cheese party at which I met (1) a painfully cute and shy guy who I shall name Chem Nerd and (2) a huge group of economics and med school students. We all ended up going over to play pool, getting mexican food, and then back at someone's house for more drinking and cigars. Chem Nerd turned out to have some girlfriend-type in Michigan (lame!) but the other guys were awesome. They were cute, smart, a little bit older, and were filterless vile people like me. It felt really good to be around people talking graphically about sex and making racist/dead hooker jokes. I sent one (The Hispanic) an email asking him out for dinner - I am getting pretty desperate so I hope this pans out into something.
One last note, the Chinese are all in their rooms right now, and they are all singing, and it's sort of scaring me. Also, I have started to notice their long black hair everywhere, and it's kind of freaking me out.
That's all for me, though I am hoping to make a quick pop-in with The Virgin to say hi and see if I can convert him to my ways.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
...I'm not going soft on the Chinese
Just because I am trying to get along does not mean things are not still ridiculous. One put a bowl of sauce in the microwave for 7 minutes and the bowl is now destroyed (but not my bowl). Also, one was making breakfast for tomorrow morning in the kitchen - hot dog rolls with salami and large slices of mushroom, placed in the microwave for early morning perfection. ewl
A Productive Day...and a lil drama
Today was really great and I'm starting to at least get into a groove.
Got up and tore into my grant which required methodical notes and looking up brain regions for 3 hours, but it was very exciting to me that it wasn't completely over my head. We also had a lab meeting and my mentor was throwing out all these studies and names and I was like "holy shit, I actually know exactly what you are talking about". This was a major revelation.
Afternoon was super productive and I got my car registered and inspected, changed to Verizon and am working with this bizarre new phone, got the necessary things to make my bed more closely related to comfortable, went grocery shopping, went running, and did laundry. I rock.
I have also tried to take my friends advise and I am making a much better attempt to be friends with my roomates. There are still a lot of barriers, but I had a 5 minute conversation with each of them today and I got to bring up some of my issues and feel a little better about everything. I did also go the housing office and asked like "WTF, mate?", and they apologized and realized how asshole it was to place me in there. They also gave me the names of 2 houses that were 3 english speakers and 1 lonely chinese person, but I don't think that conversation could be anything but awkward: "Hello, would you rather live with your own kind?".
Psychology news - I am officially now social chair for my year and have wasted no time working on our team for the Beer Alympics (not a typo, that's how it is spelled for some reason). We need to pick a country to dress as so I was thinking of Antarctica and we can go as penguins. Let me know if anyone has any better suggestions.
Finally, the first little peakings of drama have begun. After a party last night I invited some new guys I had met, TB Hottie, and the Vegetarian to go out for a drink. The Vegetarian was acting a bit strange and the combo of her and TB Hottie was just not working in anyone's advantage and I was unwilling to play "hide behind the chair" in front of normal new people. At the end of the night I was ready to go back to the Psych building and the group asked The Vegetarian to leave, but she was working on a math problem with new friends and refused to even turn around to respond to us. Finally I shook her and was like..dude, coming or not???? I don't know what happened but I saw her walking with TB Hottie this morning and I waved and said hi. TB Hottie came over but The Vegetarian shot me an angry look, said nothing, and kept walking. Maybe she didn't see me? I gave her a call but it's been going straight to voicemail all day. I'm not sure if this is something I should care about, but it does seem a bit early to burn bridges, especially since she is really close and nice.
Alright, more reading to do and I'm enjoying listening to the rain/thunder. I also need to go buy a backpack now that I have to carry around a computer and a bunch of notebooks, so let me know if anyone has a backpack they really like.
Got up and tore into my grant which required methodical notes and looking up brain regions for 3 hours, but it was very exciting to me that it wasn't completely over my head. We also had a lab meeting and my mentor was throwing out all these studies and names and I was like "holy shit, I actually know exactly what you are talking about". This was a major revelation.
Afternoon was super productive and I got my car registered and inspected, changed to Verizon and am working with this bizarre new phone, got the necessary things to make my bed more closely related to comfortable, went grocery shopping, went running, and did laundry. I rock.
I have also tried to take my friends advise and I am making a much better attempt to be friends with my roomates. There are still a lot of barriers, but I had a 5 minute conversation with each of them today and I got to bring up some of my issues and feel a little better about everything. I did also go the housing office and asked like "WTF, mate?", and they apologized and realized how asshole it was to place me in there. They also gave me the names of 2 houses that were 3 english speakers and 1 lonely chinese person, but I don't think that conversation could be anything but awkward: "Hello, would you rather live with your own kind?".
Psychology news - I am officially now social chair for my year and have wasted no time working on our team for the Beer Alympics (not a typo, that's how it is spelled for some reason). We need to pick a country to dress as so I was thinking of Antarctica and we can go as penguins. Let me know if anyone has any better suggestions.
Finally, the first little peakings of drama have begun. After a party last night I invited some new guys I had met, TB Hottie, and the Vegetarian to go out for a drink. The Vegetarian was acting a bit strange and the combo of her and TB Hottie was just not working in anyone's advantage and I was unwilling to play "hide behind the chair" in front of normal new people. At the end of the night I was ready to go back to the Psych building and the group asked The Vegetarian to leave, but she was working on a math problem with new friends and refused to even turn around to respond to us. Finally I shook her and was like..dude, coming or not???? I don't know what happened but I saw her walking with TB Hottie this morning and I waved and said hi. TB Hottie came over but The Vegetarian shot me an angry look, said nothing, and kept walking. Maybe she didn't see me? I gave her a call but it's been going straight to voicemail all day. I'm not sure if this is something I should care about, but it does seem a bit early to burn bridges, especially since she is really close and nice.
Alright, more reading to do and I'm enjoying listening to the rain/thunder. I also need to go buy a backpack now that I have to carry around a computer and a bunch of notebooks, so let me know if anyone has a backpack they really like.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
More Romantical Attempts Ending in WTF
Post-virgin gameplan: go after the PAINFULLY awkward but extremely attractive (he was described as Jim from The Office's younger brother) guy by getting him drunk and taking advantage of him.
We were chatting tonight and heading to a bar when he tells me that he can't drink for the next 9 months because he had a positive TB test and needs to be on anti-TB medication for the next 9 months. No drinking on his medication.
WTF! As predicted, I think my years of easy access to sex are finally going to catch up with me and I should rename this blog "A Year of Celibacy in the Great White North".
We were chatting tonight and heading to a bar when he tells me that he can't drink for the next 9 months because he had a positive TB test and needs to be on anti-TB medication for the next 9 months. No drinking on his medication.
WTF! As predicted, I think my years of easy access to sex are finally going to catch up with me and I should rename this blog "A Year of Celibacy in the Great White North".
Sitting in my office, waiting until 6
So today has been exhausting, so instead of reading the rest of my grant proposal I am going to do a little blogging (since I have heard that some of you are enjoying it). I will say, however, that the grant my mentor gave me is almost spot on for the personal statement I submitted (which was submitted long after he had written the grant). I am so incredibly excited to get started working on these experiments and I really think it's almost freakish how in-line my area of interest is with is. Encouraging!
So I spent my morning in a human subjects protection training class, which marks the 10th time I have had to take such a course. Perhaps the last?
Next part was interesting - since I don't know any of the studies going on yet I got to make $20 and learn what it feels like to get scanned in the fMRI machine for an hour. Not gonna lie, little bit uncomfortable, tiny bit scary, and really hard not to move. I do think it was a really good experience to have though, and looking at my brain scans were neat.
Next, rummaging around for free food (there is an entire listserve here that only includes information about free food for the day - I have been told grad students can go an entire career here and never have to buy lunch) and then on to another 3 hours of orientation meetings.
Also, I got my new insane MacBook Pro, started to do some of the set-up and learning how to use the mac. I was planning to dual boot, but I've realize that I should probably just bite the bullet and get used to this now.
Overall, I am starting to realize that I should have come up here earlier and taken care of my car, a new cell phone (I will be switching to Verizon in the very near future), and gotten a better feel for the town, but I guess at this point whatever, I'll just have to deal.
I suppose that is it for now. I am off to a "Mug Party" at 6 and then will almost certainly need to collapse in some drunken remorse when I get home. I think that I probably need to cut-back a little on drinking and maybe start worrying less about finding a cute guy , but that will almost certainly make for the best blogposts - so, for you, I will continue.
So I spent my morning in a human subjects protection training class, which marks the 10th time I have had to take such a course. Perhaps the last?
Next part was interesting - since I don't know any of the studies going on yet I got to make $20 and learn what it feels like to get scanned in the fMRI machine for an hour. Not gonna lie, little bit uncomfortable, tiny bit scary, and really hard not to move. I do think it was a really good experience to have though, and looking at my brain scans were neat.
Next, rummaging around for free food (there is an entire listserve here that only includes information about free food for the day - I have been told grad students can go an entire career here and never have to buy lunch) and then on to another 3 hours of orientation meetings.
Also, I got my new insane MacBook Pro, started to do some of the set-up and learning how to use the mac. I was planning to dual boot, but I've realize that I should probably just bite the bullet and get used to this now.
Overall, I am starting to realize that I should have come up here earlier and taken care of my car, a new cell phone (I will be switching to Verizon in the very near future), and gotten a better feel for the town, but I guess at this point whatever, I'll just have to deal.
I suppose that is it for now. I am off to a "Mug Party" at 6 and then will almost certainly need to collapse in some drunken remorse when I get home. I think that I probably need to cut-back a little on drinking and maybe start worrying less about finding a cute guy , but that will almost certainly make for the best blogposts - so, for you, I will continue.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Random Jumble
Okay, a quick recap for all of you following at home, and some really obnoxious and baffling developments.
Orientation was good and I got to talk to my mentor for about 2 hours - in general I have a MUCH better idea what I will be doing. I signed up for classes, have some idea of the grant I need to start working on, and have a gameplan for learning how to use the scanner and start running subjects. I think right now my biggest issue is figuring out how to organize all the stuff being thrown at me, so I bought some different kinds of organizers and hope to get this sorted out. Things also went well with meeting the other psych students in the department and Ithink that I am lucky because many of my fellow first years are rather quiet and I have been making myself walk up to people and introduce myself, so I think they at least remember me.
Decided I don't care enough not to write about people of interest so latest developments on the cute boy next door. I head over to his place tonight, sitting on his bed drinking and we are having a great conversation. I come to find out he is socially conservative for religious reasons and doesn't believe in gay marriage, abortion, etc. Okay, I tell myself this will just make the sex really hot. WAIT! He also doesn't believe in sex before marriage, including oral sex. What the fuck!?!? I have never met anyone who is saving themselves for marriage, why does it have to be the cute, very flirtatious guy who is clearly interested in me? I flat out said "I could never date or marry someone who doesn't have sex" and yet he just keeps flirting and sending out signs.
So to sum: somehow I find myself being friends with the vegetarian from Wesleyan and attracted to the guy who won't have sex. Really?
P.S. I got to introduce my friends to the Chinese today and they were all like...holy shit, you are not a racist, they are just terrible.
Orientation was good and I got to talk to my mentor for about 2 hours - in general I have a MUCH better idea what I will be doing. I signed up for classes, have some idea of the grant I need to start working on, and have a gameplan for learning how to use the scanner and start running subjects. I think right now my biggest issue is figuring out how to organize all the stuff being thrown at me, so I bought some different kinds of organizers and hope to get this sorted out. Things also went well with meeting the other psych students in the department and Ithink that I am lucky because many of my fellow first years are rather quiet and I have been making myself walk up to people and introduce myself, so I think they at least remember me.
Decided I don't care enough not to write about people of interest so latest developments on the cute boy next door. I head over to his place tonight, sitting on his bed drinking and we are having a great conversation. I come to find out he is socially conservative for religious reasons and doesn't believe in gay marriage, abortion, etc. Okay, I tell myself this will just make the sex really hot. WAIT! He also doesn't believe in sex before marriage, including oral sex. What the fuck!?!? I have never met anyone who is saving themselves for marriage, why does it have to be the cute, very flirtatious guy who is clearly interested in me? I flat out said "I could never date or marry someone who doesn't have sex" and yet he just keeps flirting and sending out signs.
So to sum: somehow I find myself being friends with the vegetarian from Wesleyan and attracted to the guy who won't have sex. Really?
P.S. I got to introduce my friends to the Chinese today and they were all like...holy shit, you are not a racist, they are just terrible.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Sunday Wrap-Up
Today was good. Had lunch with my friend Jessica (who is as much trying to friend grab as me and doesn't think my attempts to hang out are pathetic). Jessica is very amusing because she is the exact opposite person I would ever hang out with - she is a vegetarian, went to Wesleyan, refuses to buy from Walmart or product made in China - but we still seem to get along. I also went for an amazing run along the CT river and then went back out to dinner with Jessica. Ooo, we also got our friend Dustin to take us along the rape path outside our house and show us a ridiculous statue of Robert Frost.
So at this point I can't figure out who will be reading this blog and what is safe to write about. I assume that only my DC friends are reading this so I can talk about the cute boys I like and strike out with (I don't think the nerds take aggressive women well), but what if drunken me gets all yappity yap yap about her new fangled blog and the new friends start reading? I'm a little unsure what to do at this point - so maybe I'll keep that stuff to gchats for the time being.
Final note - China Situation. So the guys next door said I can move into their place BUT the room is insanely tiny. Insane! It's also ground floor and has some other drawbacks. So here is the currrent gameplan. Jessica and Andrew are making in-roads with the Chinese, so they are going to bring their Chinese over for dinner or something and I am going to try to overcome some of this communication breakdown. We'll see how that works, cuz moving again would really be a bitch.
Okay, orientation tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to give a better answer than "stuff" when people ask what I will be doing.
Night.
So at this point I can't figure out who will be reading this blog and what is safe to write about. I assume that only my DC friends are reading this so I can talk about the cute boys I like and strike out with (I don't think the nerds take aggressive women well), but what if drunken me gets all yappity yap yap about her new fangled blog and the new friends start reading? I'm a little unsure what to do at this point - so maybe I'll keep that stuff to gchats for the time being.
Final note - China Situation. So the guys next door said I can move into their place BUT the room is insanely tiny. Insane! It's also ground floor and has some other drawbacks. So here is the currrent gameplan. Jessica and Andrew are making in-roads with the Chinese, so they are going to bring their Chinese over for dinner or something and I am going to try to overcome some of this communication breakdown. We'll see how that works, cuz moving again would really be a bitch.
Okay, orientation tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to give a better answer than "stuff" when people ask what I will be doing.
Night.
What would you do if a zombie attacked right now?
Night 3 in Hanover. I was getting pretty depressed that I couldn't find anyone to hang out with when I heard my neighbors inviting the Chinese to hang out. I jumped on this and it turns out that I have found my people - 2 physicists, an astronomer, and computer science major. We spent the night getting hammered, talking about zombies, and quoting tv shows...which pretty much sums me up.
I also feel slightly better on the housing front. The met the cool astronomer's roomates last nights and they are EVEN worse than my Chinese (though she does have an American with her). It's always nice to compare to someone else and feel better about yourself. I also found out that the 3 guys who live next door to me don't have a 4th roomate, so maybe it will be possible for me to move in? Also, I found out that the housing people accidently put a guy named Adrienne in a house with 3 girls, and the 3 girls hate him but he refuses to move out. I just like that all schools seem to be incapable of accomplishing simple things, even Dartmouth.
I also feel slightly better on the housing front. The met the cool astronomer's roomates last nights and they are EVEN worse than my Chinese (though she does have an American with her). It's always nice to compare to someone else and feel better about yourself. I also found out that the 3 guys who live next door to me don't have a 4th roomate, so maybe it will be possible for me to move in? Also, I found out that the housing people accidently put a guy named Adrienne in a house with 3 girls, and the 3 girls hate him but he refuses to move out. I just like that all schools seem to be incapable of accomplishing simple things, even Dartmouth.
Another funny story about the Chinese
I hung out with some of my other neighbors last night (more on that later) and heard a great story. Apparently, the week before I got here my next door neighbor's smoke detector was going off while they were cooking but they had stepped away for a moment. The Chinese went into the house and pulled the fire alarm because they thought that would turn off the smoke detector. The fire department came and it was apparently a pretty big deal.
They are amazing.
They are amazing.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Will you be my friend?
Almost did the drunk post last night but decided to wait until the next morning.
It was awesome meeting the other Psychology people at the safety training yesterday morning. They are all really down to earth, nice, funny, etc. The safety training also provided a wonderful boring platform to meet them and make sarcastic comments. I also got to check in with my mentor and was (a) relieved that he seems to have some sort of a plan for me and (b) his other first year student also has no fucking idea what we are supposed to be doing. What a relief! She's also wicked cool and completely understands how much Hanover sucks compared to a city.
Day 2 of my shameless friend grab: two of the psych guys have an amazing house in White River, VT and were planning a bbq that night, so I forced my way into that and convinced the other psych girls to drive out and go do that. We all had a really great time, met some of the other 80 first year med students who are ever present so far, and got totally hammered on fantastic home-brewed beer. I think all the psych people now know way too much about me - but that's par for the course.
Around midnight the girls decided to head back to Hanover and check out the "bar scene". Wow, most of the bars were already closed so we ended up at the Canoe Club. Fortunately, one of the older psych students was there and filled us in on the late night deal (last call is at 1 at most bars, then everyone walks down to India Queen and orders as much beer as they can drink before their last call at 1:30, and then everyone finds a house party). By the India Queen point it was just me and one girl, and we decided we were awesomely drunk by 1:30 and should just head home. Must admit, it felt really good to be totally wasted (feels like home!).
The unhappy point of the day - many of the first year psych students are living within walking distance of campus, paying less than me, and have cool roomates who speak English. The China Situation is not getting any better. I went out and bought a dishdrainer, more soap, etc but it just totally sucks to wake up in the morning and dread walking downstairs to get a glass of water because you know it means breaking through the Chinese conversation, entering the disgusting kitchen and man-handling out the Brita pitcher that is wedged between open bags of fish chips. I went by the housing office yesterday and did some fact-finding about switching, and they said unless I can find another girl to switch with me at Northpark I am stuck. I don't like being stuck. I am still going to keep checking housing postings and hoping I can find a way out of here.
Another thing I don't like - it is the season opener for football today, but I have no one to go with and don't even know where to buy tickets. I guess I should be more proactive and send out some emails to fellow psych people and North parkers, but it depresses me that there is so much fun stuff going on and I don't have the people to hang out with. I wish the medical students were either less prevalent on campus or more amenable to being my friend. They have all been here for 2 months and are really fun, but don't take outsiders freely. My gameplan is to find a way to hang out with some of them tonight, but that is going to mean a lot more of randomly intruding on parties and begging for friends.
One final note, my cell phone doesn't seem to work up here. If you happen to call you need to leave a message, and some hours later I will finally get it and call you back.
It was awesome meeting the other Psychology people at the safety training yesterday morning. They are all really down to earth, nice, funny, etc. The safety training also provided a wonderful boring platform to meet them and make sarcastic comments. I also got to check in with my mentor and was (a) relieved that he seems to have some sort of a plan for me and (b) his other first year student also has no fucking idea what we are supposed to be doing. What a relief! She's also wicked cool and completely understands how much Hanover sucks compared to a city.
Day 2 of my shameless friend grab: two of the psych guys have an amazing house in White River, VT and were planning a bbq that night, so I forced my way into that and convinced the other psych girls to drive out and go do that. We all had a really great time, met some of the other 80 first year med students who are ever present so far, and got totally hammered on fantastic home-brewed beer. I think all the psych people now know way too much about me - but that's par for the course.
Around midnight the girls decided to head back to Hanover and check out the "bar scene". Wow, most of the bars were already closed so we ended up at the Canoe Club. Fortunately, one of the older psych students was there and filled us in on the late night deal (last call is at 1 at most bars, then everyone walks down to India Queen and orders as much beer as they can drink before their last call at 1:30, and then everyone finds a house party). By the India Queen point it was just me and one girl, and we decided we were awesomely drunk by 1:30 and should just head home. Must admit, it felt really good to be totally wasted (feels like home!).
The unhappy point of the day - many of the first year psych students are living within walking distance of campus, paying less than me, and have cool roomates who speak English. The China Situation is not getting any better. I went out and bought a dishdrainer, more soap, etc but it just totally sucks to wake up in the morning and dread walking downstairs to get a glass of water because you know it means breaking through the Chinese conversation, entering the disgusting kitchen and man-handling out the Brita pitcher that is wedged between open bags of fish chips. I went by the housing office yesterday and did some fact-finding about switching, and they said unless I can find another girl to switch with me at Northpark I am stuck. I don't like being stuck. I am still going to keep checking housing postings and hoping I can find a way out of here.
Another thing I don't like - it is the season opener for football today, but I have no one to go with and don't even know where to buy tickets. I guess I should be more proactive and send out some emails to fellow psych people and North parkers, but it depresses me that there is so much fun stuff going on and I don't have the people to hang out with. I wish the medical students were either less prevalent on campus or more amenable to being my friend. They have all been here for 2 months and are really fun, but don't take outsiders freely. My gameplan is to find a way to hang out with some of them tonight, but that is going to mean a lot more of randomly intruding on parties and begging for friends.
One final note, my cell phone doesn't seem to work up here. If you happen to call you need to leave a message, and some hours later I will finally get it and call you back.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
One last first day note
So I was walking by one of the North Park houses and noticed a group of guys sitting and watching tv. Per my mom's insistence, I put on something cute and went over and maybe met a cool group of guys from the Med School.
I also met some of the girls who live in North Park....I think I'm better off with the Chinese.
So to sum, it's a very scary thing when I am finding myself pushed to the limits of my socialness - what on earth does everyone else do?
I also met some of the girls who live in North Park....I think I'm better off with the Chinese.
So to sum, it's a very scary thing when I am finding myself pushed to the limits of my socialness - what on earth does everyone else do?
The First Day
A quick recap of the first day in Hanover.
The drive up was super simple but everything sort of went to crazy when I got here. There isn't anywhere to park at Dartmouth unless you have a parking pass - so that was my logical first stop, but not so fast! You need your student ID first....
First, I think naming 2 buildings that are very far away from each other the same name is just mean, and I did not appreciate the walk. There is something very unsettling about being much older than everyone around you but knowing absolutely nothing about where you are and needing to ask them for help. I, of course, decide to wander around looking instead of asking...
I finally get to the office, take a hilarious picture, head back to the parking office and complete the forms. She then tells me my registration expires today, so no dice. I beg and plead for a 2 week temp pass, and then have to argue with her that I would rather park in the undergrad lot that is 4 blocks from me, instead of the graduate lot (but it's nicer she says!) which is 12 blocks away. Okay, parking accomplished for 2 weeks, only 1.75 hours wasted.
Get my stuff inside, explain in every possible way to the Chinese that I recognize that I have a lot of stuff, and head out to find Wentworth Hall to pick up this Graduate Packet that I get 3 reminders about each day.
The interesting thing about Dartmouth is that the streets aren't so much labeled, and the buildings tend to only be labeled on the side that doesn't face me. Somehow I walked past Wentworth Hall, but huzzah, I am by the Psych building which I need to go to anyway.
Meet with the admin person and actually have a very funny conversation. Turns out that I am the last person to arrive by a week (she also had no idea what the fuck people were doing here that early since there was nothing to do), but I have a nice office and a very cute guy sitting across from me. Funny comment - when she tried to give me directions to Wentworth Hall she told me to head "downtown" where the Hanover Inn is...."downtown" is literally 6 blocks away. I think she got a good laugh at how completely disorienting Hanover is to someone from DC, who is accustomed to a grid system, with labeled streets, and a real downtown.
Ran a few other errands, did more unpacking, going to spend the night watching tv in my room and getting ready for the 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Safety Training seminar complete with a quiz after each section.
Anyone jealous yet?
P.S. If for some reason you thought I would blog with more form and less "..." than I gchat, you are sadly mistaken.
The drive up was super simple but everything sort of went to crazy when I got here. There isn't anywhere to park at Dartmouth unless you have a parking pass - so that was my logical first stop, but not so fast! You need your student ID first....
First, I think naming 2 buildings that are very far away from each other the same name is just mean, and I did not appreciate the walk. There is something very unsettling about being much older than everyone around you but knowing absolutely nothing about where you are and needing to ask them for help. I, of course, decide to wander around looking instead of asking...
I finally get to the office, take a hilarious picture, head back to the parking office and complete the forms. She then tells me my registration expires today, so no dice. I beg and plead for a 2 week temp pass, and then have to argue with her that I would rather park in the undergrad lot that is 4 blocks from me, instead of the graduate lot (but it's nicer she says!) which is 12 blocks away. Okay, parking accomplished for 2 weeks, only 1.75 hours wasted.
Get my stuff inside, explain in every possible way to the Chinese that I recognize that I have a lot of stuff, and head out to find Wentworth Hall to pick up this Graduate Packet that I get 3 reminders about each day.
The interesting thing about Dartmouth is that the streets aren't so much labeled, and the buildings tend to only be labeled on the side that doesn't face me. Somehow I walked past Wentworth Hall, but huzzah, I am by the Psych building which I need to go to anyway.
Meet with the admin person and actually have a very funny conversation. Turns out that I am the last person to arrive by a week (she also had no idea what the fuck people were doing here that early since there was nothing to do), but I have a nice office and a very cute guy sitting across from me. Funny comment - when she tried to give me directions to Wentworth Hall she told me to head "downtown" where the Hanover Inn is...."downtown" is literally 6 blocks away. I think she got a good laugh at how completely disorienting Hanover is to someone from DC, who is accustomed to a grid system, with labeled streets, and a real downtown.
Ran a few other errands, did more unpacking, going to spend the night watching tv in my room and getting ready for the 8:30 am to 4:00 pm Safety Training seminar complete with a quiz after each section.
Anyone jealous yet?
P.S. If for some reason you thought I would blog with more form and less "..." than I gchat, you are sadly mistaken.
The Chinese
I think we all knew it wouldn't be long until my racist rant about my 3 new roomates, all of whom are ESL and are from China. I don't really know where to begin on this, so I am going to start with some of the highlights/observations. For the time being I will refer to them as (1) Most English speaking, (2) Bing, and (3) Least English speaking.
1. I think something I enjoy is that they do not realize when they are being insulting or slightly rude because of the language issue. No wait, I don't enjoy that...
2. I was unpacking in my room when Least English speaking came bounding upstairs and asked me if I would like some lunch. Intrigued and starving I asked "what are you having?" She responded "Pizza. Delivery pizza. Italian style". I followed downstairs and saw her USING CHOPSTICKS to eat one of those awful 4" round personal pizzas that you stick in the microwave.
3. They have been living here for 4 weeks - there is no handsoap in the house...err...there wasn't until I went and bought some. ewl.
4. What is whitening cream?!?!?!? Seriously, I found this in the bathroom...
5. I see that the dishwasher has been used, I look around for dishwasher detergent and see none. What have they been using? I do see 2 bottles of Palmolive and Ajax, but surely they haven't been using that?
6. Most English speaking asks if I would like some cake. I politely decline. She decides that shoving it closer to my face might change my mind?
7. The fridge - I can't tell if this is my egocentric American coming out, but isn't it gross to leave bowls of soup, containers of rice, and some god-forsaken product called fish chips open in the fridge? Is that why the whole house smells like fish? I wish the house didn't smell like fish.... Also, why do they have an entire container of chicken livers?
8. Okay this one is nasty - next to the kitchen sink they have put in a sponge holder. The sponge holder is the yellow styrofoam package that holds your meat when you buy it in the grocery store.
9. How long have they been here - I don't understand what they have been doing for the last 4 weeks because there are so many critical things missing from the house. They cook 3 meals a day, but only have 2 plates and chopsticks and use toilet paper in the kitchen because there are no paper towels or towels. They also don't have a dish drainer, so they just leave stuff in a pile.
10. Most English speaking came home tonight carrying a VHS of Beauty and the Beast. Where do you even find that?
Okay okay...overall they have actually been very nice and have tried really hard to help me get my stuff settled and feel included, so I guess all I can say is that I hope everyone else will enjoy my crash course in cultural sensitivity.
1. I think something I enjoy is that they do not realize when they are being insulting or slightly rude because of the language issue. No wait, I don't enjoy that...
2. I was unpacking in my room when Least English speaking came bounding upstairs and asked me if I would like some lunch. Intrigued and starving I asked "what are you having?" She responded "Pizza. Delivery pizza. Italian style". I followed downstairs and saw her USING CHOPSTICKS to eat one of those awful 4" round personal pizzas that you stick in the microwave.
3. They have been living here for 4 weeks - there is no handsoap in the house...err...there wasn't until I went and bought some. ewl.
4. What is whitening cream?!?!?!? Seriously, I found this in the bathroom...
5. I see that the dishwasher has been used, I look around for dishwasher detergent and see none. What have they been using? I do see 2 bottles of Palmolive and Ajax, but surely they haven't been using that?
6. Most English speaking asks if I would like some cake. I politely decline. She decides that shoving it closer to my face might change my mind?
7. The fridge - I can't tell if this is my egocentric American coming out, but isn't it gross to leave bowls of soup, containers of rice, and some god-forsaken product called fish chips open in the fridge? Is that why the whole house smells like fish? I wish the house didn't smell like fish.... Also, why do they have an entire container of chicken livers?
8. Okay this one is nasty - next to the kitchen sink they have put in a sponge holder. The sponge holder is the yellow styrofoam package that holds your meat when you buy it in the grocery store.
9. How long have they been here - I don't understand what they have been doing for the last 4 weeks because there are so many critical things missing from the house. They cook 3 meals a day, but only have 2 plates and chopsticks and use toilet paper in the kitchen because there are no paper towels or towels. They also don't have a dish drainer, so they just leave stuff in a pile.
10. Most English speaking came home tonight carrying a VHS of Beauty and the Beast. Where do you even find that?
Okay okay...overall they have actually been very nice and have tried really hard to help me get my stuff settled and feel included, so I guess all I can say is that I hope everyone else will enjoy my crash course in cultural sensitivity.
and so it begins....
From what my cool friends (read: hipster losers) have told me about blogs, they are supposed to begin with some sort of summary about why you are writing a blog....so here it goes.
This blog is intended to save me the time of having 90 gchat conversations with all of my friends who are scattered about major cities that are much cooler than mine. If for some strange reason you are reading this and not my friend (yet!), this is a blog about me leaving my life of 7 years in Washington D.C. to move to Hanover, NH to attend Dartmouth.
I have never kept any sort of journal before, so we shall see how this goes...
This blog is intended to save me the time of having 90 gchat conversations with all of my friends who are scattered about major cities that are much cooler than mine. If for some strange reason you are reading this and not my friend (yet!), this is a blog about me leaving my life of 7 years in Washington D.C. to move to Hanover, NH to attend Dartmouth.
I have never kept any sort of journal before, so we shall see how this goes...
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