A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library. --Shelby Foote
The mattress is unbelievably uncomfortable, but it makes me
have extremely vivid dreams. Or
something has been making me have crazy dreams as of late. Including one where my parents decided
to seek political asylum. In
Iran. They needed to do things quickly,
but I felt like this was probably a bad idea, so I was dragging my feet through
the process, hoping we would be too late.
But they really wanted to go, so even though we didn’t know if they’d
let us in, we went. To Iran.
The mattress also makes me realize that there was a really
good reason why I bought an egg crate foam topper for my bed in college because
actually sleeping on this thing for more than three weeks would do me in.
I’ve also found myself realizing that this room is actually
really big, the closet nice sized, and in general that there would be plenty of
space. Until I realize that
there’s another empty bed in my room—that this room would actually be for two
people. And the closet then seems
less amply proportioned.
Eating in the dining hall is a whole different
conundrum. I’m finding myself
addicted to certain aspects of it—I haven’t had to cook or clean up a kitchen
in more than two weeks now. I
don’t have to think about going grocery shopping or what I’m going to make to
eat. And there is a seemingly
unlimited amount of fresh, already cut watermelon and pineapple at every
meal.
But by that same token, I’ve only had two actually
home-cooked meals in two weeks and I’ve been eating an amazing amount of food I
simply don’t eat anymore. I’ve
been having what seem like very real fears about gaining a lot of weight back
because of these three weeks, which isn’t a very long time, I realize. But I stopped eating processed foods,
white bread, white rice, potatoes, white-flour pasta, and sugar about two years
ago. And quite honestly, there are
limited options—basically the pineapple and watermelon already mentioned—if I
want to continue to eat this way.
So I’m doing the best I can for three weeks, but not only do I sort of
hate having to eat this way, it just doesn’t taste as good. But there is coffee. At every meal. Not great coffee, but it’s not helping
me drink less of it that it’s always there.
I also haven’t been totally without a car since my sophomore
year in college, although there weren’t many places within walking distance of
Grove City. There isn’t a lot
available to walk to here at LMU, but there is enough to make a few strolling
trips off campus worth it. I do
love walking everywhere though—since I’ve been here I’ve had about two straight
weeks of more than 15,000 steps, or more than six miles of walking every
day. Which I suppose balances out
all the white bread.
It’s a strange existence, living on a college campus once
again. One of the best parts is
that being in southern coastal California, it’s perfect weather most days:
warm, but not hot, lovely breezes and zero humidity. We take about four fifteen minute breaks from class every
day and being able to sit and just enjoy the weather while the kids play four square
isn’t a bad deal. Also, I have a sickness--I checked out three books from the library for two weeks on campus because I was worried I would run out of things to read.
I love it here.
Sort of. But I’m ready to
get back to my own bed.
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