Meeting with graduate advisor: Almost the first thing I noticed about her was that she was wearing Sevens, which threw me off a little, but she was totally nice. Unfortunately, she didn't have much advice about what to do about the fact that no courses being offered are remotely related to what I "do."
Grad pub: Totally fun. The PhDs here are affable dorks, and the MFAs drink by themselves (whether as a group or individually is unclear), so I felt pretty much at home. Also, actually, there's a huge Irvine contingent. Most of them were undergrads while I was a grad student, which feels a little weird, but whatevs. If Irvine teaches you anything it's to get used to weird. The only other student (I think) on fellowship was rejected by Irvine, and he seems awesome, so ... think about that, suckers, next time you see E.A., admissions coordinator extrordinaire.
I also swung by the gym and was amazed, as Harrison predicted I would be. I can treadmill away while looking at a beautiful body of water whose name I forget (there are so many sounds and inlets here).
But more strikingly, the gym is huge. In fact, everything is huge. I feel dwarfted by the stadium, the library, the size of the campus itself. It's like a little city and gives me the "I am part of a great institution" feeling more than on any campus I've ever been on, more than Harvard or any Ivy.
The campus reminds me most of Berkeley; the Ave is like Telegraph, which is obvious if you've been to both places, but also the campus has the same way of being grand and then suddenly woodsy, landscaped but with the possibility of geese in the fountain. I watched a whole flotilla of them just standing there, some on one leg, some on two. It's a funny contrast to Irvine, which, for all its sterility, is actually a lot more homey, not only because I feel at home there but because it is much, much smaller and therefore more personal. And less exciting. Well, duh.
Also, what you can forget about rain is that it is cold. BRRRR.
2 comments:
But you'll get used to that cold-rainy feeling really soon. Soon, it won't feel cold anymore. It'll just feel like "good." Like...I want to go sit in a coffee shop and write a poem and then maybe get my feet a little wet and then have to soak them in the bath when I get home. That's what I used to do when I lived in Portland. And, by-the-way, do you have Dave's number? It's 206-734-7500. You should call him.
Get rained-on a little for me. I haven't seen rain in over five months. Perhaps you can send some in a jar, and I can dribble it over my head. Or perhaps I'll be deported at the end of this week and can experience percipitation first hand.
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