Driving through Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge. How many of you knew that Oak Ridge was the place where they build the automic bomb that ended World War II? Well, i didn't know that. So how was i supposed to know that the entire city was HIDDEN?? I kid you not. I know i can get lost easily, but this was just cruel and unusual torture.
So I'm totaly and completely lost, even though i got driving directions just 30 minutes for the city. I am looking for the freakin' city, but all it is are the huge government buildings. Reactors. Off limit sections. I was able to find every authorized personal only section on that one particular road. And then, the city just ends as quickly as it started. I had to get directions from these guys at the gas station, more from the old man who was telling me where NOT to turn. I made it to the cemetary, back to I-40, etc. Finally, I found the freakin lonely road that opens up into this New Orleans hidden in the trees. Huge place. All i see are fast food places and Banks. Finally, I find a land mark and have the co-workers of my mom's come rescue me from certain doom.
First Day Experiences at Umass
I finally make it to the Welcome Center, only to find lock doors. I find the administration building, where on-campus housing is located. They tell me that i cannot move in until Jun 4. I wasn't angry, scared, mad, or confused at all. I simply took a deep breath and said, "No. I talked to so and so and they said that i could move in. I have receipts with me from the money order and the next day mail." About 30 minutes later, I got my dorm key.So after I get the key, I decided that it is getting late and that i need to announce my arrival to the CS dept. So I'm told that CS dept is in Tower. I was quite afraid. The CS dept is not in the Tower, it's in the lowrise next to the Tower, but thanks for telling me that after i searched half of the Tower.
The Lederle Graduate Research Center -- Tower and Lowrise
So being completely exhausted, i unload my car and just start to cry, which is the tradition for me whenever i have to pick up everything i own and move into a new place. I stopped crying after 10 days or so. I was really scared because the Southern people said that the Northern people wouldn't be nice. But that's not true. I like Northern people, the way they talk, and their Pizza By The Slice.
Drinking with the Locals
So I'm desperately trying to find people to hang out with. Spring Semester ended about two or three weeks before and Summer Sessions haven't begun yet. I'm in a graduate dorm with foreign students who are at least ten years older than i am. I've decided to go exploring throughout the dorm to find whatever, laundry room, kitchen or such. However, i get literally trapped in this small little hallway in which the only exit will set off the fire alarm. There is a huge window into the courtyard, so i decide to jump up and down and bang on the glass until someone notices me. So this one guy does see me and comes to my aid. He goes down the stairwell and opens the door that had locked behind me. So after laughing about my situation for a few minutes, he asks me whether i want to go out drinking with him. After much consideration regarding his size, his age, and my fragile self :), i decide, "sure." I was really desperate for finding people to hang out with.Eventually one day I get so bored that i call him and ask whether we can go out for that drink. We buy some beer, Rolling Rock, and drink in my dormroom. Then we go out and drink elsewhere in downtown Amherst. After 4 beers and 2 Amareto Sours, I decided it is time for me to go to bed. But he is not leaving my room. So I tried to politely ask him to leave, and now i'm starting to demand it. Finally he says something to the extent of, "What? Aren't you going to give me a hug?" So i think to myself, "what is the harm in that?" then he asks me while holding me tightly in his grip, "What, no good night kiss?" Thank god for my drunken state, and as quick as students leave Starkville on any given Friday night, I gave him a peck on the lips, and used all of my might to break away from his grip. He left without another word, and I decided that i needed to email Matthew because I like emailing my friend Matthew when i am drunk.
How I feel about Pizza by the Slice
"Without pizza and other fine Italian foods, there could be no happiness"
-- "Fallen", staring Denzel Washington and Gene Goodman
Pizza by the slice must be one of the utmost delicasties i have been deprived for my entire lifetime. I have heard from those who had lived up north (that is, north of Tenn.) that there is such a thing called pizza by the slice. I have heard about how they miss it so. I was not sure until this moment what is means to miss Pizza by the Slice. The pain is now mutural, my northern friends. In order to have pizza by the slice again, i shall now proclaim myself as a "Yankee-wannabe-in-training."
Antonio's Pizza in Downtown Amherst
You might ask yourselves, my dear southerns, born southern by the grace of God (or so you think and wear your t-shirts), "What is so special about Pizza by the Slice?" Thank you for asking me. I shall try to do Pizza by the Slice justice; however, nothing could describe the wonderful choices given to you by just walking into the door of a Pizza by the Slice shop.
To begin, you have every imaginable combination known to any farmer. You can have hearts of architokes, slices of tomatos and spinach, pinnaple, bacon, shrimp, clams, and so on and so forth. There are endless possibilities of these combinations of veggies and fruits and meats. If you are sick of having to find three other people in the dorm at 1am to order pizza from Papa Johns, imagine, if you can, just going down the road to buy one or two slices of your own combinations of anchiovies and olives for just under 3 or 4 bucks. It is a thought so beautiful i feel the tears coming to my eyes...or that might be the tears becuase i am reminded of how awful starkvegas is after 9pm.