Day 4

OK time for an actual post. Yesterday was spent mostly exploring. I managed to steal a few hours by myself to wander around campus. My wandering is best done alone as I am easily distracted. I like to go around, behind, through buildings. Walk down interesting paths that lead nowhere sometimes, but other times lead to the best places. I sat out in the Great Court for probably a half hour, just enjoying it. The grassy, fresh smell was very soothing, and the sandstone buildings seem friendly. They’re huge, but they don’t make me feel small, if that makes sense.

After absorbing the sandstone feel, I was off again. Behind the Great Court there was this awesome art museum. Outside there was this little statue that is shaped like a grave stone but has a big smiley face engraved in it, I’m a pretty big fan of it. Inside the museum on the first floor was a big exhibit done by this guy who played with his paintings making them like giant Rorschach tests. He would paint one side of the canvas then fold it to make it almost symmetrical. That was my favorite part about the paintings, the near symmetry. He seemed really fond of skulls and snakes, there were a few too many for my taste. I spent around fifteen minutes staring at one of his paintings trying to figure out what I saw in it before looking at the little placard which said what it actually was. I was torn between a bunny being held upside down and torn open or two faces. It was actually two skulls. It was obvious after I read it, but I like my interpretations. My other two favorite paintings of his were two where he went outside the canvas. There was one that was a few trees with a giant skull in the sky, but the painting was blotchy. It made me feel like I was inside the mind of someone going insane or on some pretty severe drugs. It spilled over onto the wall the canvas was hung on, as if the canvas alone couldn’t contain the painting.

The other was one of the Rorschach paintings, this one featured Jesus. The wall behind it was decorated in this crazed, dark way. I don’t know how to describe it, there were snakes and anger and more near symmetry. It was towards the back and as I was walking through the rest of the exhibit I had to stop and just stare. It took up nearly the entire wall, just staring at you as you walked by. I guess the rage and sin and anger looming behind a spiky, blotchy Jesus just fascinated me.

After the art gallery I met up with Gloria and we went looking for an apartment for her. We asked this guy for directions to a place she was going to look at and he was ridiculously well informed; he even know whereabouts the house number would be. I don’t know that much about anywhere. The house ended up being kind of hinky, it was like six people living in it and no air conditioning or dryer and it was kind of dirty and gross. After we were looking for a place called The Manor or something of the sort, we met these two really cool Asian girls who were living there. We were (yet again) asking for directions and lucked out; they were headed that way to sign their lease. Whoo! One of the girls heard I was from the US and started wringing me for information, she is thinking of going there for her PhD I believe, or maybe study abroad. I can’t remember, but she wanted to know about the cost of living. There were no places open at The Manor (Manors? I think it might have been pluralized), but the two girls pointed us to a real estate agent who helped them. We headed that way, but it was closed.

After our adventure to find Gloria housing, I steered us toward the street I will be living in, I wanted to take a look at the house and have an idea where I would be going. Turns out it is way further from campus than I thought. We walked for probably a half hour before turning back because we were both too tired to keep going. Plus I was sort of wearing shoes that weren’t fully broken in and now have a nice sized blister to show for my escapades.

Google maps says it is about a half hour of walking to campus, I will probably end up taking the bus if I can’t find a quicker way there.

When I saw it today (what with sitting there for about two hours), it was really nice. There were balconies and the building seems pretty new. I’m excited to see inside. We will get our own buzzer! I’m pretty stoked, I’ve never had a buzzer, even one to share.

After lunch I went for another walk around campus, by myself again. I saw a few more things that I wanted, but it was very quiet today. No one was there since it is Saturday. I got a few pictures I wanted but couldn’t take earlier due to people being in the way and/or thinking I’m a creeper. I also got a picture of a cuckaburro! They are really cute and sound like monkeys! It landed close to me and I thought it was adorable so I snapped a picture, then it made a little monkey noise and flew into a tree.

Speaking of birds, there are wild turkeys on campus. They are actually brush turkeys, but turkey will suffice. They go around digging these huge holes in all the mulch around campus and the university has to pay people to clean up after them. Silly turkeys! They’re really cute though. I’ve decided that around Thanksgiving I am going to rig some ridiculous traps (picture a box held up by a stick with bread crumbs under it) to try and capture a turkey. It will eventually digress to me just chasing one trying to reassure it that I just want to pet it. Gotta celebrate our nation’s holidays somehow.

As you can see, I am working hard on our foreign relations. Don’t worry, folks. I. Got. This.