First Term Reflections

Bonjour all,

Three days previous, I wrapped up my first term as a university student. No classes until 23 January 2012. Now, I have almost six weeks on a nearly empty campus. I have received many strange looks as I have told people I am not going back to Oregon, either for break or for Christmas. C'est la vie.

I enjoyed my first term quite bit. I had a full schedule, but I chose all but one of my classes. I went to almost all the home football (soccer) games as well as one away game. For the first month, I was really social, for me at least. I spent a lot of time with Jordan, who I met at a scholarship competition last February, and Gabriel, Jordan's roommate.

Most people were and have continued to be kind. Though I do not consider myself to have made more than one or two friends here, I have met many remarkable people. Of all the people I have met though, most all were either footballers or girls in my dorm house. My roommate and I get on well; she I consider a friend. I do - or at least did - consider Jordan a friend until a few weeks ago. For personal reasons I do not know that I even could explain, I chose to end it.

Easily the most disappointment I faced  is the general atmosphere of this university. I had this beautiful idea that university would be a dramatic change from secondary school: the drama would vanish and education would finally be more important than athletics. It is not so. Maybe if I went to one of the other universities I was considering the focus would be more on education. Which is not to say this particular university does not care about education; it does. Sports take precedence.

On the upside, the focus of the student body on athletics does make it easier to choose to remain single. I have often said that I cannot tolerate idiots. I have no patience for them. Having previously dated two relatively intelligent but extremely slacking jocks, I know what I want to avoid. Besides, I came to university to earn my bachelor's, not find a husband.

All told, I adore university. I am extremely excited for study abroad; England, we shall meet. While I would love to make some changes to this university, I do not regret my decision to come here. I have finally seen autumn! Northeastern Ohio, USA, makes me feel like I am living in a puzzle. It is beautiful.

Before I line out what I envision for this blog, I would like to "shout out" a few people.

Jordan: I do not know your opinion of our new situation; I have not given you a reason and I will not try. Thank you, for making the transition from Oregon easier, for being an intelligent conversationalist, for introducing me to others, for introducing me to your beautiful niece and some of your other family members. I hope to see you on the field next year.

Gabriel: In three months, we spent a fair chunk of time together. Thank you for the help in football and helping me understand how others see me. I would tell you to keep doing your thing, or something along those lines, but no one could stop you anyhow.

Amber: You have been a wonderful roommate. I know I am weird, quirky if one is feeling generous. I am not always easy to get along with or understand. However it happened, I am glad we ended up roommates.

Dr. Schulman: Thank you for being difficult to please. It makes me work harder. I did not do as well as I would have liked in your class this term, but I must have done something, because you and Dr. Johnson are helping me on the path to the career you both know I want. Long live Biology!

Daniel and James: I would give you each a blib, but you are almost completely linked in my mind. It always throws me slightly off balance when I see you separately. You two drove me a little mad in French, but you were more entertaining than aggravating. Though we will have no classes together next term, I look forward to seeing you. Thank you for use of your kitchen when I wanted to leave the party at Marco's but was not ready to walk home. Enjoy your return to England. Oh, and Daniel, I think I confuse you a little; for the sake of clarity: I am not interested.

Moving on, you may be a tad puzzled; the blog title is "Literary Decadence," yet I have only been writing about my university experience and some of the people I have met here. A good deal of what I post is sure to address books in one way or another. Complete bibliophile, at your service. I plan to do a number of book reviews, beginning with Suzanne Collins "Hunger Games" series. Some will be videos - depending on how effectively I can video edit - and some will be text; maybe some will be both.

However, I will also write about my life, little factoids I find interesting, and who knows what else. Especially for the next almost-six weeks, I would like to post twice a week, but I will not swear to that happening. I hope I will enjoy writing these and I hope you enjoy reading them. For now, let us just see how this goes.

- Genni