Back to School

Here I am! Back at school! I'm moved in and getting used to living in the dorms again. It's weird being put in the same position I was in as a freshman. When everyone is awkwardly introducing themselves, wandering into the lounge hoping to make friends, and leaving their doors open hoping someone will come say hi. Dorms are awkward! It's nice living next door to my friends, but most of the people in this dorm already know each other, so it's kind of weird talking to people that are hanging out with their own group of friends. For now, we're all chilling out in our rooms, getting over the stress of moving in, and enjoying the free time we have by going out to dinner, going bowling, and revisiting old friends.My room's pretty small, but I think Aileen and I have made it look pretty awesome. The beds are lofts, so that I sleep on the top bunk and the desk is the platform the bottom bunk should be on. We've also been given an armoire and a dresser. I set up my tv on the dresser so that I can lie in bed and watch it. ohhh yeahhhh lazy ftw. I think I'm gonna go hunt down some decorations so that the walls don't look as plain, but it still looks good. Here's what my side looks like:

As far as the food situation for this year goes, it seems that the promised kitchen is still just out of reach. My RA doesn't have the key to the kitchen and he says that he has to be around when anyone is using it and check that we've cleaned up and lock it up again. He agrees that it will be inconvenient for me to have to find him every time I need to eat, so he's going to try and work it out so that I can have my own key. I haven't cooked anything since being here, but we were hoping to have a homemade meal for dinner sometime tonight. If not, well that just gives us our first opportunity to eat at Tacos Moreno. ....oh nachos....how I've missed you.

I'm really looking forward to this quarter and I'm very ready for classes to start. I know how strange it is to say that I miss having homework to do, but I really really do! Summer seems so futile to me because I'm working for the sake of working. Granted, I'm getting paid, but I'm not really doing anything for myself. And when I'm not working, I don't have anything else to focus my energy into. Whereas as school I always have something I can be working on, even if I don't want to do it. Especially now that I'm doing upper division classes, I always have an endless amount of reading to do. Having homework makes me feel like I'm doing something productive with my life, even if I am procrastinating on doing it. I realize that's strange, but I want homework! Hopefully I'll be in some really cool classes this quarter, so I'm feeling good about this year.

So that's my update on the beginning of the school year. I'll be posting my Chicken Tikka Masala recipe in the next day or two so check back for that! And to intrigue you a little bit, Becky told me that this is the best thing I've ever made. OH YEAH.

XOXO

Natalie