The title isn't supposed to sound depressing; rather, it's more about the fact that I have the Traveling Wilburys
song stuck in my head. It's pretty awesome, you may recognize it from the Knocked Up
trailer.
ANYWAY, that doesn't have anything to do with anything, except that I leave home in about
30 hours. I have (thank god) made significant progress since my first post - I got a great 5000 cu. in. backpack from EMS. We'll see how that holds up when I actually try packing all of my crap later. The bigger news, of course, is I know where I'll be living for the semester. I'll be at
687 Cumberland St (the green arrow on the map). For some perspective, my flat is about 6 1/2 blocks from the Octagon (lower left), the center of city life, and literally across the street from the University. On the map (which is a little blurry) the school is the block of larger buildings without streets going through it, just east of the green arrow.
According the email I got about housing, I'll be living with 1-2 Kiwis (and no, I can't just throw them away if they're bad - I've already heard that joke before) along with 2-3 study abroad students. I haven't heard from anyone living with me yet (nor do I have their contact info) so I can only hope that it goes as well as the day I got to Pomona and saw that I had a roommate - not a single - who also happened to be from Texas and have a weird-ass name. Turned out to be the best thing that could've happened for me!
Some other predeparture info:
- I have Skype, and you all should too. If sitting in front of your computer and talking isn't your thing, I've got SkypeIn, which means I have a regular, U.S. phone number that anyone can call (like any other normal number) and if I'm signed on, it'll ring on my computer and I can talk to you. If I'm not online (or worse, don't like you) it'll just go to my voicemail and I can listen to it later. Even better, if I want to harass people, I can call your phones too. I like. I guess it would be nice to give my number: (802) 659-4786. And no, that's not a coincidence.
- On a related note, I will not have my cell phone in NZ. I might get one there, but it won't be the same, so don't bother calling me on that number. Keep it though, I'll use it again with I get back.
- I don't know for sure whether my address above is my mailing address too, so until I say so, I wouldn't send anything there (not that I'm expecting you to or anything).
Since I
do want to do something in relation to the title, I'll leave you with this picture I took at Sumner Falls in North Hartland today, with Mary and Amy. There are waterfalls there, and I thought this little one was cool. (Click for full size)
I'll spare you the rest, be rest assured I was trying hard to figure out if I was looking at a cold front or not. The Grand Canyon looked great, without a cloud in the sky, so I pieced this panorama together:
Finally my favorite, just before we landed in LA. It made me feel a bit melancholy, since I was so, so close. Hopefully some of you will recognize it.
Well, long day ahead of me. Skype me, I should be around. Either that or hitting it up with kids in my program, they'll be around soon I think.
