current location: halifax

Rather, that’s where I had been all week – just got back into C’ville, pretty excited about the rest of the week.

Tonight I’ll be headed to Newcomb theater for a showing of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”. It’s one of the programs put on by UPC during the summer for the benefit of those still in town. UPC stands for University Programs Council, and is in charge of – yep, you guessed it, the University’s programs. During the summer they often have random events like these. I remember several Facebook invites for some study breaks (for those taking classes during the summer and were studying for exams), cook outs, and free Bodo’s on the Lawn. One quibble I have with UPC is that most of their events take place during the day. We-ell, not everyone staying in C’ville is taking classes, how are the people interning/doing research supposed to come out to these events, eh? (Anyone from UPC reading this, have more events when people get off work!)

But otherwise, life is all gravy. I’m learning a lot on my job, and it’s really given me a different perspective on life outside of college. I’ve gotten a much better understanding of what to expect, and what my life will be like as an auditor in the last month than I could have in an entire year of industry research. Several of my friends are in town this weekend, which means lots of late night talking and catching up. I’m going to try to get three other friends out this weekend for some doubles tennis – but everyone’s schedule is so ridiculously over the place that it’s going to be hard.

In other news, I heard that swine flu is now in northern Virginia. Be careful everyone, stay healthy!

who says c'ville is boring in the summer?

Some people say that Charlottesville is boring during the summertime because all the students clear out. Having spent all three of my summers in C'ville, I think I qualify as somewhat of an expert on this topic. Why all three summers? Meh, mostly a mixture of knowing the area, not quite wanting to spend the entire summer at home, and having jobs and internships here.

Most people are somewhat preoccupied during the summer anyway because they're here for classes or an internship. So what to do outside of work/class time? I will concede, you have to know some people who are also staying in town, or have folks your age at wherever you're working. The past week, I've filled my days with lunches and dinners with friends, some tennis in the afternoon at Snyder, movie nights (I'm currently on a sci fi and romantic comedy kick), yoga and dance classes at Studio 206 on the downtown mall, and just plain a lot of hanging out with friends. 

Apart from what I like to do, there's lots of hiking and biking trails for the outdoorsy minded, Ashlawn Highland and Monticello for the history lovers, one hour drive to Shortpump + Stony Point and two hours from Tysons for those who like to shop, beautiful countryside for those who like the country, Corner and downtown bars and clubs for party goers, and so on and so forth.

Sounds great, but for those who are coming from a huge city (like I did), it's definitely a difficult transition. I got used to C'ville and love it now, but people who like the hustle and bustle and everything that can be found in a city would definitely find C'ville to be boring at first. It's especially bad in the summer time because if you don't know anyone who's left here, you'll be bored out of your mind.

Having just almost completely negated what I said in the first part of the post, I actually still love spending my summers in C'ville. It's a great time to rest and recharge from the school year simply because most of the students aren't here. It's a completely different feeling, and I enjoy having the place to myself. That's not to say the town just dies, there are quite a few people who live here irregardless of the school.

Bottom line is? You'll have to form your own opinion. But as a city girl (massive city, seven million people, yeah) who came here, I absolutely love it here. I'd want to live here when I want to settle down in a life. Great environment, friendly people, and still relatively cheap cost of living.