to be... or not to be?

...that is the question, and questions are the main topic of today's post. For this week, the guides have been issued a challenge to listen for the most interesting/odd questions from the tour groups. So those of you coming for campus visits (by the way, no reservations needed! *nod* That's right, just come show up at the tour. And yes, we do have info sessions everyday at 10 am and 1 pm, with the tours following after), think of some interesting questions! =P The guide who wins gets a free lunch. I actually won last week for having the most interesting evaluation -- my name was mangled in an unbeforeseen manner. Haha.

Also related to questions are those asked in class. I don't think I've ever really been in a deadly silent class. Sure you have your fair share of people bored or falling asleep (and it seems the earlier the class, the more people who want to sleep), but classes tend to be very lively discussions. I've found the livelier classes are those with 40 people or less, but people do still speak up in large lecture classes.

And PS. I spent all over yesterday going over what ended up to be 5000+ emails. Hallelujah, I'm done with that.

you've got mail... mail.. mail.. mail... x1000000

ARGH. My inbox has 2500+ new emails and counting. Why is that? UVa Webmail is migrating to a better system -- Gmail. Unfortunately, I've got it set that all my UVa mail is forwarded to my Gmail account (because I love Gmail that much. Truly, I think it rocks). But that means my inbox is getting dumped with mail from two years!! OMG. Sigh.

UVa mail used to suck. Its interface was clunky, non user friendly and ugly. The systems were also down all the time. But now they're migrating to Gmail that has a much better system. But I'm going to be spending the rest of this week deleting a ton of crap... ARGH.

new soul.

This song has been stuck in my mind for the last week or so -- "I'm a new soul in this very strange world..". College might seem like that to some people -- you're suddenly thrown into a mass of your peers, pretty much left without parental supervision. You can choose to have classes in the morning, in the afternoon, or not at all on certain days. You can choose to read the textbook, do your work, or not even show up to class. (In which the professor will just flunk you, haha). But the thing is, college is a blank slate, waiting to be written on by your choices. Essentially, you're kind of like a new soul.

Take me for example. I was your perfect studious student in high school. Err, make that ridiculously perfect. I was your typical overachiever in high school. I would frequently beat myself up over not getting straight A's or making a sub 90 score on quizzes. I was also super involved in clubs, holding tons of positions and in various clubs across the board. My transcript looked pretty darn good, and I wrote some really nice essays.

In other words.

I had no life.

I studied every day. Woke up, went to school, came back, studied, went to bed. I rarely went out with friends and always stayed afterschool for club related stuff. Of course, a lot of this had to do with my parents being extremely strict, but I definitely missed out on some finer points of life. And I'll admit, I did go for some things because I thought they would look good on my transcript. National Honor Society? Other than everyone having a high GPA in it, what else did it do? (Not much at my school). Loading up my schedule with another position? Granted I had a great time in them afterwards but the initial push to be president, or vp, etc. definitely came from the idea that this would make me more competitive. And alright, taking the SATs twice? Definitely not my idea of fun. I don't even remember much of what I was involved in high school (or that could be my bad memory at work), but this was something I didn't want to repeat in college.

Before I came to college I had the firm idea that I wanted to build an interesting, exciting slate that really showed people the type of person I was. That's been my philosophy for joining clubs, getting involved, and taking classes. I'm happy to say that I'm a reformed perfectionistic overachiever. I still like a nice transcript, but don't beat myself up if I get a *gasp* B-. I make sure my motives for getting involved are all the right ones, and try to study what I'm interested in. I hang out much more with friends now, and have quite a healthy balance of work and play. If you don't like something about you right now, college would be a good time to start over. =)

ahh moving in..

So other than the thought of summer being half over depressing me.. I've seen some fliers around and about for Greeters, and that just naturally leads me to thinking about move in day.

So first off, you may wonder just what the heck you need to bring to college. Anything you think you want, really, but don't bring all or even half the contents of your room. What I found necessary first year was a couple fans, my laptop + printer, clothes, towels + toiletries, flip flops for shower, shoes, bedsheets + pillowcases, desk lamp, laundry hamper, pictures + momentoes of home, and some type of small filing rack for all the papers for different classes. Of course, what you bring depends on you, but try to bring something that's YOU and can be a conversation starter if people walk by or drop into your room. You'll get to meet a lot of people this way.

Secondly, you may also wonder how you're going to lug your new mini fridge up three flights of stairs. That's where the Greeters come in. On move in day, you'll see students dressed in orange shirts with a nametag on the front that says "Hello, my name is [blank]". Grab one of them and they'll happily point you to the right building or lug up your suitcases. I was a Greeter the move in day of my second year -- a lot of people do it because you get to move in a day early and beat all the move in traffic and general noise and congestion. When it was time to do my Greeter duty though, I almost wish I hadn't signed up. Ladies and gents, that day is HOT. Come in tanks and shorts, you can change into more presentable stuff later if you want. I would say come in as little clothing as possible but not being obscene. In between trips to the car, the sun beating down on you, going up 10 thousand flights of stairs into unair-conditioned areas.. you'll want to die. =P

mmm i do so love food!

One of our bosses treated us to a lunch from Mellow Mushroom today to celebrate the end of filing. (All those forms you sent in with our application? Each one goes in a manilla envelope, lovingly processed by an intern.) I love Mellow Mushroom, their pizza is fabulous, and so is the restaurant. I haven't ever been to a Trivia Night -- but I hear it's standing room only with free food given out for teams with the best/quirkiest names.

Some other favorite places to eat in Charlottesville... a lot of them happen to be on the Corner. I swear by Jimmy John's for sandwiches -- they make the best gourmet subs and sandwiches. And they deliver, but don't take 40 minutes to deliver. I also love Lemongrass for Thai food -- excellent food at good prices. I'm a huge fan of Bodo's Bagels -- they're basically sandwich bagels. I usually get a three cheese melt or a roast beef bagel.

Some other good places to eat are Bonefish Grill out on 29, it's actually where I went for the one year anniversary with my boyfriend. Any place really on the downtown mall -- though be warned if you sit outside, a bee might decide you're a delicious flower and stop on your head for the longest time, as a bee did to me.

Charlottesville in general is a pretty good place for food, our restaurant to resident ratio is actually 2.5 to 1, so you'll never be wanting for new places to go to.