Changing landscape - An Introduction

Hello home. Things have changed, changed very much indeed. Out the window I hear the city, out the window I see the city, and when you go outside and walk around, (surprise surprise), you have access to the proper nightlife of a city -meaning hanging out at the Jimmy John's sandwich place until 1am on the first night. But before that, the whole day was really a microcosm of the of the college social experience. Lots and lots of social experience. First of all, DAWG Daze welcome week is the real deal. It's not some soft welcome day/week even as crowded and overpopulated as it seems. When they say there are free root beer floats for EVERY FRESHMAN in the quad before movie night on a 200' screen, they mean every bit of it. When secrets go around that there are free sunglasses in the microsoft booth and there are free Dawg Pack spirit T shirts at the athletic shop, free stuff will abound. There's the big world effect, where concerts for Macklemore and The Axis of Awesome attract massive audiences. Then there's the small world effect. Every 10 minutes walking around campus, you run into one of your old friends who ended up actually being a friend of the friend walking beside you or vice versa. EVERY bright kid you competed with and remembered from other high schools went to this school (that being said, the Bothell high population here is still pretty predominant). You chat, hang out, alternate which group you hang out for which meal, and take turns having people to your dorm. Speaking of dorms, Robby and I agreed that Poplar Hall is the most ridiculous thing we've ever seen for a residence hall. The whole thing looks like it came out of IKEA. Neither of us lofted our beds but we still have more than enough floor space for our crap. Every floor has 2 study rooms, a 52" flat screen TV lounge, and the third floor has a terrace where BBQ's happen supposedly every saturday. WIN. Good view of red square, good location, good building, good private bathroom and this place begins to feel like a hotel. Good food? So far yes. It's at Terry/ Lander and for having names like Paggliaci's Pizza, a $3 meal is about the most reasonable thing they have here. Athletics are pretty great here as well. The football games here are completely over the top and your ears almost blow out after a touchdown - we had four. The spirit is contagious and for as good as this school is at research, they have the sports down. The stadium is nice, but what I care about is the stuff I can use. The tennis courts are lighted and super nice. There are lots of soccer fields and the fitness center is spectacular. My general impressions of the school I had before I got here have been confirmed. This is a school with nothing to be ashamed of - everything was done right. It feels like college. I expected everything to be an upgrade from high school. Classes haven't started yet but it is safe to say that UW has been an upgrade in every way. Let's see if that stays that way when class resumes tomorrow.

UW v. Cal Football Game 31-23
from the student section

Chalk Walls W/ Alison & Khuntia