Things I Had Forgotten about University Life

(In honor of my first day of graduate school)

• The handy little planners with the University's name, all crucial dates (including football games--because football here actually is kind of crucial to a lot of the students), and advertisements for the school's newspaper on every other page.
• The sheer number of people. I arrived for work at 7 this morning and was astonished to see four times the number of people I'd seen on campus the whole summer wandering around, acquiring parking permits, buying books, and doing those things students generally do.
• The people persistently glancing at me on public transportation. (I used to think I had a rather unique face; it turns out that, after all, I have one of those faces that belongs to just about everybody.)
• The utter revoltingness of the bathrooms. Now, all of a sudden, I remember why I used to run over to the Institute building at Weber whenever I needed to go to the bathroom. They were the only ones in the near vicinity with any semblance of clean . . .
• Getting lost. This isn't something I plan on doing, but I didn't plan on getting lost in the Languages and Communications building when I attempted to find Orientation last Thursday, either.
• Looks of perpetual sleep deprivation. On the first day, no less! But not me. Even though I woke up heinously early (5:30 AM), I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. At least, that's what I keep telling myself.
• The hurried pace. People are heading to where they're going quickly. Probably because they think once they get there, they're going to be lost.
• Free food. How on earth had I forgotten about the free food? (But just this first week. Come next week, I'll have to bring a lunch or actually pay for one.)