Last day of summer... classes

Good News

This is the start of something good

Stickshifts and Safetybelts

Today, I got amazing news, I got a job! I will be driving a bus for my university's Department of Transportation Services (DOTS) I do enjoy driving, and I thought that providing my driving savvy to my college could help with the deficit of drivers, plus, I'd get paid. Then, I got thinking of a Cake song, Stick Shifts and Safety Belts. For those of you who don't know the lyrics, I do. So, courtesy of a globe trotting 20 something, I present you cake's Stick Shifts and Safety Belts from the Fashion Nugget album:

Stick Shifts and Safety Belts, bucket seats have all got to go, when we're driving in the car, it makes my baby seem so far. I need you here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. I need you to be here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. But when we're driving in my Malibu, it's easy to get right next to you. I say "Baby, scoot over please", and then she's right there next to me. I need you here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. I need you to be here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. Well, a lot of good cars are Japanese, yeah, but when we're driving far, I need my baby, I need my baby next to me. Well, stickshifts and safetybelts, bucket seats have all got to go. When we're driving in the car, it makes my baby seem so far. I need you to be here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. I need you to be here with me, not way over in a bucket seat. 

Then I realized that buses have an automatic transmission, and safety belts for the driver only. But, still I'm excited! Another day has passed with math at 8 a.m. and a professor who doesn't understand that kids my age don't function at 100% at that time of the day. But, I am looking forward to the end of this class on July 25th, in fact, there are plans to paint the town red with some of the friends that I have made. Later that day, I will be employed for about a week with some interfaith camp. Ugh, this could be bad or this could be good... let's hope for the latter. Or is it the former? I always avoided using that phrase, it sounds contrived. Also, I don't know how to use it properly. But, the rest of my summer will be fun. I'm going to move out of my parent's house with two of my friends into an apartment of our own! We're going to be near campus, and I'll be independent!

But, I hope that I finish my training for the bus driving before school starts because my semester schedule has me in class for most of the afternoon, when I was planning on doing the training behind the wheel. My semester starts in September, which is sweet. This does give me more time to not work on academics, and have some fun for once. I'll be taking 15 or 18 credits, they are kind of random classes because I didn't register on time. Three economics classes (intermediate macroeconomics, labour economics, and statistics), a seminar on Latin immigrants' family structures, and agricultural economics. I think that this should be a good semester, the classes will be a lot of work, but I think that I have the motivation to do well in all of them. 

The gears in my head are turning faster than I keep track of. My mind is trying to stay on the task at hand, doing well in this class, but there are so many more interesting issues. Getting hired, moving out, working on school work for the upcoming semester, my friends here and abroad, and last, but not least, my trip in the winter. If anyone out there has ideas about romantic surprises for my special someone in Egypt, post a comment. I was throwing out some ideas with my friends earlier, one is to go to their job, another was to blast my radio outside their apartment building, but I don't know how feasible any of them are. We'll see, there are five more months for me to work out the details. It seems like so long, maybe because it is!

The Misadventures of My Life

You Never Forget your First!

Hello, and welcome to the blog, Live from Suburbia. There has been a lot going on in the past year that has not been on the blog. I have returned from an amazing trip to Egypt, where I studied at the American University in Cairo for a year. The rundown is as follows:

- arrived in Egypt with high hopes of learning a lot about how other people live, and how that affects the world that I live in

- made friends first semester

- traveled around (Greece, Turkey, and other places in Egypt)

- friends left at the end of their semester away

- got homesick

- became very depressed

- got kicked out of an apartment because of my risky behaviour (actions taken while depressed)

- made some amazing friends, but had to leave because I had to go to back to America

My god! Looking back, since I am back in the States, this experience was even more amazing than I thought. Being surrounded by a different culture, and having to interact with so many people from so many different backgrounds was something that many people may not be able to ever have. For anyone who is thinking about traveling around for academic or other reasons, I say "go for it!" No matter how long or short the time that you have, you will change your outlook on the world that we live in and share. The sad part is that I realise that I will never have an experience like that again, but I am so glad that I took this chance. Don't come in with any expectations of how things will be, who you will encounter, and what will happen to you while in the country of destination, and how you will react to returning to your home country. For me, I thought that I would be completely ecstatic to come back to America, but I am attempting to save money for a trip to visit my friends in Egypt for my winter vacation.

 My life in America is at a crossroads because of my age (21), my sexual orientation, my choice to vacation destinations (Middle East, southern and eastern Europe), my experience, my ambitions (graduating college, working overseas, being happy wherever I may be), my family (caring parents who don't realise my desire to be more independent), and finally, my desire ( to continue a relationship cut short because of my return to the States with someone in Egypt) To fulfill all of these goals, I have to become more assertive and demanding of myself and the people that I choose to surround myself with. It's a long and slow process, but I will have to do it for my own well being, if I am to be taken seriously and not taken advantage of. Thanks for listening to the rants of a confused, young, ambitious 20-something.