A New Start: The First Week

So here's the thing: I just moved to Maryland to start a PhD program in Theatre and Performance Studies. I'm excited to start something new and challenging. The fact that I live so close to DC thrills me to no end. Yet I miss a lot that I had to leave in Utah--mostly people, but to an extant the familiarity and ease of a nice and easy college-town life. Turns out I miss being able to walk a couple of blocks to Panda Express or Macey's grocery store a bit more than I anticipated. But like I said, right now, I'm mostly wanting for friendship . . . or at least the daily interaction that I'm used to. So my solution?

Set up a blog!

Actually I set this up a long time ago and I apparently haven't posted on it for like two or three years. I've retitled it, changed the design format, and decided to try my hand at more frequent ruminations and documentations of my everyday life. It's more of an archive than anything else: evidence that I've actually done stuff with my time. I failed to do that at BYU and I kinda regret that. Those were some great years with a lot of fond memories. But as I spent a week in a new town setting up my new life I realized something--when you don't have somebody around who's going to ask "What did you do today?" or "What did you do this week?" actions have a way of seeming insignificant. The days and the memories blur together, losing distinction. This blog, it's a fight against introspective atrophy. I expect some old friends to occasionally follow and comment so the conversations and dialogues keep going.

As far as what I can say for this week. I moved into the place I'll be living for a year on Monday. I cannot describe how many times I've said in my mind, "It's a good place for your first year here." I'm not sure when I realized that I was saying it so much not as an observation anymore but rather as an effort to convince myself of the sentiment. The truth is that it really is a good place for my first year. It's conducive to studying; other people living here are very nice; I have my own room; and it's conveniently located to so many great things like campus, where I'll go to church, bus routes, shopping centers. At the same time everyone I live with studies math or physics. I'm used to that; I smiled when I saw a quantum mechanics book with Schrödinger's cat on it. But it's no Brett and Casey. I got used to living with people who study history and psychology; it's an atmosphere I miss. The lack will dissipate when school starts but for now its absence is noticeably present.

On Monday I unpacked my boxes and suitcases; then, I walked to Target (about an hour walk) and picked up some groceries. Tuesday, I explored my new neighborhood and moseyed on over to a local co-op grocery store to pick up some more items. Funny thing about getting to a new area: sometimes you miss the road you're supposed to turn on. So while this was the route I was supposed to take:



This is the route I actually took:



Live and learn. Plus side, got to listen to a lot more of my podcasts. I have listened to a lot of Podcasts lately. I also got a Netflix account. That decision has resulted in a Parks and Recreation marathon and the nightly watching of films like the independent sci-fi rom-com TiMER starring Emma Caulfield (Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and the miniseries Tin Man starring Zooey Deschanel. The former was far superior to the latter. Tin Man was a hoot and entertaining but I found TiMER to be highly enjoyable.





It's a movie about a world where a technology has been invented that allows people to know the day when they'll meet their soulmates. Sometimes it's a countdown of a few days and for other people it's a matter of years or decades. Because why not enjoy a light philosophical treatment of fate and agency when watching a romantic comedy?! . . . Yeah I watched a lot of Daria this week too.



In news of actually being productive, I bought a bike this week. On Wednesday, after I took care of some business on campus, I took a bus south of College Park to a place called Arrow Bicycles in Hyattsville, MD. They sell Giant Bicycles. I've missed the Giant Rincon bike I had on my mission and I knew that I wanted that kind of bike again. I think the one I have now is actually better though. It's a black and silver Giant Revel 2. I am completely out of shape and still a klutz; plus it turns out that I hate 4 way stops since I don't actually know how those work and when you're on a bike you're technically a vehicle no a pedestrian so it's just confusing. I really need to learn how to drive. Foreign languages and driving--those are my extra curriculars this year. But anyway I really like my bike.







Ooo . . . and fun story. While I was riding my bike back from campus on Thursday, while I was starting on trail, I came across a deer. I couldn't have been more than 15 or 20 feet away from this night woodland creature chewing on a tree.



It was unexpected, simple, and somehow tranquilizing. When I saw him, I realized that I think I'm gonna like it here.