Day 2: I Don't Like 6 O'Clock, I Do Not

Second day at Murray, first night. I arrived yesterday with every intention to stay in one of the dorms. I walked into our assigned dorm complex and was immediately creeped out by the long, morbid hall that led to the front desk. Long story short, I stayed in a dorm last semester. I don't expect to be living like royalty, or as much more than an inmate, but when I saw the room, I thought, I'm not doing this this semester. Come to find out, the assigned us to the oldest hall here, which was also an all-guy dorm, so of course the place had the roughest treatment available. For a little more a night, I thought it was well worth upgrading to a motel and having a nice bed and my own bathroom. So I did.

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep worth a crap last night. My brain would not shut down. I tossed and turned, slept a little, and woke repeatedly. It is now 6 am, and I'm getting ready for my first full day of classes, lectures, etc. I am not a morning person. I want nothing more than to curl back up into my bed and pretend like residency doesn't start until tomorrow.

But I can't, and I have to appreciate the few days left with my friends that graduated and will be leaving by Monday. Which was a good chunk of the friends I made here! This really sucks, but I'm going to try my best to be a social creature and make friends with the two new poets and branch out. Plus side is that the majority of the people I know are also staying in this motel, so I'm sure we will have at least one good night of hanging out in a room and talking about all kinds of random, unrelated to writing stuff.

Then there's always the one night where all the poets go out to eat together. I think that's Wednesday or Thursday... I forget when our free night is scheduled. Anyway, last night, after the reception at Faculty Club, I decided to go with the group to The Olive, which is the local bar, reminiscent of the local bars back home, except still clouded with cigarette smoke, because it's legal here. So I smelled like a big, stinky ball of smoke when I got back to my room, but I did get to chat to Carrie and Blas and listen to some of their stories, which it's always worth the conversations you can have with your mentors. They're awesome people. Carrie is my mentor this semester, and all I've heard about is how she's really awesome but loves and stresses form. I don't use form, so... should be interesting! She told me she was looking forward to workshopping my poems in class, and I was just like, "Ehh..." But I'm last, so that day won't come until like...next Friday? I think. Probably. The same day of our readings.

Yeesh. That's a lot of pressure for one day. I'm looking forward to the reading though. I have two poems in mind to read, and I've been working on them, so it's not like I'm going in hopeful with new stuff. I'm pretty confident in these. Anyway, I've gotta run and finish fixing my hair, and find the most comfortable (but nice) outfit I brought with me to wear. I'm already feeling like walking around in sweat pants. Alas! That would not be very appealing or helpful when trying to network at our social gatherings.

Who's that chick in the sweatpants?
I don't know. I thought it was some hobo that wandered in.

Don't judge me! Today it's program-wide meeting, craft lecture, first group meeting. The fun begins!