After a short trip to Minnesota to visit my sister, I'm now home in Colorado. I've packed up all my stuff in Berkeley and moved out of my apartment there, leaving me, technically, homeless. At this point, it feels like it's only a technicality, though.
My last few days in Berkeley were simultaneously really nice and really difficult. I spent my last weekend there surrounded by friends, which was great. Mark and I had a party on Friday, both as a joint birthday celebration and as a going away party, which was a lot of fun. The rest of the weekend consisted of packing and cleaning (which l didn't quite finish; I owe Viv, Hoss, and Mark several drinks each, I think). The result was 14 boxes to store, and a pack and a duffel bag to take with me.
The weekend was tough emotionally. It's hard to leave. By the last day, I was tremendously excited to be going, but also scared and sad to be leaving Berkeley. As soon as I got to the airport and got checked in, though, I started to unwind a little. I'm on the way. My trip has started!
My visit with my sister was awesome. She's half a year from graduating from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnestoa, and after 3 years, I finally made it up here to visit her. The sign at the top of this entry pretty much says all there is to say about Northfield in a concise, elegant manner, so if you just want the abstract you can stop there.
Carleton is a school of around 1800 people. So was my high school. That's why I didn't go to a small school -- it felt like it would be too easy to get trapped with people you didn't like. Visiting Carleton this time changed my perspective tremendously.
I went to a couple classes with my sister, and they were both really good classes. They were small, and the professors involved the students, but kept them on track. I was impressed, and somewhat jealous. Socially, the school seemed to be a good place to be as well. My sister's friends and roommates were interesting and friendly, and I had a good time meeting all of them.
My visit coincided with the last day of classes, so we went out to the bar to celebrate (but not too much, as finals started pretty much right away). People complain about the homogenization of America, and rightly so, but underneath the veneer of chain stores different places really are different. Northfield is a mid-western town, and Berkeley is definitely not. This was probably most clearly reflected at the bar, where t-shirts and baseball caps were the standard attire, and Coors or Bud was the beer of choice. There's nothing really pronounced, but the place just feels different.
Friday I packed up my bags again, and flew down to Colorado. The weather had been beautiful and relatively warm in Minnesota while I was there, but I wasn't able to make it last. I woke up Saturday morning to a few inches of snow on the ground outside the house. It was beautiful -- I love winter.
Posted by vanwie at November 25, 2003 12:41 AM