Friday, May 25, 2007

Episode XX: Change

With the end of my first school year here in Kansas, there are a lot of changes occurring around me. Here I present a few of them; unfortunately, there are no pictures, as I recently moved and have yet to find my camera cable to upload my pictures.

1. From Crowd to Quiet

Summer in a college town means a small crowd around the city. Less of a line at the grocery store, less of a problem finding a parking spot on campus, and fewer restaurants open on-campus. It was kind of a bittersweet moment watching all the college kids pack up and leave town, as it reminded me that I myself can no longer look forward to blissfully lazy days of summer vacation.

2. From Student to Worker

With all my classes over for perhaps the rest of my life, I am settling into life in the lab, which means fairly hard work, but it also means that when I am done and I go home, I have ZERO homework, projects or tests to worry about. It is kind of a liberating feeling. So yes, for the first time in my life I am in somewhat of a 9 to 5 job, and I suppose it's really not that bad. However, I am still not, and never have been, considered a full-time employee. Rather, I am paid a stipend, and expected to work hard enough to complete a successful research project (which means: pretty hard).

3. From Small Apartment to Country Home

The Jayhawker Towers kicked us out May 22nd, and while it was a fairly nice place, I doubt that I will miss it. I am temporarily staying with a couple from church, who live out in the country in a very nice house, on acres and acres of land. It is great to drive out there under a dark, starry sky, and to see the fireflies out at night. The place is also incredibly quiet, with no cars or neighbors within earshot. This is certainly a welcome change from being awoken 2-7 times every night by my roommates or neighbors.

It really is a nice place, and if I ever get around to it I will post some pictures.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Uh, I'm having trouble reconciling this:

"With the end of my first school year here in Kansas..."

With this:

"With all my classes over for perhaps the rest of my life..."

razjericho said...

Well I plan on hanging out at school for a number of years without taking actual classes. It's mostly just lab work from here on.