The Main 456 Zoo

Summer is finally coming to a close as there are now only two weeks left until students arrive! Soon, my full time job here in College Relations will be over and I'll be able to do what I love the most--study.

I'd say that my experience here in College Relations has been comparable to Alice in Wonderland: Every morning I wake up, and, after downing a cup of magical liquid labeled "drink me" (coffee, of course), I retreat into a mystical world of the unknown--the 9 to 5 white collar working world--while crying, "I'm late! I'm late!" until I reach the office door at the end of a long, dark staircase. The downside, obviously, is that unlike in Alice in Wonderland, there is no caterpillar smoking a hookah, which makes me die a little on the inside.

In other news, I think I've made a name for myself around Vassar as the "Campus Pet-Sitter," because starting tomorrow, I won't just have a rat under my care; instead, I'll have two geckos, a snake, and a rat. My room has become quite the zoo as of recent--maybe I should start charging admission. (As you know, I'm always on the lookout for some sort of money making scheme. My tuition bill is coming up and so far I haven't thought of anything legal. My best idea thus far was buying stuff from the local pawn shop to sell on eBay but I know nothing about market value. Maybe I should stick to pet-sitting...) These--for lack of a better term--"creatures" are coming from my friend Tarantula Joe, who made a name for himself on campus by having his pet tarantula escape from it's cage last year to be found hiding in his sock drawer. It's kind of a cute story, but apparently the administration didn't think so. As I should have stated in my packing list, poisonous creatures are no longer allowed on campus, thanks to Tarantula Joe. Poor Tarantula Joe had to sell his favorite pets, but replacing the tarantulas will be dart frogs, which I love.

We're starting to close in on Freshman Week right now, and every year at about this time I tend to think back and reflect on my Freshman Week--sappy, I know. (At this point, no one is allowed to remind me that I'm graduating this year, but so far I think the only person that's been reminding me is myself. Ooops.) Of course, this year I move into Senior Housing, which I love to mention, if you haven't figured that out already, but to be honest, I will miss some things about dorm life. For example, house fellows. Now, it sounds scary to be living in (possibly) the same dorm as one of your professors, but it's really not. They could invite you to dinner, and you know I love free food. In Cushing we always had the beginning of the year ice cream social at the house fellows apartment and I'll definitely miss that. Trust me, I'm trying to devise a way to sneak in when it rolls around this year.

Another dorm "authority" with no power is the student fellow, which I suppose is similar to a house fellow except a student. Get it? Everyone has their own student fellow (even I do, although he's graduated) to whom they are assigned as a freshman and this person acts kind of like a guide as opposed to an actual authority figure. So instead of hiding your bad behavior (as if you were being observed by an RA), you are advised against your bad behavior--although I'll go ahead and assume we're all saints around here.

The other students assigned to your student fellow are known as your "student fellow group." Vassar sets up student fellow groups of approximately 12-15 students (that's my best guess) who generally live in the same area close to their student fellow. Sometimes ResLife does a great job of picking these groups; sometimes it looks like something went haywire and all of a sudden you have a group of all guys. Some of my friends made their best friends in college from their student fellow groups and remained friends with some or all of them throughout college, while other groups didn't really mesh so well... if at all. Mine was probably more of the latter. But don't fret-I made some of my best friends by not really meshing with my student fellow group, so it usually works out for everyone some way or another.

Today is the official day that I start packing for my move this coming Friday (I was too lazy to start yesterday), which ultimately means the beginning of "back to school!" Yeah, I know my excitement has no explanation.