Friday, January 11, 2008

The Sweet Smell of Academia

Last night I was on the EWU campus with Gordon for an Epic meeting and potluck (Epic is the college's outdoor adventure program; Gordon is an apprentice trip leader with them). It had been a long time since I had been on a college campus and I was blown away by the ambiance of it all. People scurrying around by themselves, heads down, carrying impossibly large bookbags. Cheering boys attempting to snowboard down the icy ramp to Patterson Hall. The thick, musty silence of the library. As we were walking through the student union building I commented to Gordon about the smell, "Wow, I never noticed how academic it smelled in here!" We were only on campus for a little over an hour, but I am still recovering from the yearning I felt to go back there and start my education all over again.

Meeting Gordon's classmates has been fun--they seem like nice people, with a good amount of crazy thrown in. It was a potluck dinner and I knew that there was small chance of there being real food (since the whole thing was put on by college students), so I had Gordon make up a big batch of homemade Mac and Cheese, his specialty. It was a big hit. The potluck also featured about 15 bags of chips, one cheese and cracker tray, and a whole lot of microwaved taquitos. Not my usual dinner fare : ). The Epic trips sound pretty amazing, though. Whitewater rafting, kayaking, ice climbing, snow-shoeing, back-packing, alpine and nordic ski trips, just about anything you could ever want. And it's all very inexpensive for the students; a great campus program if you ask me.

If any of you have ideas or opinions about what I should go back to school for, let me know : ).

1 comment:

madmangordo said...

That was a good time :-) I like your ramblings so far good lookin! I pinched your book The world without us and I have been reading in my down time. Quite good