Notes from my first few days of living in Bloomington.

*The initial phase of the move-in process wasn’t that bad. The moving guys on this end were good guys, maybe not quite as fast as the Bellingham guys, but they helped me get my TV set up when I didn’t expect them to, and I definitely needed a second set of hands to get that done. I’m very pleased that 24 hours after I had moved in, I was entirely set up with working cable and internet (the AT&T guy was here the next day).

*Unpacking sucks. The big stuff is out, but I’m still not done. We’ve received our homework for the first day of class, and yesterday I found myself sitting and reading for that because it sounded like an enjoyable alternative to unpacking. I never thought I’d see the day when doing homework is procrastination.

*I’m navigationally challenged in a big way. On top of my GPS having more trouble in this town than it ever had in Washington, I’ve been trying to learn this downtown area on foot because I’m planning on doing a lot more walking than driving. It’s embarrassing how little intuition I have for this stuff. The other night, I set out on foot to go to a restaurant or bar (I truly had about 10 in mind and was just going to hit up the first one of those that jumped out at me)…these places were all within 1.5 miles of me. I didn’t find one for an hour.

Earlier today, I was going to walk to Subway for lunch, so I scanned for directions on Google Maps, which told me it was only half a mile from here. I left, and quickly realized that I was lost, so instead of wandering around aimlessly, I returned to my apartment and looked at the map again. After looking at it more closely this time, I headed back out…and within a couple of blocks, I forgot which way to turn, and got lost again. Finally, I was getting extremely hungry and went back and drove my car there with the aid of the GPS. That was pathetic. You would expect me to be great at remembering directions, with as sick as my memory is…but this seems to be a black hole in my mind.

In general though, I really have learned a few streets, and I know how to walk to the law school (yay for me, that’s less than half a mile away, I’d sure hope I could learn that one)…I’ll eventually pick this place up. It just doesn’t come naturally to me.

*In an effort to be out and social, I went out to a bar the other night. Naturally I was the one sitting there quietly at the bar, talking to nobody. After two beers, I could feel my inhibitions loosening, but everyone was already there with friends. I could imagine striking up a conversation with someone sitting next to me, but there were no worthwhile targets. I figured I would stop wasting money at this point, and left. I feel a good amount of pressure to make a good first impression on my classmates, since that’s obviously the best hope for a social circle to at least start with. Going to a function on Sunday and meeting a bunch of my future classmates; hopefully that will be fun and I can meet some people I might become friends with.

*The weather here has been pretty wonderful so far. Maybe a smidge on the humid side, but even that much is something that I’m probably only noticing because I’m looking so intently for it. I’ve been using the low setting of my apartment’s air conditioning, so that helps, but I’ve also spent plenty of time out and about, and it hasn’t been the type of heat or humidity to keep you inside at all. Granted, I’m sure some scorching sun will come…but I was dreading the summer weather here, and right now I have zero complaints. This is a very nice town, and the weather is as good as I could’ve hoped for.

*Class starts on Monday. We have orientation first thing that morning (orientation always sucks, whether you’re doing school or a job or anything), then our first couple of hours of class in the afternoon. It’ll be interesting to be back in the classroom for the first time in over six years.