No, this is not about my reading of The Odyssey (which, but the way, I think I did well on that quiz). This is about the fact that yesterday was Sorority and Fraternity bidding day.

Basically, this is how it works: the student tours all of the Greek Houses and learns about why that one is better than the one next door. Students write down their top 5 choices. The next day, they tour those 5 places again, and select their top 3. In the mean time, the Greek societies are notified of which students want to join. On the final day, if a Greek club puts your name on their acceptance list, and that same club is in your top 3, then you have a match.

Today all the new acceptees were wearing Greek shwag. Everywhere I looked was a girl wearing a shirt that said Phi Delta Pi Gamma Kappa Theta Tri or something. I was almost jealous when I saw the shwag bags. But then I remembered that sorority girls aren’t referred to as “sorostitutes” for nothing.

I just got out of classes for the day. I have four classes starting at 8am and ending at 11:50am; each class lasting 50 minutes. That leaves me 10 minutes in between classes to pack up and run to my next class. I feel bad because I like talking to professors, but I have absolutely no time at all…

The University of Arizona is a madhouse. There are thousands of students going everywhere, trying to find classes. Riding a bicycle around is a joke. Even though the campus is pretty much closed to cars, there are some places where cars have access. So on the way to find a class in a building I had never been in before, I was trying to ride my bike (this building was on the other side of campus), there were students so thick it was like a mosh pit, a semi was parked in the bicycle lanes, and cars were trying to drive through all of this pretending all the while that honking would help the situation. I felt like I was in an Indian market.

My classes seem okay. My English class has 25 students (it’s an honor’s class, so it’s small), but the other three have around 250 students. Most of these classes have two lecture sessions and one discussion session per week, and a couple of my professors wanted us to sit in sections according to what discussion group we were in. Ha, ha, right! They were lucky that most of us even found the class in the first place.

I’m feeling really overwhelmed. Everything was such a blur this morning. I’m sure I’ll get everything figured out, but right now I need to go. The first four books of the Odyssey have to be read by Wednesday; I’m being quizzed on it.

So I met my roommate.  Her name is Ivvette, and she’s from Phoenix.  I have yet to meet someone from out of state at the University of Arizona.  She’s pretty nerdy, but not in the computer way (which explains the lack of a facebook).  She speaks like 4409345902342 different languages.  Also, her junior year of highschool she was a page on Capitol Hill.

Now normally, I would probably be jealous.  But I didn’t feel jealous at all.  I’m sure it looks great on a resumé, and I’m sure it was a great learning experience, and I’m sure I would have wanted to do it if I had the opportunity.  But right now I’m happy with my experiences.  I was with my family every day, almost all day long through my whole entire life. I can’t imagine that anything else would have been better in my junior year of highschool.  I formed amazing friendships and had fun times with my swimmer buddies. I wouldn’t have been able to swim if I were at Capitol Hill.  I took college classes and fell in love with professors.  I’m not sure that you can fall in love with congressmen.

One other thing: Ivvette said she wasn’t at all surprised when the Foley scandal broke.

On Wednesday I went down to Tucson and put all my boxes into my new apartment. I feel like an adult now because I have apartment keys and my own mailbox. It’s not the Wilhelm Family mailbox anymore. It’s just the Alisa Wilhelm mailbox.

My roommate didn’t show up while I was there, so I still have never talked to her. It’s like camp, but a little more nerve-wracking because we live together for 9 months instead of a week.

Also, I haven’t been able to dig up anything about her online.   Strange, because, oh I don’t know, EVERYONE has a facebook.

I left her a note on the kitchen counter saying I’ll be back on Friday. Maybe I’ll bring a peace offering of M&Ms with me.

Ever since I moved to Arizona (like 5 years ago), people have been telling me about the giant toads that come out when it rains. When it’s dry, the toads dig a little hole and live underground. They don’t come out to eat, or drink, or anything. They just sit and wait for sometimes years in between rains. It rained pretty hard the past few days, and I finally got to see the toads.