I swear I'll make this blog more amusing. I really will. But first...

I never noticed before how empty this campus feels. On weekdays after dinner and weekends before brunch and during classes--actually, most of the time--you can walk across the quad and there will be nobody within a hundred-foot radius. It's completely silent except for maybe leaves rustling in the wind or birds chirping. Surrounded on all sides by perfectly groomed grass, impeccable landscaping and staid academic buildings, it's easy to feel like you're the center of the universe. Which, in a way, you are.
My advisor has been telling me I should think about graduating early, and at this point I'm seriously considering it. It almost sounds like there should be a catch. Like, in order to escape this tiny patch of sheltered academia in the middle of a cultural wasteland that was making me feel trapped and depressed even before I went abroad, I'll have to...save twenty thousand dollars? Wow, tough choice.