College!

I'll be a junior next month, but Dad's already started taking me to visit colleges. I'm also learning to drive (I wish I had started sooner) so Tuesday I drove down to William and Mary and he drove back. I like interstates once I'm on them. I love cruise control.

Now I'm looking at different colleges in Virginia. My parents have got some sort of financial plan worked out so it's cheaper to go in-state, which I didn't like at first but it's growing on me. I don't really want to go to school in Richmond, but it'd be nice to be able to go home easily for the weekends when I want to. I do want to get out of this city, though - not that Richmond is so bad, but I want to try another town. Also the only colleges I can think of here are VCU and U of R. VCU just doesn't seem that good and U of R is really expensive and fairy snobby. And, as Dad said, "If I were you I would want to get away from home." Again, it's not that there's anything wrong with home; I just want to get out and see new places. I've wanted to live on my own since eighth grade. And luckily both my parents did the same thing - Dad went to school in a different state and Mom lived in a dorm even though her house was in walking distance from the college.

But the thing that's really got me excited are the classes. Look at all the things you can major in at UVA! Slavic Languages and Literature! Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures! Studies in Women and Gender! Jewish Studies! Medieval Studies! Linguistics! And those are just in the college of arts and sciences. Oh, I'd just be in heaven if I could major in linguistics. And look at the courses the teach - The History of Dress, Women and Islam, The 12th Century World of Hildegard von Bingen, Chinese Family And Religion, Language and Gender, Spanish Conversation in Cinema, Spanish Translation, Language and Thought, Francophone Literature of Africa! And William and Mary has good ones, too - Video Production, Greek and Roman Private Life, The Piano in the Nineteenth Century, Indian Fiction, World of Medieval Christianity.

One of the nicest things about W&M would be the town. It's very pedestrian friendly since a lot of it is a historical district and underclassmen aren't allowed to have cars because there's no parking. Apparently there isn't a lot to do, but I'm from the suburbs so I'm used to that. The biggest thing happening in my county this summer is the Village People (or the Village Idiots, as my mother calls them) doing a concert next week. Also Colonial Williamsburg is really near it, which would be just about the ideal place for me to work. I adore the living history I'm doing now at Meadow Farm Museum and I've discovered I'm good with tourists. After an hour and a half of doing laundry outside I'm better with the speech on washboards than the woman who taught me. I'm also getting really good at playing graces - that game where you throw the hoop with the two sticks. And I love hoopskirts. There's a program on needlework this Saturday and I get to wear hoops and sit in the parlor and work on my quilt, all of which are exciting prospects.

Morris practice tonight. It's our second rehearsal and we've got five new people, two of whom are musicians. Well, we have one musician and a dancer who haven't been with us in a while coming back, two new dancers, and one new fiddler. More or Less isn't doomed to die after all! I'm so glad. Of course there's now the tedious process of teaching the three newbies a) what Morris is and b) how to do it. The first is almost as difficult as the second. I was lucky because I've never not known what it was, though I wasn't a very fast learner. I remember on my first practice I was tying on my bells while telling everyone that I was sure to make a lot of mistakes and that they were welcome to correct me when I did. There was a moment of silence and then Brad grinned and said, "Your bells are on sideways."

July 31
August 13