College Life: The Jokes Just Keep On Comin’

There was this place not far from campus that served the best drunk pizza ever…ever…ever…

Oh! You caught that?

No, the pizza wasn’t drunk, the people consuming it on the other hand were drunk and most of the time. It was college. What did you expect? Our college town pizza place was called Pizza Shuttle. Spring Break Dormitory had a resident named Joke Guy. This older non-traditional gentleman made up the best joke one day about Pizza Shuttle. It went like this:  Continue reading

College Life: I Could Live in a Cardboard Box For You

“Then, this one time, in College…”

Once upon a time I wanted to fall in love with a sociology major. I blame Bearded Jake for this romantic idea. He probably ended up living in a cardboard box. He talked so fondly about one the year we lived in Spring Break Dormitory. He may be the richest man in world now, but we’ll never know.

We called him Bearded Jake. His name was way better than Bearded Jake, but I can’t use it.

You know sometimes nicknames just click without any type of fuss. I always loved that about his name. Jake’s nickname was original, if nothing else. The reason we had to nickname him Bearded Jake was because, as you know, in college for every Jennifer you meet there are at least four boys named Jake.

Our Jake was much cooler than the other Jakes, so we up’d his coolness with a fantastic name.  Continue reading

College Life: She Follows Accents

College life became exciting fast after a few days of settling into a routine. One day, I walked into my dormitory just in time to see a man carrying his mountain bike across the lawn. He wore his backpack, or maybe it was a business bag, across his body. He had a long plastic tube strapped to his back and runner’s legs. I liked that a whole lot.

What kind of cowboy is he? I remember thinking, as I watched him more closely. No not really, but time did stop for a brief moment. I walked away with the realization I’d be back for him one day. Poor guy. He didn’t even see me coming.  Continue reading

College Life: Audrey, Meet The British

The Day that changed my life: Thank God for the British!

It wasn’t the women themselves that my father seemed taken aback by, it was the Doc Martens and long flowy skirts. I have to say, for me, it was the hats that they were wearing. They blew me away. I had fallen in love. It was like me; the aspiring vagabond was looking into her future just watching the two of them walk by.

When I was dropped off for my first semester away at college I remember thinking that I’d be lonely, and definitely afraid. I’m not sure why I thought I’d be lonely, as history had already proven that making friends was easy for me, once I agreed to open my mouth, of course. It was the fear of city living that I worried about, mostly. I hadn’t much experience with the codes of city life. One thing I knew for sure was that I didn’t like feeling afraid.  Continue reading

College Life: Day One – Hippies Do Not Eat People, Audrey

Our family vehicle was full of my life’s possessions and it had been driven for over five hours by my father. We were cruising down the interstate talking, and car shopping. All the important father daughter conversations being prompted by anything found beside the road. I was trying pretty hard to make it a memorable trip. This was our last weekend together living as a family. It was fun, well until we ran out of gas.

“What happened? This is a brand new truck! It must be a computer chip!” he’d said

I remember him turning and looking at me confused, possibly bewildered, if a cowboy can feel that way. He and I looked at each other at about the same time and realized what we’d done. We’d forgotten to fuel up after lunch. The day had been a bit distracting, I’m quite sure, and we returned to the interstate without the fuel we’d known was needed in order to make it all the way into the city. The city that was to be my new home.  Continue reading