But at least Ithaca has a CVS. And 20,000 people at Cornell, to say nothing of the sketchy locals and the even sketchier IC students. Annandale-on-Hudson, where Bard College is located, has nothing within walking distance, even if you're really desperate and willing to walk 45 minutes to find entertainment. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Having spent a low-key week hanging out in Willard Strait (read: eating and playing bubble spinner), I was finally ready to leave Ithaca. Sounds counter-intuitive, but I needed the week back at school to remind myself why leaving all the seniors behind wouldn't be such a bad thing. Anyway, having said some goodbyes and avoiding some others, I met up with my mom in Albany, where we did last minute shopping. Apparently I need to take over approx. 15 presents for her various friends in St. Petersburg on the off chance I get sick and need to contact one of them. That way, I will come bearing gifts and my free-loading won't be quite as apparent. We found a surprisingly good restaurant at the mall, at which my mom reminisced about Nastya and Tanya and Aisha and Seryozha etc. etc. for the 3rd or 4th time. Thank God I'm going abroad.
It's not until later that I look up the dorm I'll stay in in Petersburg. It's right next to the dorm we stayed in when I was last there (1995?). The same dorm in which an Asian student was murdered shortly after we left. At this point, my mom starts to flip.
But we leave Albany and continue to Annandale-on-Hudson and I hear about Nastya and co. for the 5th time in two days.
We're about 20 miles from Bard when I notice that we have left civilization behind in our exhaust. My student handbook warned me not to wait to buy anything in Annandale-on-Hudson. How true. This presents an issue in that we are only scheduled for orientation activities until 8:30 pm. After that, our options seems to be hanging out inside and hanging out outside. Common rooms seem to be nonexistent, and I have yet to see a TV in my 8 hours here at Bard. To make things worse, half the group is in a section of dorms far, far away. One upside: my block of dorms includes one named H. Potter.
Thankfully, there seem to be a few normal people in the group (I had my doubts), the only issue being that about half of them smoke (cigarettes). Maybe I lead a sheltered life, but I've never been in a group with such a high percentage of smokers.
Sorry for the lame post. Hopefully things will pick up in Petersburg. One of the guys here has already told us about how many countries he's vomited in, so once we get within walking distance of a liquor store, things are bound to get interesting.
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