Sunday 7/27/08

Auckland: 9:13 PM; Boston: 5:13 AM

I have to say that I was had. Through all of the pre-departure orientation, reading, etcetera, etcetera…, I kept seeing about the “feelings of homesickness” and whatnot. I was convinced, CONVINCED, that they’d never happen. At all. Maybe it’s pride, the high level of self-confidence I’ve in myself, or the arrogant nature I tend to espouse in life.

This isn’t to say I’m clawing the walls looking to go back stateside. (I did however, wake my poor friend Missy up at 8 AM Friday [Boston time] and talked her ear off for about 30 minutes – Thanks, it meant a lot by the way, if you’re reading this) I guess it’s more I just forgot how hard it is meeting people, and forcing myself to be out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m plenty social, but at the end of the night, many nights, it really feels like instead of bonding with people that I’ll hang out with in the future, it’s more I just happened to be in the same room doing the same thing as the others, and everybody parts and returns to their separate lives.

Maybe it’s me, I suppose I haven’t exerted that much effort in meeting people – aside from my roommates and the other person from NU, I know maybe three people’s names with some degree of certainty. Of those three I have one number, and I’m hesitant to contact them that often for I don’t want to appear a nag or needy. Perhaps everybody is in the same boat. Who knows, I certainly don’t.

Apparently missed the chance to join student groups at a discount through last Friday (apparently unlike NU the fee is not built in). The discount wasn’t something to sneeze at either - $30 for the ski and snowboard club (versus $50 normally). Maybe I’ll join Monday…a $20 ‘stupidity tax.’

Today being the 27^th…the “mid-semester break” is September 1^st – 13^th: anyone who is a college student reading this knows how quickly time flies once classes and work really kick off, which it’s supposed to this coming week. So I have to really start researching where I might want to travel during the break, which brings up another sore point – I absolutely hate the idea of travelling alone. For the most part, I just won’t. I can so see the following scenario: I book a week in, say, Fiji. Probably around ~$1,000 for it. Going alone, I’ll be bored by the end of the first day. Oh well, I’ll figure that out later this week.