White Sweet Potatoes

Lesson learned:
 You cannot walk across CSU's campus in 10 minutes.
 This is not central college, pella, iowa anymore.
This is the real life. Real college. It takes 15, at least. by the time you dodge all the bikers and long boarders, deny about 5 people asking you to take a survey, and speed walk past all those dang cowboys who cant walk fast in there boots, its a good 20 and that is just to the middle of campus.
Good thing I'm not in a sport. I wouldn't have the energy after walking to class.
Now I know why everyone skips class.

Oh yeah and there is no need to stand in line at the bookstore to return your books. The guy at the counter will just look at you like your stupid, tell you to take 5 left turns, a right turn, and 3 steps back and somewhere in the middle of all that, there is a window, with one woman working, where you return your books.

Hmm. okay. it's like freshman year all over again.

oh yeah and if your brand new bike breaks down in the city where bike theft is a problem. Don't worry, at least it is stranded outside of the police station, and it is already registered.

But only in Fort Collins:

- Does the college send out a brochure against beer pong. not because it can lead to excess drinking, noise complaints, or meningitis. but because it is not environmentally friendly. Yep, ya gotta throw those red plastic cups out sometime, maybe a broken ball here and there too. well, too bad. i'm not stopping, i'll just use glasses.

- They have a night called Bohemian nights where multiple high school garage bands play in old town and all the locals gather. and sometimes dance. in their flowing dresses and mid-drift tops.

- Reuse, recycle, be green and save money. but every woman in this town has a nice pedicure. With designs.

- or they have no polish on at all. Cant afford a pedicure. Guess it's the all natural route for me if i want to fit in

-  sprinklers all turn on at 7. conveniently the time i walk back from class. this isn't Arizona people, it rains here. Come on lets be environmentally friendly, save the water and play beer pong, i would appreciate it.

- they only sell white sweet potatoes in the grocery stores. yep, not the same as a normal sweet potato. take my word on it.

wahoo first 4 hour friday night class tomorrow. pumped. especially since i would much rather be there than the B.O.B Sean Kingston concert on campus that I could have gotten into for about $8 for being  a student. oh well at least the student I.D. still gets me free rides on the Transfort system.
Awesome.

Hello Kitty

Life Changing Day in the Life of Carissa Bane. Bought a new bike here which can only mean two things:

1) I'm officially a Fort Colliner
2) I HAVE to do Ragbrai at some point now, no turning back. No matter how out of shape or old I am. I just invested in a nice bike and it is making it to some point of Ragbrai.

But for real the bike trails here are amazing. I hopped on one tonight to try out the new bike and ended up on the other end of town a half hour away from home. Good thing I spent extra to get the front and rear lights!

**The best part is they have an amazing bike library here where you can check out bikes for the day or week for FREE!! With an ID. So expect to do some bike riding on trails if you are coming to visit me : )

This town continues to be uniquely different from anywhere I have lived before.

- I know I said this before, but seriously, EVERYONE has some connection to Iowa. I must stick out because a typical conversation for me here goes like this.
                 Hi. So where are you from. Oh Iowa. Yeah? What part of Iowa. Oh okay, yeah my cousin's step
                 mother's best friend lived in Iowa. I couldn't tell you what town, but somewhere in northern Iowa.
                 So have you ever ridden ragbrai?
 Literally had 3 conversations today that went just like that.

- Every store feels the need to have a mascot/sign dancer/promoter on the corner. Every corner there is someone dressed up like a pizza or rocking out to their IPOD holding a sign promoting a bookstore

- Camouflage Cowboy hat?? paired with Sperry's?? Gotta get that East coast in the West hick feeling? Only in this town.

- They either don't spray for mosquitoes or just have an insane amount. (yes more than Iowa)

- Mass quantities of grasshoppers. Ran over millions today with my new bike.

- No one owns a new bike. I dont know where they all get their used bike because every used bike shop I went into had practically nothing. Guess mine is the first one getting stolen. Good thing I invested in the best bike lock there is.

- It is socially acceptable for large grown men to ride their significantly younger sister's pink bike.

- Cycologist is actually a bike shop

- The bus system is called the Transfort system...get it?? TransFORT like Fort Collins. Yeah it's okay, I've been here a week and it finally kicked in today.

- Oh yeah and no one says hi to you on the streets in passing, but if you are wearing a hello kitty shirt, you will get random people just saying 'hello kitty'. yes even 75 year old women. A whole group of them. Or middle aged men? I may never where that shirt again in this town.

Well I have put off homework long enough. My day off was definitely a day off, time to get back at it.

Pickled Eggs in a Bar?

Well I enjoyed my blogging experience so much when I was abroad, I thought why not do it again! This set up may be a bit different. I may just take a few minutes each day to list something strange, unusual, abnormal, etc. That I have observed. We'll see how it goes! P.S. Please don't forget to read my disclaimer!

Well my first week here has been so far so good. Just getting adjusted to life and trying to not die while I run (this high altitude is killer). It is embarrassing when I walk into target out of breath from walking through the parking lot. I haven't had much going on this weekend so I finished organizing the place, working on a little pre-class homework, bike shopping, and of course exploring the town. I did some mini-golf at Fort Fun last night with a few friends and then hit the town for a drink. Today I tried out a new church and am now spending some much needed time on my new computer.

My observations from the first week:
- Austin's American Grill = Great Food
- I could literally go for a run, put a hat on and wear it all day, take the hat off and wear my hair and outfit as is out on the town on a Saturday night. People wear everything here.
- Jean overall shorts is a socially acceptable when going out, should have brought mine with!
- It's socially acceptable to wear a school backpack in the bars...even while dancing?!
-People who ride their bikes at night attach a red blinking light to the back of their clothes, and if they are too intoxicated they sometimes forget to take it off and turn it off....
- There is an alcohol delivery store, just in case you are too drunk to get alcohol any other way
- Everyone has some connection to Iowa. EVERYONE
-The squirrels have pathetically small tails
- Everyone runs in the bike lanes instead of on the sidewalks....i'm sticking to the sidewalks
- There is a random piano in the middle of downtown that you can play...drunk...or sober
-There is also a random piano on campus that people frequently play on
- There is a bar that prices their drinks similar to the stock market. There is a huge screen above the bar and the price of a drink depends on the popularity of that drink/alcohol that night. You almost never pay the same amount for a drink, it is constantly changing. Entertaining, love it.
- 3 wal-marts, 2 targets.
- It's socially acceptable to come to the bar wearing ram horns on your head.... or just to dress up in whatever costume you want. odd.
- And yes they do sell pickled eggs at the bars....pickled eggs?? I'll let you know if I try one!

First day of classes tomorrow, more later!