Rookie Mistakes (part 1)

Dear Coley,

      Yesterday, I decided that I was going to get up and take the bus to campus! The walk from my building to the School of Nursing is not too bad (around 30 minutes).  However, it occurred to me that all days will not be like the last three: sunny, warm, free of any time crunch or schedule. So, SEPTA, here I come. I researched online and even called Caroline (since she lived in D.C. for a year and I knew she would not judge me based on my lack of bus knowledge). But, when the time came to get on the dang thang…. I chickened out. I can hear it now, “BOOOO!”  But let me redeem myself- I DID take the bus home!  “YAY!”

      You know why I took the bus home? Because the walk to campus, in some improper footwear (rookie mistake), gave me 6 blisters, and rendered me unable to walk home! Haha, necessity is in fact the mother of invention (or the motivation for me to get over my ridiculous fears and get my butt on that bus)! The blisters made me think about some other rookie mistakes I have made. So, for you future country-city transplants, here are some rookie mistakes and advice from a southern belle.

      1] Figure out how to lock and unlock your door before you are forced to demonstrate your failures in front of your neighbor! Doors that have been there since the early 1900s are not the same as your fancy circa 1990 doors (neither are the locks). Also, practice which way the locks go, so you don’t get “stuck” in your own apartment (that was fun, I seriously considered a shoulder-charge). 2] Don’t stop on the street and talk to random people wearing colored vests. I usually don’t do this, but I had a moment of weakness….which turned into almost 15 minutes of a Greenpeace education….. no judgment, but it was rough. 3] Always pack band aids (ie: blistergate 2011). 4] Stay on the bus as long as you can before departing the comfort of motorized transportation. I got off the bus, and then proceeded to walk the same route as the bus for another three blocks. The passengers were probably thinking, “Wasn’t that the curly-haired Southerner who got off this bus way back there?” (I don’t know if Northerners think like that, but we will pretend). And finally, 5] Carry an actual book bag the first time you go to the bookstore (especially when the walk home is over two miles). I know what you’re thinking, but all the cool kids are carrying large designer one-shoulder bags!  Well, remember, you are not cool (I say this to myself). And, if you try to be, and carry that “cool” one-shoulder bad, then your right shoulder will be bruised, rubbed raw, and hurt for the next three days!  I don’t know how these city folks carry all they need in their tiny one-shoulder bags.  Like women in Haiti, who live in tents, and yet they wear white pants to church that are in perfect condition (I have never understood how they keep their whites so white, when they do laundry in brown water??). Hmmm….

       These are just a few of my rookie mistakes, I am sure there will be many more. Coley, I can see you now…. sitting on the couch, eating popcorn….…. laughing your butt off…. at me (good times).  Miss you!

Courtney