since basically everyone except the UCs (minus berkeley) has moved into college and is writing about all that's new... i figured it's my turn. so in case i haven't told you already... I LOVE DUKE!!! my roommate is freaking awesome... she's the perfect roommate and we get along really well... we have similar eating/sleeping/studying/living habits so everything's great! as a matter of fact... all of blackwell second floor is super awesome... it's so cool how everyone knows each other and hangs out together already... i mean... most people don't know the other people in their hall at all... at least not yet... i definitely got super lucky with this whole rooming assignment thing... making friends was just so easy for me... with that said... it's hard for me to have a conversation without brining up california or my old friends... first of all... i've lived in the same place all my life so i really don't know much else... second of all... my friends in california and the memories i have are so awesome that i feel like i have to share it with everyone... but it kinda sucks when no one else knows the wonderful people that i'm talking about... and that is probably the only time i start to feel a little homesick... other than that... life at duke is a freaking dream! it's exactly what i want out of my college experience (yes i am already sure of this) and i've had no regrets about my decision since the very beginning... everyone here knows how important education is (or at least they know how much they're paying for it) so they take class pretty seriously... but they're still relatively normal people who love to have fun too... here few parties are ever held sunday-wednesday night cuz everyone needs to study... the parties start thursday night and there's always something going on friday night and saturday night... since there isn't too much stuff to do around here... frat parties and clubbing are huge here... but you guys all know me... i'm not huge on the party scene... so drinking and getting wedged between drunk/sweaty/horny people on the dance floor isn't what i do 3 nights a week... like i said before... my hallmates and i are all pretty close... so when we need a study break... we'll have movie nights and bake cookies or whatever (sound familiar?)... and since the activities fair... everyone's getting involved in different stuff... i have friends in acapella groups, orchestra, atheletics (varsity, club, and intramurals), etc... so on any given day there's some concert or game (or lecture/discussion with professors if you want to be intellectually inspired) to go to... personally i've decided to get involved in the badminton club on campus (suprise suprise)... like i expected... the team is not remotely close to any of the california teams but whatever... it's still fun... i also joined the inferno which is basically a duke athletics fan club for students.. which is super awesome cuz you get prizes to go to games and i figured i'd go to the games anyway... so why not... plus the tshirt we got is totally sweet =D i'm also thinking about joining best buddies (and actually being involved unlike in hs)... there's a meeting tonight so we'll see how that goes... as for classes... i guess they're as good as classes can be... i'm taking a pretty light load and none of my classes require much reading or essay writing... so that's nice... at least until next semester... i'm taking math 103 which is mutivariable calculus.. a total continuation of high school calc so it's nothing too exciting or too hard... but i like it cuz it's math... i'm also taking chem21L which is intro chem with a lab... so far this class blows... it's so boring... i've gone to every lecture but i've slept through all but two of them... the recitation is no fun but i guess it's nice if i start having problems... but so far it's been really easy... even for me and i only took 6 weeks of chem in hs.. as for the lab... we haven't really done anyting yet... so i guess we'll see how it goes on friday... my hardest class is probably latin 1 just cuz it's all greek to me... i've never taken a foreign language before (chinese isn't really foreign) so i'm starting from scratch... i'm totally freaking out about the exam we have on monday... ugh... my final class is math49S which is a math seminar... the topic is tilings and symmetry and geometry and stuff like that... it's so exciting! no really.. i love this class... it's the only one that feels totally different from hs... the prof is a young dorky spazzy type of guy... and he's actually doing research on the topic he's teaching... it's so cool! basically all we do is draw patterns and describe them with numbers and math terms... at least that's all i understand so far... but yea... it's fun not knowing what direction the class is taking... you're learning simply just to learn... like there's no final goal of getting a 5 on the ap exam... hmm.. what else is there to say... oh yea! THE FOOD!! omg... the food here is so good... the way the first-year meal plan is set up... we get 12 meals a week at the marketplace... and the food there is really good... it's all super healthy for you... but how, you ask, is tiff gonna gain her freshman 15/30/60 kazillion? it's all buffet style so i eat more each meal than i normally would and there's ICE CREAM at every meal and i'm not playing sports/working out like i used to... besides the 12 meal points a week.. we also have food points to spend at any restaurant on campus and most restaurants near campus... most places deliver to duke too so it's awesome! a few really good places stay open til 3am so there's always food to eat... like that isn't enough... duke gave each freshman a $50 card to spend at certain restaurants near east campus (where freshmen live).. this is supposed to help duke students get to know durham or whatever... it's basically free food at some pretty darn good restaurants... that brings up another topic... there's so much free stuff being passed out... tshirts, pens, hilighters, waterbottles, food, durham bulls tickets, concerts, bus rides to southpoint mall... whatever... it's awesome... but everytime i see the word "free" i think about the crazy tuition we're paying... i guess nothing's really free but it's still so cool to have all these benefits... you just have to know where to go... hahaha one final note on food before i have to go to class... ben & jerry's is right across the street from where i live... at least there's a whole foods next to ben & jerry's so we can all feel better about all the ice cream we're eating... hahaha... well ta ta for now... i wish everyone the best in college... it'll be awesome no matter where you are... but it'd be even better if you gave me a call once in a while so i can share stories with people who actually know what i'm talking about.. =P i love you guys... and i miss you all a ton... but i'll see you most of you during winter break... right? =] [edit] as wuzi pointed out... i didn't mention weather... for the most part the weather is awesome... it's warm like upper 50s to lower 80s and not extremely humid... it basically feels just like socal (since this summer was kinda humid by desert standards)... however hurricane ernesto recently ran up the coast of nc so we got some rain and some wind and some cold weather... but it's on and off... yesterday was beautiful and today we have rain... * from what i saw last year.. temperature-wise durham is not too different from db... the only difference is the precipitation... so more rain and some snow in the winter... yea.. fun stuff... i'm totally excited about camping out for bball tickets in the winter... it's gonna be freezing but freaking awesome! | 
