Life Update: Surprise! I moved to Kentucky.

So I don't know if you know this, but I recently started pursuing my MA in English at the University of Louisville. (The whole Kentucky thing was a surprise to me too.) Saying that making this decision was emotionally draining is an understatement, but I'm thrilled to be here. (Life decisions are hard. That's why we take baby steps.)

In addition to being an Auburn tiger,
I'm now a Louisville cardinal, which messes with
my identity and confuses me. Grad school is weird.

Anyway, I'm a Graduate Teaching Assistant, and it's pretty cool. That means that I tutor for the University Writing Center this year and teach next year. The GTAs rock. Actually, everyone at the writing center rocks. My classes (Writing Center Theory and Practice, Intro to English Studies, and Composing Identities) are fascinating thus far, which I'm taking as a good sign. It's early in the game, so I'm pumped, guys. I'm ready to play.

I bet I'll feel less ready in about a week's time, but let's not think about that.

So, what's my life like in Louisville? Right now, it's close to what it was like before. I tutor at a writing center, I go to my classes, and I have a lot of reading homework. I mean, I'm not in Auburn, which is strange, but my room is in almost exactly the same order as before, so sometimes I wake up in the morning confused and wonder if I'm going to be late to my Italian class. (Spiacente, professoressa!)

Other things about Louisville:

• Louisville has gorgeous parks, like Cherokee and Waterfront.
• Louisville has superb dining options. (See Queen of Sheba, Havana Rumba, The Comfy Cow, and Mark's Feed Store)
• Louisville has a lot of dogs, and so far I've lived with two of them.
• Louisville's mosquitoes are worse than Alabama's mosquitoes. (My legs make a great Connect the Dots board. I just request that you don't use a sharpie to play.)
• Louisville's library likes Harry Potter, which means that the librarians must be awesome.

A dog's view of Waterfront 

Waterfront has a full section of swing sets, which is great for my inner child.

It's kind of an Auburn sunset. 

To sum up, Louisville's a cool place. (I was talking to some guy on the bus, and we came up with a great brochure tagline--Louisville: where the food is good, and the traffic is weird.) I do, of course, miss things about Auburn, like the Pop Factory, weekly Psych Nights, my wonderful Auburn professors (half the reason why I love AU), football, Aubie, The Bird House, and the Auburn Fam in general. Also, this is weird, but I miss RBD. Our library, though awesome, isn't open 24/5, which is honestly the biggest culture shock that I've experienced so far. Well, that and they wear a lot of red here. That's just weird.

I'll try to be good and post things every once and awhile, but for now... War Eagle and Go Cards!


Yours,

Haley