Sunday, October 17, 2004

Back from Beyond
DeathBug’s Road Trip Report

I’m writing this one the way back from Tallahassee, waiting for the bus to pull out of the Days Inn. I’m in the perfect state of mind to tell ya’ll about my whirlwind adventures with higher education and higher blood-to-alcohol ratios.

DISCLAIMER: I, DeathBug, am now, and remained all through the trip, and never entertained the idea of being anything other than, sober as a judge.

Ahem.

Well, getting to school by five thirty kinda’ sucked, as I had to actually get up at four in the morn. That was a fine kick in the teeth, but I got over it. No one I knew was going on this trip with me, so I expected to remain a creepy loner the whole time.

Fortunately, twas not to be. I got to talking with several people on the bus, and some of them were pretty cool. Not as cool as you guys, and certainly not as cool as me, but we won’t hold that against them, just ‘cause you guys are so dang cool.

After a five hour bus ride, we got to the Floridia State University campus, traveling down the Street of Fraternities. Now, I’d much rather hang with a sorority, but apparently that’s against the rules. What’s really, really odd is that I think I might fit in better with a sorority than a fraternity, considering how many of my close friends are girls, and how few of them are guys.

I could use that as a selling point when I apply to a sorority…

Actually, while I haven’t ruled out joining a fraternity, simply because I don’t know what goes on in one, I defiantly wouldn’t live in a frat house. I can barely stand the idea of duel occupancy; I wouldn’t want to live in a place with half a dozen roomies.

My ideal college setting is a duel-occupancy dorm with its own bathroom. I’d rather not have a community bathroom.

We pulled into the Seminole Stadium/Visitors’ Center, and I can tell you something right off the back: I hate the school paraphernalia, I hate their darn annoying fight songs, and I hate their obsessive rivalry with the FU Gators.

Once I got past all that, the little tour was nice. We saw several parts of the campus, including their free-for-students gym, the more-food-than-you-could-ever-want buffet hall, and the reasonably-priced-if-you’re-a-student pool hall/bowling alley. Incidently, I’m better at pool than I thought I was.

We listened to some dude talk about the various school programs, and I’m very, very interested in the study-abroad opportunities. I could take a semester of English Lit while in England, and it would count towards my major! Wh00t!

Now, we then went to our hotel, and then the fun began with the bus. The mean streets o’ Tallahassee weren’t meant to hold a tour bus, and navigating those streets was a nightmare, especially when we did a u-turn into oncoming traffic.

Fun fact about Tallahassee: the place is too darn hilly. If I lived their, I’d be willing to have my tax monies go towards flattening the landscape.

Not ten minutes into getting into my room, and one of my roomies had bought a case of Miller Light from the gas station across the street; I was a bit floored by his audacity. He then quickly turned our sink into a makeshift ice chest. Yay.

Fortunately, the “party room” was next door, so there was a clear buffer between us.

We walked to the mall that was located ‘bout a mile away from the hotel, and to my delight, there was a Barnes & Noble in the mall. If, in the event I went to FSU, I could just get transferred to the new store. To my surprise, the Tallahassee store had better (read: shorter) hours than mine.

I used a Store Credit from my mom to buy dinner, and complete my collection of Ultimate Spider-Man trades. (I’m officially caught up with all the manga and comics I missed over the summer. Now I can start buying Excel Saga.)

Myself and five others loitered around the mall a bit, then walked back to the hotel. By this time, most of those in the “party room” were well plastered, but they remained docile, save the occasional spontaneous outburst. There was no hanky panky.

We in the sober room watched a movie and played cards, then went to bed.

End day one.

The second day, Saturday, I discovered that there was a wireless network in the hotel lobby, so I responded to posts from Rayne. (For reasons unknown, I could respond to e-mail, though I could receive it.)

All we had on the agenda that morning was a lackluster walking tour of Florida A & M. We went, then came back to the hotel, to do as we would until five o’clock. At five was our departure for the big FSU football game, versus the Virginia Raiders.

So, when everyone else went back to the mall, I stayed in the room and finished my Psyche wok. (And, when I’m done typing this, I’m going to get back to reading Candide for my Humanities course.) Finally, we boarded for the Big Game.

I hate watching football, so I was mostly board. However, the Florida State Seminoles beat the Raiders 36 to 3. Owch.

We went back to the hotel, and once again separated into drinkers and non-drinkers. Us non-drinkers went to have some sort of meal (whatever you call eating at 2 AM) at the Village Inn a few blocks from our hotel. The service was terrible, and I left no tip.

Then we returned and hit the sack. And now we’re on the bus home.

Did I have fun? Definatly. Did I wish that Ernesto or Julie (<3!) had come along? Yep.

Would I got to FSU? Yeah, sure. It’s a few hours from Brandon, they have a Barnes & Noble, a wicked international program, and a law school. I’ll have to keep it in mind, and talk more to David about it.

(David, by the way, happened to have come down to Tampa the weekend I went up to Tallahassee. Think about the irony.)

Well, I’ve got stuff to do, so I’ll let ya’ alone now. I missed you guys; ciao!

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