Airball, Airball, Airball

I went to my first UMD basketball game this weekend.
Maryland fans are about the classiest ones I've ever met.


When the visiting team is announced everyone gets out newspapers and pretends to be reading. Haha. And then, if that isn't bad enough, after each starter's name is called we chime in with a "sucks." So it goes something like Joe Smoe, 6"7" forward from Florida sucks. And so on and so on.

And it doesn't end there. The poor point guard for the other team missed a shot by a mile which subjected him to jeering chants for the rest of the game. Every time he touched the ball you'd hear rhythmic calls of "airball airball airball." He'd pass to a teammate, "woahhhh." And back to him, "airball, airball, airball." The cheers weren't enough though, they were coupled with one armed robotic air chops. Are other schools this mean at sporting events?

Home court advantage. We won.

The Coolest Thing Ever to Hit the Pool

I went to swim laps at the rec center on campus this week. I stuck my head under the water to get ready to swim some laps, but I heard something strange. Something that I thought was air bubbles in my swim cap at first. But the noise did not stop. Words? Were those word I was hearing? Or music? Could it be music? I asked my friend I was with if she heard it too, and lo behold I was not going crazy. She had heard an ad for McDonalds the last time she went swimming.


UMD broadcasts radio stations in the pool. Literally. Underwater. Stick your ears under and you can hear it. Come up for a breath and silence. It is the coolest thing ever. I had no idea it was even possible to listen to music while swimming. This will make using the pool much more enjoyable. When in high school, I always wished they'd invent something like this, and here it existed all this time.

Now I can swim to the beat.

Touchdowns=Toppings

The Terps won another football game again today. Cool stuff. I wasn't feeling so swell this morning when I woke up, so I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to go, but fortunately I bucked up and went.

Apparently, for every touchdown our team gets, every attendee can get a free pizza topping at Papa Johns. And if Maryland wins, they double that number. That means that this week we can get a large pizza with 12 toppings. Whoo. It's not so much that I would every want 12 different things on my pizza, but somehow game is more exciting when we can celebrate that we will have two more topppings to add to our Tuesday pizza. We got another touchdown? Oh, yay, more toppings! I think the people around us were cheering for other reasons.

My apartment building was having a resident appreciation party today, so we did our quote, unquote, tailgating, for free. We had hamburgers and then got our faces drawn by a sketch artist named Jerry. His technique is the giant face, little body style. I never much understood the concept, but hey, it's still kind of cool to have my "resemblance" on paper. Looks just like me, huh?

A Pool? Outside? At My University?

UMD is awesome. They have a pool. Well, actually 3 of them, but one is outdoors. That's right. And it's free for students.

Thursday some friends and I went to the pool before class. And basically it felt like summer. At a park. Sun bathing. Splashing around. A few laps.

I got a tan burn.

I love going to such a big school. They offer so many cool things and have endless resources.

They even hired a poor lifeguard to sit in front of the kiddie pool and watch the water drip off of the mushroom. I found it mildly humorous.

Acclimation

Orientation, orientation, orientation.


That is all I have been doing and will be doing this week. Teaching requirements, teaching tips, teaching liabilities, teaching pedagogy, teaching fears, teaching problems; teaching, teaching, teaching.

BUT, at the same time student concerns, student requirements, student adjustment, student needs, student life, student welcome.

How does one perfect the fine art of both being a teacher and a student at the same time? That seems to be the million dollar question of the week.

A Day in the City

Thursday, a friend and I spent a day in Washington DC doing the touristy things. We visited just about every memorial on the mall. From the Washington Memorial to Lincoln Memorial and back again. I really like downtown DC, it's such a good place to spend a nice sunny afternoon. The city has very clean feel to it; that is, except for the water edges of the Tidal Basin. There were a few piece of litter floating around and some lovely green foam/slime. We happened to find an abandoned ice cream sign floating in the water, and it just looked so sad. No thanks, I don't believe I want that Popsicle.


We are going to be experts on the Metro soon. Everything was going really well, until we messed everything up right at our last transfer when we literally ran on a train, sat down in delight, looked up at the sign, realized we were on the wrong one, and ran hurriedly ran off again before we were whisked away to who knows where.

At night we met up with people from our cohort in our department at UMD at Comet Pizza and Ping Pong (yes, you guessed it, a restaurant that combines pizza and ping pong). We got to meet all the people that will be spending the next 2-4 years with, and really think we have a good group. Everyone is friendly and sweet, and very intelligent. I can't wait to get to know everyone better.

Settling In

Last night my new roomie and I watched Phantom of the Opera together. Yes, I think we will get along just fine. (Thank you Gerard Butler).

I also used the gas stove in our kitchen for the first time, and managed to make a horrible mess. I dumped a can of soup in my new pot, put the lid on, set it on the burner, and wouldn't you know as soon I look up, there is Campbell's Cream of Mushroom rapidly boiling over the top of the pot. I don't know what happened. I thought I had it set on medium heat, but apparently it was on super high. It takes real talent to mess up soup...

Today I explored campus with another newbie from the Department of Communication. I really think that I am going to like it here. The people I've met so far seem very friendly and the campus is nice. UMD has a completely different atmosphere than my undergrad school had.


I am so happy to be in the Maryland/DC area.

However, my new friend and I quickly learned that listening to eager direction-givers is not always a smart idea. Maps, on the other hand, never lie (if you can read them correctly). We took a few large round-about circles to get places, but that's ok, we chalked that up to exercise and adventure. That's what exploring is all about anyway.

A Turtle. Really?

On Saturday I drove down to Maryland to visit my soon-to-be graduate school and potential apartment for the first time. I love the UMD campus. It is huge and very nicely landscaped. The academic buildings are classic-looking and the other facilities are giant, especially after going to a small university. I'm really excited for the upcoming fall. We hit some of the DC traffic once getting close to College Park. I can't wait to live so close to the (or really any) city!

Unfortunately, we picked kind of an ugly day for touring outside. The rain was practically coming down sideways. And weather.com displayed a little gray cloud with raindrops falling out of it for absolutely every daylight hour. For once they were right--it rained all day.

Might I just ask one question? Who would pick a terrapin, namely a turtle, for a school mascot? There are various 'artworks' around campus triumphing the iconic diamondback, but I have to admit that it's kind of strange. And slightly ugly. A turtle. Really?

Also, they supposedly have this saying that goes something like, "Fear the turtle." And to that I would ask once again, really, a turtle?

Grad School

So for those of you who have been wondering... I've finally made my final decision on which grad school to go to. I will be attending the University of Maryland in the fall. I will be studying Rhetoric and Political Culture within the Department of Communication. Rather than studying presidential election type political culture, I will study more of media influences in a public forum on culture with an emphasis on globalization. I'm so excited! And, I'll want lovely visitors once I find a place in near College Park...

This photo was taken during model OAS, one night when we exploring the city and got caught in a torrential downpour. The rain was falling sideways and the wind about knocked us off our feet. We had to run to the side of the Washington Monument as the shelter within running distance from the flash storm. It made for a good story later, but stringy hair and really gross wet denim jeans that night.