I will try to refrain from using absolutes in the following reply to grandpa's request (for example, there will be no "college is not for me" or "i don't like anything about it" remarks).

So far, I'm not sure what I think of it. It would be hard to formulate any sort of opinion seeing as how it's still pretty early in the game. Then again, by the time you could form a credible opinion, you're halfway done and there's no point in leaving.

My English teacher told me to stop answering things correctly in class all the time because nobody else is learning (after she asked the class a question and only got a good thirty seconds worth of silence in reply...thought i'd throw her a bone...i learned my lesson).

I enjoy my political philosophy class (in which I got an 87% on my last test). My professor is a very nice woman who I frequently talk to after class. On Tuesdays, I meet with 30 students from the class (it's a huge, lecture style course) and have discussion. I should note this is part of taking the class and not something I do for fun, although I do enjoy it. My teacher in there (two seperate teachers; one for the lecture and one that leads discussion) is also pretty fond of me and enjoys listening to me argue with other students about the political discussion topics.

Italian is extremely difficult. My professor in this subject is also a very kind, patient woman who will e-mail me atleast once a week (me specifically, not the class as a whole) to check up and make sure I'm keeping up with the material. You see, I'm not doing very well in there. So I appreciate her willingness to help. I wish I could pick up on it more naturally, however. It's very hard.

Psychology is a headache because the professor has a speech impediment (frequent stuttering, leaving complete syllables out of words, etc). There are only three tests for the whole semester and, due to it being very hard to understand anything he says, I didn't do very well on the first. I'm trying to make up for it with extra credit, but it's hard to make a dent when the tests are weighted so heavily.

If you didn't know already, I dropped algebra because it was way beyond anything I was capable of tackling right now.

I will stray from my rule against absolutes and say that, without a doubt, dorm life is not for me. I'm a little tired of being constantly bombarded with people telling me I should do this or that activity. Not to mention that my room is on the ground floor and is two rooms away from the theater where they host all the dances, productions, video game tournaments, clothing swaps, and whatever other loud activities they insist on putting on into the wee hours of the morning.

The food is good.

I enjoy living in Lawrence, but not so much that I would necessarily favor it over Topeka. It's just different.

My roommate is a good friend of mine and we get along very well. Unfortunately, his workload is pretty intense and the our stress levels are pretty high. We snap at eachother a lot lately and haven't been getting along...unless it's the weekend. We're back to our old selves then.

Liz and I are fine. She has made a lot of new friends and talks about them incessantly.

When I have free time, I spend it reading, editing wedding video, or writing. I generally don't stay out very late (honestly). I'm usually in my room by midnight on fridays. Sometimes earlier. The party atmosphere doesn't appeal to me. It's pretty much the opposite.

The steps to the dorm are always blocked off by art students smoking, playing hand drums/guitar, or doing absolutely nothing but taking up space. I'm a little tired of having to push my way through crowds of them. I don't know why they paid for rooms if they are content with hanging out on a porch until 4 am.

I haven't made any new friends. That shouldn't really come as a surprise after reading the preceeding diatrab, I know. I'm pretty happy with the three or four that I brought up here with me from Topeka.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't unhappy here. But, contrary to the rant you just read, I'm not completely miserable by any means. I just really get the feeling this isn't where I should be and I'm ready to move on. Problem is, I don't know where I should be so it makes moving on a little hard. That, and I have another semester and a half to go.

In a nutshell, all college has done is shatter any idea I had of what I wanted to do with my life and replaced it with a big question mark. I'm really looking forward to Christmas break.

So there you have it. Sorry it was so negative. I'm trying to approach things as positively as possible. I generally walk out of the door with a smile on my face every morning -- I just come back tired and annoyed.

Love all of you,
Austin