Easier Than It Looks?

Tonight's post is a unique post. I'm not typing this one in my cozy Irmo tonight. This one comes from my third-floor room at the Sleep Inn in Clemson. A hotel whose only other occupants appear to be some women's team from UCLA (softball, maybe?) staying for a match, and a room which I didn't even think would have wi-fi when I first arrived. So, being able to have The Rug--my laptop--open and connected to get a new post up before bed is like a little surprise. Well, isn't that nice?

So, anyway. I'm in Clemson. After taking a tour of USC on Monday, there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered if Clemson wanted to be close in the race again. I had already been to Clemson twice in 2013: I went up to see the Tar Heels play them in men's basketball (The Heels won by a moderate margin, and I was probably the loudest Carolina Blue-clad spectator in Littlejohn), and I took an official campus tour in the summer. So, I knew what the campus looked like and I'd seen all the pretty buildings and fields and water and whatnot. Today, I focused more on getting the information I needed to compare it to what South Carolina has to offer for research and job opportunities. And I'll be damned if I didn't get some answers.

The morning session started with a campus expo, with a bunch of booths set up in a ballroom to showcase all of the key services the school had to offer. There were representatives from the different colleges within Clemson (Engineering, Agriculture, Arts, etc.), some folks from the Honors College (named after the crazy secessionist John C. Calhoun, no less), and some general services like housing, dining, and recreation. Also, there was a poor old man who had to sit alone at the LGBT services booth, which you would not expect many people looking at school in backwoods SC to even glance at. I pity that poor old man representing a good cause (in my mind, at least. I can debate it later). So, if you're a bit on the left end of the political spectrum like myself, you might want to think twice before coming to Clemson (I mean, this school even has its own its own equivalent of Fox News).

I won't waste time with all the minor details. Some of you probably won't understand terminology. But I found that almost all of the key things that made USC stand out--research and internship opportunities, Honors College, studying abroad, and the like--were matched (and possibly even exceeded, sometimes) by Clemson. In that respect, the "recruitment race" should be considered a dead heat. I suppose I did jokingly say to myself "I'm sold!" when I saw the following course description of the first-year engineering requirements at a presentation:

ENGR 1020- Stuff 99.99999999% of the population can't do

CH 1010- Alchemy for the rest of us

ENGL 1030- (we know your ACT/SAT reading scores)

MTHS 1060- Really hard math

ENGR 1410- Magic and Sorcery or CHE 1300- Plumbing for dummies

MTHS 1080- Really, really hard math

PHYS 1220- Stuff Einstein couldn't do

(In case you were wondering, they did show the actual class descriptions after having this bit of amusement)

But there is one thing that might end up being the selling point for me if I end up at this school (and frankly, it might have just given Clemson the lead). Freakin' hospitality.

Now, before I go on, I want to go on record to say that I think that the concept of "Southern Hospitality" should only exist if used to create a warm and fuzzy sweet tea commercial. Hospitality is no more real in the south than in any other part of the country, and frankly, a lot of Southern people are assholes. But this is not the hospitality I am claiming that Clemson has.

As I said before, the opportunities for research and a damn good education are really about the same between Clemson and USC. But what sets Clemson apart from its garnet counterpart (at least, from what I've seen) is that Clemson goes more out of its way to make sure that its students get these opportunities and succeed. When I toured USC, I heard a lot about the research there and how I could always find an opportunity myself, but it seemed as though most of that finding had to be done on the student's part. Clemson, essentially, dumps everything in its students laps, and they would be damn fools not to follow those opportunities. That's not even mentioning all the other conveniences that Clemson has that USC doesn't: a great shuttle service that caters to its students, an on-campus Episcopal church for me to find community in (more on that later), and so much more, really. The guy in charge of recruitment for engineering even said directly to the audience that he wanted most for everyone to find the school they are comfortable with, even if it is elsewhere. And he meant it. That took some freakin' heart.

This is what is really selling me on Tigertown right now. Every person there seemed devoted to getting the best for everyone visiting. Now, I believe it's still possible that USC has similar efforts, and I welcome any Gamecocks to enlighten me about said efforts. But something just feels right about Clemson right now. Maybe it's just a sense, but even if I'm wrong about it, my next option is a damn fine school to go to just as well.

During the day, there were many times where I felt close to home. I saw a few old friends from Happening across campus, each one of them unexpected but very pleasing to see. I walked down the shops on College Street and ate at a few local restaurants (note on College Street: has a great vibe to it, kinda like Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, but I don't worry about my safety there like I do in Columbia's Five Points). In the evening, I took in Maundy Thursday service at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (seeing a few more folks I knew in the process), and immediately after service, I was immediately invited to come as a guest to their youth gathering. I didn't stay for long, but I did get to participate in a bit of egg-dyeing while talking all about my past youth experiences with a bunch of new people. I got a little carried away, and as a way of saying goodbye, I painted this little sucker and left him with the other youth.

Ah, but it's still too early to commit.

More on the rest of the Clemson visit tomorrow evening.

Mornin' Hays, signing off.

Looking Along the Via Media

Let's regain focus. Let's stop crying. Let's take a look at all the greenery growing along the road of life here. Let's admire anaphora for the preeminent syntactical device it has become.

I decided that tonight's post should focus on some less sentimental things and lead a new direction for writing on this here blog.  For some inspiration, I went over to the works of a friend of mine who has frequently blogged her travels afar. Her newest series  chronicles her journey throughout the Northeastern US, which I myself have only seen portions of (although I will be going to NYC and Philly in the summer, but more on that later).

So, there are two things about Kathryn's blog that I want to (appreciatively) rip off in the future. First of course is the commentary on locations, from the minuscule elevators in the big cities (try fitting five people in a lift at St. Ermin's Hotel in London) to the appearances of mathematical constants (she seeks out pi in all its glory, while I'm more of a tau guy myself. No, I am not a frat). That's a much more creative means of getting out opinions and observations on life than just.... I dunno, thinking really really hard?

The second thing which I want to focus on for the future AND today's post is-wait for it-the colleges. My nerdy colleague has her eyes set on much higher, out-of-state institutions (I mean, why do you think she's going Northeast), while I already mentioned in "Faith in Blue and White" that I'll have to betray my Heels and go stay in-state.

I like to ask myself why exactly I want to stay in-state when I have fallen so utterly in love with the rest of the world. After spending two weeks in Europe last winter, I have now been in six foreign countries (assuming you count the accidental turn my family took into Austria and the 20 minutes it took to get back in the right direction) and 16 US States (soon to be 17, as I'm going to Louisiana in December). It seems like I shouldn't be confined here to SC, the US state most known for not wanting to be a US state, but I admit that this Carolina has grown on me just as much as the Carolina I was born in. I can't see myself leaving quite yet, but there will be many opportunities beyond that. Oh, and the fact that these schools will give me more money. Money that could be used to teach me how to use less run-on sentences. Moving on.

Yesterday evening I was given the "jaded student" tour of the University of South Carolina. Even though the school was practically in my backyard, I never really took the opportunity in the past to truly look into it. I guess the past me wanted to at least get out of Columbia. The tour was given by a quartet of students from Engineering Without Borders at USC (an acronym which, here, doesn't refer to California), who worked with my mom to mentor the robotics team at Oak Pointe Elementary. Saw all the stuff we hoped to see: the Honors Residence Halls (blew me away), the engineering building (one of our guides mentioned how the sidewalk out front manages to cause some flooding. Great job, engineers!), and all the pretty antebellum buildings all along the way. Those antebellum buildings really make you feel like a Confederate.

As an aspiring Chemical Engineer and Honors College student (no matter what school I settle in), I wanted to know straightforward about what research and internship opportunities I could get at this school, and how beneficial the curriculum would be. I got good, sufficient answers, and I can say for certain that this school would be right for me if I decide to go here. The Honors College at SC is very renowned, of course, and this tour did even more to impress me.

After the group ate at an Arabic restaurant I hadn't been to in years (man, I missed the Damascus bread and hummus), I had to get to thinking. This was an awesome campus, but I can't forget how much I enjoyed touring Clemson back in the summer, especially since I'm going up there Thursday and Friday. One advantage that this jaded student tour at USC did have was that it was given by honors college engineers who know exactly what I need and interacted with me personally, as opposed to an overexcited sorority girl preaching about how OH MY GOSH CLEMSON IS SO... SO GREAT to a big group. There are a lot of other small factors that will go into all this, and it will take a lot of time to come to a conclusion.

But I'm enjoying every single minute of it. I don't have to worry about getting into either school, and frankly, I probably don't have to stress that much about getting into their honors colleges either. I feel like these schools want me more than I want them. I'm like a 5-star football prospect being fought over, only... more academic. I'm not letting that last part go to my head, but I'm going to enjoy every single damn minute of the decision process, and either way, I can't make a wrong decision.

Staying in-state won't constrain me because I will always find ways to travel. There's the glorified idea of the road trip that all college kids take, and there are the bounteous opportunities to study abroad that I will find. This is going to be tons of fun, and I'll have a bunch of stories to tell.

So, is there a favorite right now? Is it USC?

Nah. I ain't revealing a thing until I enroll.

Mornin' Hays, signing off.

Down The Mountain (Life Back in the Valley)

Mountaintop experiences. Times where everything seems to be going right and you're standing above the rest of the world. Something you just can't replicate. Bliss. Some of you might know exactly what I'm talking about here, and you should agree that coming down from a mountaintop experience sucks. It really sucks. I know because I posted about it a few weeks ago.

For those of you who lack attention spans or have issues with my usage of curse words in bold print, here's what I essentially had to say in the past: when everything is going right somewhere, but then you have to go home, you start doubting whether you can have that same happiness you had again. I talked about how much I feared all of my friends disappearing due to graduation, distance, or just a gradual falling by the wayside due to lack of interest. I had no answer to the issues I presented other than repeated profanity and one rather unhelpful statement.

"Just don't think about it."

I mean, hey, that ain't bad, right? Ignorance is bliss? Don't worry, be happy? #turnup?

Well, you are going to have to think about it at some point, and achieving ignorance is not always an easy thing to do. So, let's get some freaking answers today.

Back in the last entry on this topic, I talked about Happening, an Episcopal youth retreat designed to be a mountaintop experience to its guests. Having first gone as a guest last year and serving on staff at the next two Happenings (and hopefully at least one or two more, pending my application and the call from the rector... Claire, if you're reading this, no pressure). Anyone else who had been to Happening would get where I'm coming from, but that doesn't necessarily amount to a large number of people. This time around, I want to talk about another mountaintop that I just had to climb down this week.

A more relatable and easier-to-describe mountaintop would be in the realm of theater (or, "theatre" for the snobbier more refined person, but it's the same anyway). When you're doing a kickass play for a long time with such an awesome cast, you immediately begin to suffer withdrawals (and not "withdraws," as my peers seem more inclined to say. Please stop saying "withdraws," guys). Even those in the filthy plebeian non-acting crowd should be able to relate to this phenomenon.

I was just in one of these shows, of course, and it's pretty clear that the majority of the cast is feeling the pain of separation right now. Aida. An old Verdi opera that Elton John and Tim Rice adapted for Broadway, and that School District 5 managed to land the rights to. Man, that was a ton of fun. Everyone got into it, emotions ran high, and the crowd loved every minute of every show. There's so much I could say about it, and I'll be damned if I don't talk about it again in the future.

Now its over, and as the Edmodo group stays alive and very active, a lot of folks still haven't adapted to the change. (Side note: For those of you who aren't familiar with Edmodo, it has been championed by teachers as "Facebook for schools," obviously because they think that teens need a new gathering place after old folks like them started bogarting Facebook. Probably). No one wanted it to end.

So, how do we live in the valley after coming down from the mountain? Well, there will always be chances to reunite with people who shared the mountaintop experience. You can't see them all the time like the past, but if they had an impact, then they should remain in your heart. Focus on how your experience has shaped you as a person, and use your experiences to continue a better life. It's trite as hell to say, but all good things must come to an end. And I've found that good experiences are hard to leave at first, but once you're traveling down the highway, you don't need to look back. No fright or hindsight, leaving behind that empty feeling inside.

If you long for the past and have doubts about the future, "just don't think about it" is not a useful directive. At some point, worrying will cease, but you don't have to erase the memory from your mind. I've found that mountaintop experiences return to me in fulfilling flashbacks (and, believe me, I've been on a lot of mountaintops in the recent past). Even if you don't stay in contact with your friends from the mountain 24/7, there can still be other ways to be have a satisfied mind.

To close out, just remember to keep doing what makes you happy. And in remembering the people on the mountain, recall the "spirit is always burning though the flesh is torn apart." This may not have been the most thorough response, but it's what I got for now.

Mornin' Hays, signing off. Aida lives on.