Thursday 13: Helloooo Florida!

Today's final orientation was much more my speed. As it was for my program, it was catered to me and I loved it. I met all 4 of my professors and I think I have the names down of all 9 of my classmates. I had lunch with one of my classmates who just spent the last 2 years on an Indian reservation. Very cool. Our class has really diverse backgrounds. I'm the only person who worked in news which surprised me. We also met 5 of the 2nd years who are in various stages of their final projects which we do in lieu of a thesis. I learned more about the origins of our program and how our professors met each other. They've been there since the program's inception 10 years ago and had been working together 10 years prior to that. I like that.

I will also be a party animal the weekend of September 12th. I have 3 cookouts or parties to attend between the doc school (part of the J-school), J-school grad students and all the grad students at UF. I'm also organizing a doc school gathering for the first years and whatever 2nd years want to come along concurrent with my birthday... ON SATURDAY!! I'll be 26 in two days! Wow! Anyway. I suppose I should get into the TT: Things I look forward to about living in Florida. I started this before I moved here so some of it has evolved.

1) A huge D-IA (the biggest of the NCAA sports programs) school. I wanted a team with a great football or basketball team and I got both! 3 national championships in the last 2 years is amazing. I can't wait to go crazy on game day! GO GATORS!!

2) Learning to play racquetball. This is absolutely a new one. Like 2 days old. Lol. I get these ideas and just decide, "Hey! I wanna do that!" and then I make it my goal. The classmate I ate lunch with asked about a tennis partner. I should've asked if he knows how to play racquetball. How different are the two? I don't mean that in the most ignorant sense. I know there's no net in racquetball and it's played in a little room and you're standing next to your opponent but other than that I don't really know anything about it. Isn't it one of those things you can also do alone? I bet it's a good workout.

3) Run a 5k. Another of those crazy ideas. I don't actually like to run but I decided to do it just because. Lol. Hahahahahaha. Liz and 1969 did it so why not me? About that training thing... I should really get on that and stop procrastinating. The awful gym schedule right now is not helping. The gyms don't open until 3 each day. I also don't know where the tracks are here. I see people running on campus. I need a pedometer so I can know when I've hit 3.2 miles. That's something you kind of need to know, huh? Mmm hmmm.

4) Watching free docs. We have a video library in our program full of docs AND student docs so we can critique them if we'd like, thinking about things we'd change. I've already taken out two. I started with student docs. I'll watch them after I complete this.

5) Living in another state. Prior to Florida I lived in NC, VA, and PA. I wanted to get another location under my belt. I think I'll probably have 2 more states up to and/or including the one I settle down in. I can't see my next stop being a permanent one and I also don't know how long I'll be in Florida. I changed my voter's registration and I may be here for a while. Wouldn't it be cool to live in Miami for a few years while you're still young?

6) INTERNET ACCESS!! I was like a lonely soldier stranded on a deserted island in a galaxy far far away at my mom's house without the interweb! Lol. And now I've been rescued! Now I have to properly manage my time!

7) My own place! I can't believe I have my own place-- with a shoeseum-- that's not a dorm or in one of my parents' homes for the first time in my life! So cool! Now I just need money. About that corner... lol.

8) Beaches! They aren't very close but not that far either. Actually 1.5 - 2 hours is not bad at all. l can't wait to finally put those 3 bikinis and all that working out to use! (Don't get me started on how much I've actually worked out in the last few weeks. *Cringe*)

9) Meeting new people. There are already 5 people I can see myself getting along with well who I've met in the last 2 days so I'm excited about that! Yay!!

10) Seeing Stace! Yay!! We're so close now!! I'm so excited to have one of my closest friends in really reasonable (about 4-4.5 hrs) driving distance of me for the first time in 6 YEARS! So exciting!

11) Getting my master's. It's something I've wanted for at least the last 8 years. I just didn't know the field in which I wanted to pursue my degree.

12) Making documentaries. It is so amazing to me the things I will be able to learn about funding, creating, self-distributing, and on and on and on from working professionals and my classmates. This will be an amazing experience.

13) Following my dreams. Can you beat that?